Egypt to Copyright Pyramids and Sphynx

empaler writes "We all know the usual pro-copyright arguments. Most of them hinge on the fact that the individual or company that has a copyright needs an incentive to make something that is copyrightable, and therefore ensure a revenue stream in a period after the copyright has been granted. In a never-surpassed move, Egypt is working on legislation to extend copyright well above 3000 years — they are going to start claiming royalties for using likenesses of the Sphynx and the Pyramids. It is still unclear whether the original intent of the Pyramids included 'making sure them bastards pay for a plastic copy in 3000 years' alongside 'securing a pathway to the heavens for the God King.' Speaking as a Greenlandic national, I want dibs on ice cubes." It sounds straight out of The Onion, but instead you can read another story on the BBC.

Comments

Wait, wait;

[NovaX81]

Isn't copyrighting a geometrical figure about the same as copyrighting a number? How exactly do they plan to go about doing this?

Wow, impressive.

[bigstrat2003]

"Zahi Hawass, who chairs Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told the BBC the law would apply in all countries."

That's pretty astounding arrogance right there. Since when do one country's laws apply anywhere outside their borders? Not to mention that they have no right to try to "copyright" stuff that was made 3000 years ago, by people long-since dead.

Re:Wow, impressive.

[rolfwind]

That's pretty astounding arrogance right there. Since when do one country's laws apply anywhere outside their borders?

They learned from America, whose government has pretty much the same attitude in many areas.

Not to mention that they have no right to try to "copyright" stuff that was made 3000 years ago, by people long-since dead.

Ask Disney about the Grimm Brothers.

Re:They can choose to copyright...

[Zeinfeld]

How will you ignore it? Thanks to the US Government, they must take Egypt's copyright claims seriously if they demand that other countries take ours seriously (and even let us infiltrate their citizen's lives CIA-style).

Actually the copyright laws are regulated by international treaty and this particular claim is not supported by the treaty. So the reverse is true, Egypt has zero chance of applying this particular law outside its own borders.

But thats probably not what they are after. After some haggling the owners of the Luxor will come up with some form of face saving deal that throws a little money towards preserving the originals and in return the Egyptian government will loan them some stuff.

Re:Firehose is weird

[1u3hr]

Perhaps I'm really bad at writing summaries, but I posted this same story on Firehose almost an hour before this one even came up.

But you probably spelled "sphinx" correctly. It was the extra creativity of fucking it up to "sphynx" that got this one noticed. Remember, it's not accuracy that gets you on Slashdot, it's the ability to distort and misinterpret a story so it will generate the most page views that counts.

Re:Just like any other desperate move

[CodeBuster]

Fewer and fewer people go to Egypt to see the pyramids There is a reason for that and it has nothing to do with copyright or newer monumental construction projects in neighboring Arab countries and that is the image that westerners in general and Americans in particular have about Arab countries from what they see in the terrorist beheading videos, the stonnings of women in the streets, and the unruley mobs chanting "death to America". Tourists are scared to death of visiting Arab countries and they should be. If the Eygptians want to attract more tourists to their country then they have to do something about the terrorist image that is being solidified in the west. Does anyone else remember the episode of 30 Days where Morgan Spurlock asks people what is the first word that comes into their mind when he says the word "muslim"? The fact that Ayman Al-Zawahiri (aka the Eygtpian doctor and number 2 man of Osama) gets mentioned just about every time Al Qaeda gets mentioned in the news doesn't help. The Eygptians, the Saudis, the Jordanians and other Arab countries need to do more publically to counteract the negative PR moves being made by the terrorists or all but the most adventurous tourists might stay away permanently.

Re:Take this Egypt!

[gd2shoe]

Yeah, and so were some of the early pyramids, as I recall.

Give the guy a break.