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Mexico Wants Payment For Aztec Images
innocent_white_lamb writes "Starbucks brought out a line of cups with prehistoric Aztec images on them. Now the government of Mexico wants them to pay for the use of the images. Does the copyright on an image last hundreds of years?"
Surely they could have included a picture of the offending cups...
In most countries which have copyright laws it extends only 50 or so years after the author dies.
Take what ye can. Give nothing back!
I'm Scottish and I want cash every time some one uses my family's tartan in a design or for cloth!
This is nuts especially since people have been using Aztec and Mayan designs for decades. They smell deep pockets and that's all this is about. Where does the insanity stop? Every country controls designs going back millions of years so long as it came from within their borders?
...under the weight of their own stupidity.
It was once thought that 14 years was a reasonable amount of time to capitalize on a copyright. Now, distribution and capitalization happens much more quickly, and yet copyright duration has continued to get longer and longer.
IIRC certain countries or people demand that their "culture" must not be exploited without their consent. I.e. not without paying for it.
I don't think it's just "simple" copyright they're going to field, they're going to insist that the culture of a country belongs to that country and isn't just public property.
Which should be interesting if it sticks. Egypt demanding compensation for every mummy movie, Italy demanding compensation for every time someone does a gladiator movie, Russia demanding compensation for every dystopian totalitarian novel and Israel demanding compensation for every Bible.
I somehow almost wish they get away with it. It should be insanely hilarious.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The answer is . . . No?
If this is the case, then sweat damn are all the states of the old Confederacy gonna make some serious Union dollars.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
The Boston Bruins are gonna have to accept a buy out by the Red Army in order to settle their debts.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
Actually, the article clarifies that these images are from the pre-Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan, which would make them at least 1,000 years old.
I struggle to believe that a society that once murder 70,000 in a single day to appease the gods was big on registering copyrights. I could be wrong, and I'd hate to stereotype, but . . .
Why would the Mexican government get that copyright? Why not a Nahuatl organization? Or maybe victims fund for all the Tlaxcalans the Aztecs killed.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
What...
That's crazy. I can sort of understand wanting compensation for something your government created, to recompense taxpayer expense... but to ask recompense for an artistic STYLE your nation was built upon the dead remains of is WAY beyond my usual expectations of baseless money-grabbing.
If there was a copyright on the creation, it has expired. By a few thousand years. There is certainly no derivative works clause you can pull out at this point.
Even if you want to stake some claim on government effort in excavation, the only efforts you can claim ownership of would be individual performances/creations you have based on the original works - anyone else can just base their works on the original and avoid any derivative claims.
Still, my guess is that this isn't really about making a serious claim - it's about getting settlements - about casting nets and seeing what comes back. The governmental version of SCO-style license trolling.
Ryan Fenton
Walt Disney would be proud.
And we will have the Sunny Aztec copyrith extension act. Now, copyright will last at least from 1923 until next decade. That is from when Disney and other media houses started recording movies and music. Today that means 100 years. In a billion years, copyight will have been extended to 1 billion and 100 years. If the mexicans want in on the game, they will have to pay some lawmaker.
don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org
it is customary, and while it may not have teeth, it's used to support
the archeological sites -- to continue to make the works publicly
available; running most of the 100's of sites in Mexico costs quite
a bit of currency, payments like this offset it
They should come to New Zealand and talk to the Maori. They try to do the same thing with the Haka and Moko's
... I'm not some fancy big shot lawyer. But ...
Why not? The copyright system seems borked beyond belief. If Disney can keep it on Mickey (*1928) and [insert studio name here] on [old movie/record/whatever here] or [dead person] retaining theirs via some company or whatever. So that stuff clearly gets extended beyond time.
That said, a country retaining C on a "long dead" culture from 500-700 years ago that just happened to live in the area? That seems to be stretching it. But if it is the case then whom do I talk to about getting some cash from the Minnesota Vikings?
not yet, but it will once Mickey is hundreds of years old
Is the Disney of the Aztec Empire still around?
Sounds like a deal could be made here. Mexico pays us for providing free services to 6 million illegals and we pay copyright on the images. The way I see it mexico is in the hole yet a few billion.
The copyright, trademark, and patent insanity will only stop once everyone is negatively impacted. It's got to get (much) worse before it will get better.
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
The real trouble happened when tried to put 2 Aztecs in 1 Cup. Associated a whole new twist to the taste of their coffee.
Starbuck's work is likely either a photograph, or a work derived
from a photograph. The photo is likely copyrighted, or restricted.
When you visit an architelogical site, your personal photos are
for personal use only -- not commercial reproduction accoring to
the law of Mexico. It's been this way for quite some time (70's?).
When you do apply for reproduction rights, it's usually limited
to specific publications with a nominal fee per object represented.
These laws were put in place quite early, perhaps before the 60's.
So, it's possible it's an artist's rendition (not derived from photo)
or it is based on a representation from before the antiquity laws
were passed -- however, unlikely. So, it's extremely possible that
copyright is the vehicle for enforcement.
Of course, the Mexican government is going to be sure and give that money to the indiginous tribes, the descendants of the original artists, right?
Wish I had mod points - I was about to post something similar, but your analogy was much more insightful :)
What's next? We're going to have to pay the Italians for using Roman letters and the Saudi's for using Arabic numbers? Ridiculous!
and since starbucks does buisness in that country it is subject to its laws
i'm putting a claim for copyright on the english alphabet...
so all you m'f'kers be ready for a visit from my lawyers...
Humm, let's see... What if Egypt (or Mexico) charges $1 for each image of a pyramid, then ...
All your one dollar bills are belong to us!
Computers obey me.
By the same logic, maybe the German government should sue for payment each time a swastika is used by someone..
:)
Yep, TFA just got godwinned
We want mexico to pay us for all the boarder jumpers that come here for medical and social services they get for FREE! We want payment of the taxes they circumvent by working under the table and then send the money to mexico. We want payment for all the crime they bring to this country and the cost of enforcement of the immigration laws they circumvent requiring us to round them up, process them, and then send them back to where they belong, SOUTH OF THE BOARDER! Pay us first and then we can talk about the works of a people that have vanished off of the planet before mexico WAS mexico!
Hey Mexico, my middle finger just called and it wants its 'Fuck You' back.
(?)
Those were developed by the gods. And they are still around.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Just pay the US royalties on blue jeans
and then they will try to claim royalties for anything that talks about December 21st, 2012.
New Economic Perspectives
The Mexican government collects some token fee for these images and pays the U.S. government for all of the U.S. medical care provided to Mexican citizens in our Emergency Rooms. Fair is fair right. Shouldn't those parties that are actually owed something be able to collect it?
I want a pony.
calling aztec images "prehistoric" is racist. would a society without recorded history have one of the most advanced calendars of all time, still being reproduced on coffee mugs?
Well when the aztecs return from space, they can claim their money, not mexico.
I think trademark would be more fitting intellectual property here.
And can a government assert trademark rights over things it didn't create? Can a government assert trademark rights over things that are marks of a people that existed prior to them? Can a government assert trademarks at all?
This just sound like more government corruption to me.
Oh boy! You think that ancient painting is far away of any kind of copyright protection? Think twice... Unfortunately this is Mexico you're talking about. Just as reference. Mexico could be one of the most powerful countries in the world if we knew what happens with the resources XP... (Just take a look on the payroll of politics and government offices). National corruption is just a hobby around here; a nice challenge for the first quarter of this year could be to blackmail an international company...and why not Starbucks? I fell shame and sadness looking news like this...
If it is up to Mexican reconquistas, US residents should pack up and go back to the motherland, i.e. Europe, leaving the land to them. This royalty for thousand years old images is another display of the same sentiment. I live in Souther California (or northern Mexico if you choose to say so) and this reconquista movement is getting to my nerves. If your ancestors were stupid enough to sell the land to the US, don't come crying to me now, asking it back. Go pound sand. I am really touch about these people's behaviour. I did not come to the US and overcome every bureaucratic hurdle to become a US citizen to listen to the Mexican La Raza idiots. I want to kick them in the ass for such stupid demands.
__________
The more I know people, the more I love animals
Mexican government
To whom it may concern:
Fuck off.
Sincerely,
Starbucks
I still cannot find the droids I am looking for...
The minivan. I had the idea when I was a mere teenager back in the 60's.
What's the problem here, Mexico not making enough money off of the drug lords or is the Obama mentality migrating south? If Mexico really wants payment for those images, they have a lot more people to go after than just Starbucks. A quick google search for Aztec images will net you quite a few different websites that use those images not only for show, but to make a profit.
This is contemplated in the federal law about Monuments and Archeological, artistics, and historic sites. It is not exactly a question of copyright, but those images are considered "property of the nation".
Ussually the fees are not very high, but depends on the use of the images. Since this was part of a comercial product, the INAH has to autorize its use, and charge a fee, used for conservation of the monuments. The problem is that the design company that sold the images to starbuck should have request permision to the INAH first. There are no penalties involved.
The permisions can be requested here:
http://www.cofemer.gob.mx/BuscadorTramites/BuscadorGeneralHomoclave.asp?SIGLASDEPENDENCIA=INAH&accion=Buscando
If you took a photograph nad use it for personal or divulgation, there is no problem, but if you used them for a comercial purpose you need permision.
http://dti.inah.gob.mx/
For using the Corinth style capitals and columns in its buildings ...
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
It's almost hilarious that a government that existed after the Aztecs wants money for the images of their predecessors... Am I missing something here? Or am I laughing by myself?
The game.
The permision is not very dificult, and is only required for comercial proyects:
http://www.cofemertramites.gob.mx/intranet/co_dialog_PublishedTramite.asp?coNodes=1190358&num_modalidad=3
In the link there is the e-mail of the people in charge of this.
Has anyone thought yet to ask where the images came from? It seems obvious to me that what could have happened was that Starbucks took photographs taken by the government archaeological society, which the society may have used for post-cards, t-shirts, or other tourism items and placed them on Starbucks mugs without paying fees to the Mexican government for those photographs.
What you have here is an evil coffee company that underpays its workers vs a corrupt government that is gold digging instead of promoting it's culture for tourism etc, and you're talking rubbish about new ways to involve copyright?
The more I see of copyright law the more I'm convinced it can't be fixed. It has gotten so far out of hand that it needs to be abolished and we need to start again. People have become so greedy that they use copyright law to prevent instead of promote their products then wonder why they fail. Like those stupid warnings on DVDs that have made a movie night at a school or university illegal.
I would like to submit to you that since every product ever made has a manufacturer that the only way to get an image that doesn't violate someone else's copyright is to go out into the wilderness (but make sure it's public land and that the government doesn't want a cut).
I challenge you to come up with one object that you can sharp in focus well exposed photograph in your immediate surroundigns where some bozo can't claim you violated their copyright and demand that you pay them. At the same time good luck getting their permission even if you are willing to pay. The current law is just ridiculous.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
In most countries which have copyright laws it extends only 50 or so years after the author dies.
Perhaps that's the point. No one has produced the Aztec death certificate of the original artist so he/she might still be alive :-)
The fee is required for the comercial use of any building of historical artifacts that falls under the juridiction of the Archeological and historical agency of the goverment.
http://dti.inah.gob.mx/
In this case, some of the images were from the monument to the independence and the "Palacio de bellas artes" that were built around 1910.
Even though we don't have a compete lock on stupid, but a lot of our stupid stuff gets copied all over the world. Rap music, gang signs and baggy hip-hop fashions! World, you own us big time for our stupid!
Why is Snark Required?
Mainly.... National Geographic, The history channel, and of course... the catholic church...
you can think more in ther line of trademark... the fee is required to control and conservation the use of historical monuments...
Actually, IIRC the Arabic number system had it's origin in India. There was an excellent BBC program on the history of mathematics which showed some early examples.
National iconography should be protected from redefinition, abuse and from corporate marketing departments.
This being said, I am still waiting when I can publish my, adult only, Mickey Mouse movie : "On Santa's knees".
They should have known... after all, Starbucks payed to the agency...that payment should have included the fee for the commercial use of the images...
Could it be on Slashdot? Yeah, that's the ticket, Egypt tried to copyright the pyramids and the sphinx no less. I haven't heard anything else about it, but I'm pretty sure that answer was "how about no".
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
i read somwhere that that the monastery owner of the oldest surviving coyp of the bible ( http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/ ) is asking for a fee...
Here you go.
http://images.google.com.hk/images?q=de_aztec&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
Starbucks has to pay the astronomical amount of $1,477.07 to $2,954.50 mexican pesos.. (about 200 us dolar) per image...
I think that amount can be recolected by a single starbuck in a couple of hours...
Of course starbuck are willing to pay, even if they not use the images.. And probably they would change the agency that sold them the images.
but the real problems seems that people in the INAH were not willing to grant use of the images..., and the news were exagerated by some nationalist characters...
But i think a Starbuck mug which you ahve to pay, does not cover "fair use"...
Currently i am making a documentary , and i already have asked permision. It is fairly cheap.. but needs some patience...
How many New Yorkers does it take to screw in a light bulb! NONE, F%&K YOU!
actually it would be cheaper to pay the fee.. it goes about 200 US per image....
It won't be funny for customers when they'll have to seek for toilet after every coffee
Copyright gets extended every time it's about to hit the expiration limit so yes, copyright will last hundreds of years a century from now.
Are Black Tar Heroin, Cocaine, and Marijuana suitable forms of payment? Maybe an attractive mexican housekeeper looking for a visa? :D
Civilized countries invade other countries based on blatant lies, kill thousands of people, imprison people without trial in places that they acquired by force from weaker countries.
Shall I continue?
Nope, unnecessary.
I have many other examples of countries that call themselves "civilized" who are partners of Mexico in the G20 or the OECD, but it would be as pointless as not considering Mexico a civilized place (as a matter of fact there is no country that is not civilized strictly speaking, since all human groups produce a civilization of some kind or another).
Oh wait, the PP was an AC's. Never mind.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Mexico is run by the descendants of both the people that killed the natives and the natives.
Your assertion that "The Mexican government is the heir of the Spanish Empire" is so monumentally ignorant that does not deserve any further comment.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Naa, they are just making a joke, to make USA see how idiot it is to have patents like multitouch, double-click, drag and drop, etc ...
its a valid copyright/patent issue.
if copyright lobby can extend the copyright period by 90 years, why a government shouldnt be able to extend any copyright 500 years ?
Read radical news here
http://www.cnmh.inah.gob.mx/ponencias/630.html
it is the "La Ley Federal sobre Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicos, Artísticos e Históricos"
(federal law for monuments and archeological , artistics and historic sites)
It has the purpose of protect the national heritage. And what it is asking is a fee for taking the photographs for comercial use, stating what use would you give to it. It is no very high, and nowhere it goe to the amount if it were a copyright...
While Starbucks claimed the INAH had not gave them permision, i guess they did not made the correct way. the permision should not take more than five days. And if should cost form 100 to 250$ per image (for comercial use). For private of fair use, you do not need to pay.
probalby we already have developed a... darwinian adaptation...
With this, they will have the right to put "autorized by the INAH" and a serial number.
This woul allow them to charge more for the mugs, and the fee would hardly impact in the cost
UNfortunatelly the news about thisproblem are mainly gibberish...
Actually, many mathematical primitives and conventions really come from India. Generally, alot of knowledge in any field comes from the Vedas. Alot of words in most western languages are derived from Sanskrit, acclaimed the most ancient language in the world. Look up Vedic mathematics, and also regard the fact that most of Vedic knowledge has been lost in time after India's glory days. Today, less than 1% of Vedic texts remains after wars and pilfering, but the original knowledge has spread around the globe in the form of derived traditions (which often deny or is ignorant about its heritage).
However, India today is also much smaller than when it was an empire long, long time ago (between 5.000-15.000 years? maybe more, records are not clear..)
So India today cannot really claim everything comes / is derived from India, because it was much larger in those days, a totally different country / set of countries. It may not have been one country, but rather a large amount of smaller kingdom perpetually in war with eachother, if records are accurate. Think thousands of years before Greek philosophers were even born.. So it may be more accurate to mention the Vedas, rather than India in this context.
Conclusion: Most western languages have Sanskrit words in them. Most fundamental knowledge we take for granted today really comes from the time of Vedas (wether directly from Vedas or not), much prior to the Greeks and other philosophers. It may have been reinventions too though, nobody really knows. However, the Vedic knowledge was in its day a library about every type of field, including manuals on how to pilot aircrafts and make the fuel. However, the records are sadly too obtuse / derived orally from other sources, so are not really practical in its present shape. However, just the fact they have these records, signify this is not the first time earth have had technically advanced civilisations, even though the original records about them have been lost. In those days though, people were much more spiritually advanced, and even then, they failed to survive..
I guess everyone needs to pay for the use of speaking and writing the English Language
to the British. The same goes for all the other languages too!
Wouldn't the Aztecs own the rights to their images rather than the government of Mexico. Aren't the tribal Aztecs who used these types of art long in their graves? Wasn't it Spanish governments that pounded the Aztec empire into the dust? Should the US government do the same and collect money every time an American Indian's image is used? Oh boy. Now I'm messed up. Aztecs are American Indians. But that is the other kind of American. Do they count?
Who cares if they make money with an image of tenochtitlan? Just make a decent earning tax regime for foreing companies instead.
They care more about a long dead Aztec artist than about the Mexicans that are dying right now in their own time in hands of sub-human employment conditions.
Not the first time I read something like this and sadly not the last time I'm going to hear it.
The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
Having poor conditions or ~5 bucks a day(~51 pesos) does not mean we are not civilized. Now, you are so happy with your government? We are happy we our government. Why? Because they don't hide us stuff! They don't censor us!(With some exceptions like paedophiles stuff) Now he problem is that the History and Anthropology Department own all rights to it. And Mexican government don't take lightly that other countries(Being companies or individuals) use any cultural material for making money. I had myself made a short video and there was no problem!
The Nazis were worse than the Aztecs? They's your defense? That makes it such a wonderful culture, right?
You could also have pointed out that less people died under the Aztecs than the few hundred million that Communism killed in the last century or so, but that wouldn't have earned you any mod points from the knee-jerk reactionary leftist Slashdot sheep.
As for diseases, it's hard to find on the internet because it's not politically correct to say it, but genetic studies of syphilis show it originated in Guyana or thereabouts. In South America. The intellectual stuttering and stammering that discovery produced in academic circles is pretty hilarious.
Better yet, wait until China sues Japan for using it's HanZi in the first place!
Does Mexico own the symbols? Considering they were created before there was a state of Mexico I doubt it. Considering the symbols are a language - and I don't think an established (even if it's dead) can be copyrighted. Please I don't copyrights expire after like 80 years? Wow, I know Mexico is desperate for cash - but really, what do they think they will get? 10 million? What's 10 million going to do for a freakign COUNTRY.
I do not support "The Man". I also do not support your irrational stupidity
Mexico can send all of their unskilled and illiterate people to the U.S. to be educated, receive free health care and government benefits, and Star Bucks can use the stupid Aztec images.
Seems fair to me.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
One thing to take note is that Mexico has different ideas concerning intellectual property. The national emblem for example is ruled by a strict code that does not let allow it to be reproduced for anything other than governmental/national use. The Mexican flag, is similarly protected, it cannot be printed on shirts, or underwear or on guitars like the American flag can. I am not a specialist, but taking these to cases' examples I can imagine a similar train of thought that might lead to protection not necessarily a copyright or I.P. law that restricts the use of such national emblems. Mexican identity is deeply rooted in both catholic(Spanish) and native traditions, national symbols are not so easy to define.
You people are stupid, first of all the aztec images are not prehistoric, you didnt see any aztecs running around some giant dinosaurs do you?
The aztec were the rulers of Mesoamerica by the time Colombus discovered the continent. That's... i don't know... 1492? Pretty prehistoric for me.
I'm with the mexican government, Starbucks doesn't have in any way any rights of the images, those images belong to the mexican people.
Mexico FTW!!!
For example, if somebody plays the Mexican national anthem publicly in the US you have to pay royalties to some American company that registered the music without anybody's approval. Same for the image of Guadalupe's Virgin Mary, you have to pay royalties to some Chinese go-getter that registered the image outside of Mexico. It's crazy.
If for some reason Mexico won, this would set a very dangerous precedent.
Should Egypt sue the US for using images of the pyramids on currency?
This stinks like a stereotypical Corrupt Mexican Police shakedown... Stopping you for speeding, but unless you give them all the cash you have on hand they will lock you up and trump up additional charges.
What kind of sense does that make?
The real news about this story is that a post on Idle led to over 200 comments!
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
First we have the story on a government planting explosives on unsuspecting passengers, now we have another one demanding copyrights from images based on a time before said government existed.
Is this April 1st? What in the heck is happening here???
Let's ask the Aztecs, techs...
This is idle.slashdot, after all
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
It seems to me that those of us with vacation pictures to Mexico should start posting them on the internet with a "buy me now" link to shutterfly (or what have you). If Mexico is going to be that overly possessive just to get 250$, then it should probably realize that millions of people a year take pictures and share them with friends... and even sell them if they are good enough at photography / art.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I wish I could mod you up one. As I recall, the current government overthrew the prior government, I'm thinking Ownership by Conquest, which was a stable practice in the region for thousands of years, in what is now Central America. Maybe a lawyer representing the Aztec Triad Alliance is going to step forward?
I just had a second thought, could it be that the Mexican Drug Lords are finding more money in Litigation, than being a Mule for Columbia?
I'm sorry Mexico, your copyright expired in 1492.
I'd really like to see what images they are referring to since the article only showed the old starbucks mermaid with a stupid starcrown on her head.
They certainly can't be talking about that, especially since that mermaid is descended from a european art style, and I don't remember there ever being any mention of there being any mermaid stories (much less images) in the Americas prior to the European imports of same.
If the image belongs to anyone, it's not Mexico, but the Nahua http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahua_peoples .
This is what happens when the winners write the history, and it says "they were wiped out" but they weren't wiped out.
Hopefully Starbucks will get the jump on Mexico and pay the Nahua. And hopefully Mexico won't decide to finish the job like they've been doing with the Maya in Chiapas.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Yesterday I saw this in a newspaper here in Mexico and at first it sounded absurd to me, but I think/read that what happened it's that Starbucks used images taken/used by the INAH not ones that were taken for them, so the INAH wants Starbucks to pay for the use of the images, not because the images are aztec/teotihuacanas but because these particular images are owned by the INAH.
See, many years ago, before a little coffee shop turned into this machination of "good coffee," they had wondered into the lands of Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico. And while there they tasted some of the most "premium" coffee in the world. You see, Coatepec has very unique attributes which lend itself to growing coffee. Thus they produce(d) some of the worlds "best" coffee.
So while Starbucks was there and liking what they tasted, they were also in many other places trying "premium" coffee. So they ended up getting their supply from elsewhere. Now if you know anything about Mexico, their Pyramids and Gods, you'll know that they're not something to be taken lightly! So of course, Coatepec means something like the snake from the hill/mountain.... And thus they're now taking their revenge on Starbucks for not buying their coffee!*
I actually spent some time there and I found out about this and was like o rly? And sure enough they showed me the "gifts" they had received from star bucks, a company from some placed called Seattle. It was actually pretty cool because they were still in their original packaging and branded with starbucks logos! So that's how I know about 1/2 the of the story. The other half I just cobbled up from what the general public believes to be true!
* Maybe about 1/2 of this story is 80% accurate - no guarantees
My abilities are only limited by my imagination
Your assertion that "The Mexican government is the heir of the Spanish Empire" is so monumentally ignorant that does not deserve any further comment.
It's not ignorant at all, and does deserve further comment. It's just as valid as saying that the US government is the heir of the British Empire. Granted in both cases, neither is heir to the empire, but heir of the empire.
Consider this: Spain was in charge, established a government, and provided an infrastructure to Mexico, much as the British did in what's now the USA. The USA claimed independence in 1776; Mexico not too much later, in 1810. In neither case were the governments restored to that of the indiginous populations. Infrastructure and the rule of law pretty much continued as it did. In both Mexico and the United States it took a couple of tries to get it right (multiple constitutions or articles of confederation), but in the end, the governments are very much the heirs of their predecessors.
--Jim (me)
I say this is a call to end ridiculous intellectual property rights. Mexico's request may sound ridiculous, but the US patent office is ridiculous too. I can register for a patent for just about anything and can sue people who "invent" the same thing later.
So they want money for art created BEFORE the government even existed. I can see the lawyers pointing out that those artists were not citizens of the current government.
Say, will they attempt to get royalties on the images of the Alamo?
Place nail here >+
Why is anyone seriously discussing this? It's one of the looniest claims I have heard for a long time. The insane and inane fascination with copyright has been driven by idiotic legislation and the demands of greedy corporations. If someone or some country can claim copyright over Aztec images, how about pre-historic cave drawings? Get a life everyone!
Mexico didn't even exist at the time. How can they claim copyright?
Noah built an arch?
Wait until they hit up Emmerich for aa cut of the "2012" profits
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
By some strange coincidence Texas seceded from the (then) Spanish colony of Mexico right after the Spanish abolished slavery!
That is the part of "the Alamo" that Texans would rather forget!
A country cannot lay claim to an image dominated by the common conscience. Next, Egypt will want the US to pay tax on the Pyramid on the back on our Money!
Perposturous!
Cheers, - Alex.
Is the coffee from Mexico?
F Mexico! They owe us at least a tillion dollars for taking care of tens of millions of their unskilled, uneducated peasants.
Apparently fifty cent (the rapper) wanted 'mad flow'
He got 'crazy diarrhea'
When this site http://www.hanzismatter.com/ published the picture and translation his lawyers sued.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'