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Egypt's Plans To 'Copyright' The Pyramids
from the you-have-got-to-be-kidding dept
We've had plenty of posts discussing the ridiculousness of copyright extension, especially when it applies to works retroactively. However, we're usually talking about content created in the last century. Not any more. It seems that this era's obsessions with misunderstanding the purpose of copyright is about to taken to a new level of absurdity. Chris was among many of you who took time out of your holiday feasts to alert us to the fact that Egypt is preparing to "copyright" the pyramids, the sphinx and other Egyptian antiquities. Of course "copyright" is being used loosely here. Realistically, it sounds like some Egyptian politicians need to come up with a plan to raise more tax revenue for the government, and so they came up with this bizarre plan to pretend that they can tax anyone who creates a likeness of famous Egyptian monuments. Apparently this decision came just days after a newspaper editorial suggested that the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas owes the Egyptian gov't a share of its profits. Realistically, this has nothing to do with copyright at all, but is simply just an excuse to try to try to bring in additional tax revenue by misappropriating the concept of copyright as a weak rationale for the tax. However, in an age where copyright supporters want people to think that copyright is the same thing as real property, it's much easier to get people to believe this is a reasonable proposal. Of course, given that the real purpose of copyright is supposed to be about creating incentives for the creation of new content, does this mean we're going to start seeing new pyramids start springing up in Egypt anytime soon?
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There Rights
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Copyright Tax
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Many countries have shown that you can get rich without vast natural resources (And Eygpt does have some oil fields, as well the Suez Canal, and the Aswan Dam).
Eygpt is actually ideally located to be a player in any number of markets. It's just a question of advancing to the 21st century, or "the Third Wave" as Toffler calls it.
The problem is a culture of serfdom and fatalism. That can be changed but probably won't. Too bad. Well, at least they have their pyramids. I'm sure Las Vegas would love to share their profits with the Eygptian Government.
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I think it's a good idea.
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Re: There Rights
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Re: Re: There Rights
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science project
Wait; an Egyptian Pyramid MP3 player, the little mummy coffin will accept memory sticks. Now the player and the music can both be illegal.
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Re:
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Who's their lawyer - The Mummy??
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Honor this!
I say: Let them have their copyright!
On another note: Has anyone actually been able to build an exact replica using the same techniques? I saw a Nova thing on it but it was a 2 parter and I only saw part 1.
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Re: There Rights
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Re: I think it's a good idea.
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Re: science project
The King James Bible is copyrighted in Britain. I don't see the pyramids as a huge leap.
Daft Punk might have to pay royalties though. They love pyramids.
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Re: I think it's a good idea.
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what about Camel cigarettes
That will put RJ Reynolds out of business.
The pyramids are a fundamental part of their marketing for the Camel brand.
What is next, the US government charging for every picture of any official monument on Flickr?
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They should look at London
Result? All the makers of tourist tat stopped using them. So those places now become over time become less famous and as time goes by, loose tourism revenue while the goverment get little if any extra revenue from the trademarks/copyrights
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muayad
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Disney Does It
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Germany?
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no money from the Luxor
"The Luxor hotel in the US city of Las Vegas would also not be affected because it was not an exact copy of a pyramid and its interior was completely different"
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