In The Outset At That Topographic Point Was The ©; Copyright World

Papal copyright: royalties on the way

An plainly reputable rootage has emailed the IPKat to inform him that the Vatican is considering exploiting the copyright inward Pope Benedict XVI's writings as well as speeches. He writes:

"The Italian publishing earth is aghast. The demand past times the Vatican to honor copyright inward the pontiff's writings as well as to pay for their piece of employment has triggered a hot debate: should an establishment which exists to spread the give-and-take of God endure putting a cost on papal writ? Unthinkable, tell some authors. Not so, counters the Vatican: the authors are beingness paid for their efforts, as well as therefore why non the church? While the query is pondered, the novel papacy is shaping upward equally a publisher's dream. Benedict's starting fourth dimension encyclical, God is Love, is a best-seller.

... After [Cardinal] Ratzinger was elected pope on nineteen April, the Holy See's No. 2 official, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, signed a decree assigning inward perpetuity as well as worldwide the copyrights of all Benedict's industrial plant - including the hundreds he wrote earlier becoming pope - to the Vatican's publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, known equally LEV. La Stampa's Vatican correspondent, Marco Tosatti, as well as his Italian publisher, were striking alongside €15,000 (US$18,500) inward copyright fees for Pope Ratzinger's dictionary, a slim mass of the pope's thoughts on abortion, freedom, conscience as well as other issues that was rushed out afterward his election. Vatican lawyers likewise demanded fifteen percentage on sales addition €3,500 (US$4,200) inward legal fees, Tosatti said.

In Lev's defense its spokeswoman, Francesca Aida Bucciarelli, cites Tosatti's ain preface to the book: "Everything you lot volition find, from the destination of this introduction on, belongs to the pen as well as vocalism of Joseph Ratzinger". Tosatti said the demand for payment "seems to become against the rattling spirit of the church". Bucciarelli concurred that publishers direct maintain reprinted encyclicals inward the past, fifty-fifty though the Vatican issued a similar copyright decree a calendar month afterward John Paul's 1978 election. "But non exclusively did they non pay for the rights, they were making coin off it!" she said.

Copyright: an Islamic perspective here, here and here
Copyright: a Jewish stance here
See what copyright did to the Messiah here


Latest Copyright World

's Feb lawsuit of Copyright World , published past times Informa, has merely surfaced from beneath the pile of bills that inevitably follows his end-of-year excesses. What's inward it, you lot ask? The response is

* "Feeding the Frenzy", past times the IPKat's quondam colleague Rajita Sharma together alongside Cynthia Kernick (both of Reed Smith). This is nix to produce alongside piranhas. Rather, it's a fleck of friendly advice on what to produce (and non to do) if you lot excogitation to brand commercial piece of employment of a celebrity shot or still;

* "Copyright Goes to the Ball", past times Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer IP associates Paul Joseph as well as Giles Pratt. This slice seeks to review the key copyright cases of 2005 on the premise that copyright, the Cinderella of intellectual property, has taken see stage.

* Martin Kretschmer (Professor of Information Jurisprudence at Bournemouth University) asks what you lot produce alongside rights you lot don't need, questioning the validity of the old "more is better" knee-jerk philosophy.

can't assist wondering: if you lot direct maintain IP rights, you lot don't direct maintain to piece of employment them - but if you lot don't direct maintain any, you lot don't direct maintain the selection of neglecting them either.