<
https://www.techdirt.com/2022/10/26/unfortunately-paying-for-the-public-domain-already-exists-in-many-countries/>
"A couple of weeks ago, we reported on a terrible idea in France: requiring
companies to pay for the use of public domain material. As the post explained,
this is a subversion of what it means for something to enter the public domain,
and a betrayal of the implicit bargain of copyright. Fortunately, the plan was
dropped, partly as a result of the outrage it generated.
Naively, I assumed that this was a lucky escape, but that the idea would be
back unless we were on our guard. I was wrong: the idea won’t be back, because
it has already been implemented in a number of other countries. For example,
Jorge Gemetto pointed out on Twitter that something called the “paying” public
domain has existed in Uruguay and Argentina for many years. He linked to an
interesting article on the topic by Maximiliano Marzetti, who lists even more
countries blighted by this copyright perversion: Algeria, Kenya, Ruanda,
Senegal, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Paraguay. Marzetti refers
to a 2010 report from WIPO, which explore the idea of the “paying” public
domain further.
A recent article in the
Guardian reveals that Italy, too, has this awful
approach, whereby any use of the country’s publicly owned art to sell
merchandise requires permission and payment of a fee. That includes works that
were never in copyright, and have been in the public domain for hundreds of
years, as the French fashion house Jean Paul Gaultier found to its cost:
Italy’s Uffizi Galleries are suing the French fashion house Jean Paul
Gaultier for damages that could exceed €100,000 (£88,000) after the
company’s allegedly unauthorised use of images of Botticelli’s Renaissance
masterpiece The Birth of Venus to adorn a range of clothing products,
including T-shirts, leggings and bodices.
The article goes on to explain that the Uffizi Galleries sell merchandise
themselves, which means this is about money, as it always is. That’s what
copyright does, even to some of the people running the greatest art galleries
and museums. The idea that the real public domain – not the damaged, “paying”
kind – should be defended for itself, as a matter of principle, never seems to
enter their heads."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
