[Infowarrior] - Egypt 'to copyright antiquities'

[Richard Forno]

Egypt 'to copyright antiquities'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7160057.stm

Egypt's MPs are expected to pass a law requiring royalties be paid whenever
copies are made of museum pieces or ancient monuments such as the pyramids.

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

The money was needed to maintain thousands of pharaonic sites, he said.

Correspondents say the law will deal a blow to themed resorts across the
world where large-scale copies of Egyptian artefacts are a crowd-puller.

Mr Hawass said the law would apply to full-scale replicas of any object in
any museum in Egypt.

"Commercial use" of ancient monuments like the pyramids or the sphinx would
also be controlled, he said.

"Even if it is for private use, they must have permission from the Egyptian
government," he added.

But he said the law would not stop local and international artists
reproducing monuments as long as they were not exact replicas.

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, Mr Hawass told AFP news agency.

But he said claims by the hotel that it was "the only pyramid-shaped
building in the world" could no longer be made.

The announcement came two days after an Egyptian newspaper called on the
hotel to pay a share of its profits to the central Egyptian city of Luxor,
which administers the ancient Valley of the Kings burial site.