[pp.int.general] Resale rights and 2001/84/EC directive: obscenely enlarging material interests of authors

[Reinier Bakels]

> Carlos Ayala Vargas skrev:
>> Congratulations, you've bought a brand-new house, in a nice place, nice 
>> design
>> and inner distribution, and it cost 200.000 € ... however, 3 years later 
>> you
>> have to resell it because you move 500 km far from it; in spite of the 
>> current
>> real estate crisis, you become able to sale it for 250.000 €; would you 
>> find it
>> reasonable that the architect ask you for a 1 % of the sale price -i.e., 
>> 2.500 €-
> While architecture is copyrighted, I do not think this directive applies
> to buildings.
>
> At least this is how this directive was implemented in danish copyright
> law in 2005. Our law explicitly states that this mandatory royalty does
> not apply to buildings.
>
> And while I agree with Reinier that it is too late to win this war, I
> think this can be used politically in countries where it is still being
> implemented, to make people aware of the problems with copyright, and of
> the importance of voting PP into the EU Parliament.
>
> In Denmark the implementation of this directive was actually an
> improvement. We used to have a flat 5% of sales price royalty with no
> limit, but that is not allowed by the directive.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Ole Husgaard.

Talking about architects: they tend to be strict on moral rights. When the 
new central station in Berlin was finished a couple of years ago. the 
architect complained that a particular detail was not realised as he had 
designed, and he required in court that it would be corrected, and he won. 
Now this station is Berlins pride, it is a landmark building with a high 
symbolic value in this city with its complicated history. And th3e 
construction of this station caused some technical problems - it is in an 
area close to a river with soft soil.

Actually I have not heard how this story ended, but I guess that the 
architect finally got a financial compensation.

In NL, the heirs of an architect contested until the Supreme Court the 
demomishment of a building. But then the Supreme Court decided that moral 
rights only affect changes to the creation of an architect - but the 
demolishment was not considered a change: the result is not a bulding with 
changes the architect would not approve, but no building at all.

Conceivably it would be very problematic if all architects can prohibit 
their works from being demolished. Note that moral rights may last even 
longer than exploitation rights (i.e. beyond life +70) - in France they last 
forever(and are enforced - theoretically - by the police).

Another problem in thisfield is that architects can claim copyright for 
picture cards of their buildings. But fortunately - thanks to a European 
directive - the rules have been relaxed in this respect. There is now more 
freedom to make and sell photographs of buildings in the public space.

Such problems are aggravated because collective rights agencies typically 
strive for the maximum - they don't limit themselves to what is reasonable. 
In NL there has been an interesting case of a newspaper interviewing a board 
member of a major company. Next to the interview, it printed a photograph of 
this director in his office - with a sculpture in the background (board 
rooms are often decorated with works of art). And then a collective rights 
organisation claimed rights on behalf of the sculptor, because the 
photograph was deemed to be a "new publication" of this copyrighted work. 
Unfortunately, the parties came to an (unknown) settelement, so that nobody 
knows what is the law in this type of situation.

A fair use exception may resolve such  problems  - but it is considered 
undesirable on this side of the ocean, because it hurts the (human?) rights 
of the author (= rights owner) and may affect legal certainty adversely.

Again: beware of human rights! Authors and their representatives will claim 
human rights ad nauseam - and it is not plain nonse from a legal 
perspective. There is plenty of literature in that direction.

reinier