<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
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 €-?<br>
<br>
If the answer is no, then try to read <a
href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32001L0084:EN:HTML">Directive
2001/84/EC</a>, and get scared. That Directive is hot news in Spain, as
last Tuesday it become announced in the Official State Bulletin the <a
href="http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2008/12/25/pdfs/A51995-51997.pdf">Law
3/2008 (in Spanish)</a> -which implements the EU Directive-; it doesn't
abolish the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine">first-sale
doctrine</a>, though damages it considerably -it doesn't even consider
the difference between sale and resale prices; i.e, if you bought a
painting for 50.000 € and you sell it for 40.000 €, you not only lose
10.000 € in the transaction, but also have to pay a 2.000 € fee (i.e.,
to have a 2.000 € additional loss)!-.<br>
<br>
2001/84/EC is to be applied to the resale of "<i>works of graphic or
plastic art such as pictures, collages, paintings,
drawings, engravings, prints, lithographs, sculptures, tapestries,
ceramics, glassware and photographs, provided they are made by the
artist himself or are copies considered to be original works of art</i>".
While some may argue that houses are not the same as intellectual
works, we must point out that 2001/84/EC explicitly states in Preamble,
2nd paragraph, that "<i>the subject-matter of the resale right is <b>the
physical work</b>,
namely <b>the medium in which the protected work is incorporated</b></i>"
-by analogy, if the same were applied to houses, the royalty wouldn't
be applied to the architect design, but to the medium in which the <i>protected
work</i> would be incorporated (the house)-.<br>
<br>
As you may see, retrogressive measures are never or rarely applied to
author's material rights; they only become larger, and larger, and
larger ... regards,<br>
<br>
<br>
Carlos Ayala<br>
( Aiarakoa )<br>
<br>
Partido Pirata National Board's Chairman<br>
</body>
</html>