Re: copyright in the dead sea scrolls? how?

From: <akeshet[_at_]netvision.net.il>
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 96 20:59:12 PST

On Sun, 24 Mar 1996 19:40:53 -0800 Martin Perlberger wrote:
>
> Ewan J. Kirk wrote:
>>
>snip
>> According to s301 and schedule 6 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
>> Act 1988, the payments of royalties for the 'perpetual copyright' of
>> the play Peter Pan goes to Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, so I
>> suppose they must be the owners of the right. The right lapses if the
>> hospital ceases to exist or it ceases to care for sick children.
>>
>> The ordinary copyright in this work expired on 31 December 1987, and
>> strictly speaking this 'perpetual copyright' is really a "sui generis"
>> right.
>
> In this case, why even bring up Peter Pan in connection with the dead
> sea scrolls copyright? Or is there, in reality, no copyright proprietor
> of the contents of the dead sea scrolls?

Of course no one has copyright to the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The case which has been brought up in these discussions concerned a scholar's claim to copyright in his own writings, i.e. his proposed transliteration/transcription/restoration of the text of a certain scroll fragment, published without his agreement. The (Israeli) court found in his favor; the case is being appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court.

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Name: amalyah keshet
director, visual resources, the israel museum, jerusalem E-mail: akeshet[_at_]imj.org.il
Date: 03/25/96

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Received on Mon Mar 25 1996 - 18:30:44 GMT