Vatican 'cashes in'

pedro san pedro · #1 7th February 2006, 04:25

Quote:

Vatican 'cashes in' by putting price on the Pope's copyright

From Richard Owen in Rome

THE Vatican has been accused of trying to cash in on the Pope’s words after it decided to impose strict copyright on all papal pronouncements.

For the first time all papal documents, including encyclicals, will be governed by copyright invested in the official Vatican publishing house, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

The edict covers Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, which is to be issued this week amid huge international interest. The edict is retroactive, covering not only the writings of the present pontiff — as Pope and as cardinal — but also those of his predecessors over the past 50 years. It therefore includes anything written by John Paul II, John Paul I, Paul VI and John XXIII.

The decision was denounced yesterday for treating the Pope’s words as “saleable merchandise” and endangering the Church’s mission to “spread the Christian message”.

Seems that the Catholic Church is joing the intellectual property age! The Vatican has declared it intends to claim copyright on the current and previous Popes' words, and require any publications carrying those words to license them for a royalty equivalent to 3-5% of the cover price. Newspapers are exempted from the royalty, but only by "prior agreement". It is this last aspect that concerns me the most - those papers that are critical of the Vactican are unlikely (at best) to gain this exemption, giving the Vacticain some form of veto over any commentary not to its liking.

redstar2000 · #2 7th February 2006, 12:28

The "acid" of capitalism "eats away" at all pre-capitalist ideologies and institutions.

I think it's "a good thing"...even better if they'd actually sue someone for "copyright violations".

It would be another blow to their position of "moral superiority".

pedro san pedro · #3 8th February 2006, 10:24

i am wondering what has prompted this - it's not like the vactican is particulary low on cashola

commiecrusader · #4 8th February 2006, 11:38

They don't have to be low on cash to want more. Bourgeois people and institutions rarely are. It boils down to greed.

pedro san pedro · #5 10th February 2006, 04:53

i think it has more to do with looking for more ways to censor critics

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