chosaq

Kyoto’s cultural commons and copyright infringement

Last week’s Kyoto Shimbun features an article about the digitalization of Kyoto’s cultural commons (scrolls, paintings, etc.). The quoted words of the conservators have a very disturbing ring to it, though:

文化財を人類共通の財産として保存、発信しようという動きが強まる中、所有者側に「デジタル化することで作品が一人歩きすることが怖い」との声があるのも事実だ。京都市の委託でデジタルアーカイブ事業を推進する京都国際文化交流財団の田辺幸次理事は「ファイル共有ソフトの流行で、『デジタル化すると権利を侵害される』との風潮が広まることに危機感を感じる」と話す。

This boils down to: it is scary that works of art start living their own life when digitized and We are alarmed by the widening trend that, with the spread of filesharing software, digitalization results in infringement of (copy)rights.

Huh. Which rights are infringed upon then? The copyright of the author of a painting of the Heian period? Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks this is odd, not to say completely wrong.