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Rahmatian, Andreas --- "Copyright Protection for the Restoration, Reconstruction and Digitization of Public Domain Works" [2010] ELECD 787; in Derclaye, Estelle (ed), "Copyright and Cultural Heritage" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Copyright and Cultural Heritage

Editor(s): Derclaye, Estelle

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849800044

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: Copyright Protection for the Restoration, Reconstruction and Digitization of Public Domain Works

Author(s): Rahmatian, Andreas

Number of pages: 26

Extract:

3. Copyright protection for the
restoration, reconstruction and
digitization of public domain works
Andreas Rahmatian*

1. RESTORATION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF
PUBLIC DOMAIN WORKS

1.1 Types and Grades of Restorative Intervention

Copyright protection of the restoration and reconstruction of works, espe-
cially of public domain works, is a controversial matter. One of the pillars
of copyright protection, the requirement that the work is original, that
is, it originates from the author and does not derive entirely from a pre-
existing work (so the UK copyright law for authorial works),1 or that it is
a personal intellectual creation bearing the imprint of the author (so the
originality definition in author's rights countries)2 seems to be undermined
by the very idea of restoration. Restoration and reconstruction are con-
ceived of as bringing to life again the pre-existing work, not a new work;
they are deliberately designed as being not `original' ­ in the way in which
a layperson would understand this term. They rather want to be subservi-
ent to the previous artist's ideas and conceptions and in line with the epoch
in which the work was created, often long after the expiry of copyright,
or even well before the advent of copyright. However, copyright protec-
tion can exist for the restoration of public domain works, potentially with
the unwelcome result that a work in the public domain may in part get


* © 2009, Andreas Rahmatian. Mag. iur. et phil., Dr. iur. (Vienna), LL.M.
(London), Solicitor (England & Wales). ...