Copyrights

[g.v.simson at easteur-orient.uio.no]

comment on one statement only:
> Copyright emanates
>from the author, not from scribes. The owner of a manuscript possesses
>only those rights the author would possess, if he/she is/were alive.

Since copyright is meant to protect the author or - in more general terms -
anybody who has created something new, I cannot believe that the mere fact
that you own an ancient manuscript gives you the copyright for it. Of
course, you can grant or deny access to your manuscript, and access can be
linked to certain conditions which the recipient of the manuscript has to
agree upon. This is common practice. But such a - legally binding  -
agreement is quite different from the copyright which arises from creative
activity and should not be confounded with it.

        Best wishes
                                Georg v. Simson