That botched fresco in Spain and the ironies of copyright law

[unjapanologist]

Remember Cecilia Gimenez, the lady who tried to restore a fresco in a church near Zaragoza and did it wrong? The story is twisting down some interesting paths, copyright-wise.

According to El Correo (in Spanish, English via gTranslate), thousands of people started visiting the church in the town of Borja after the botched restauration became famous

Comments

[jin_fenghuang]

I think this may backfire royally at her, even if she gets her cut, she then will get the bill of thousands of Euros for restoring the painting and fixing what she painted over.

[telophase]

If I were a judge in the case, I'd be highly tempted to award her a percentage of the income from the painting and then fine her the same amount for defacing it.

[jin_fenghuang]

Considering that (where I come from at least) the collection money goes to charity. Assuming that is the same there I would fine her double that. Taking away money from charities is just, no.

[unjapanologist]

The article doesn't say what the church was going to use the money for, but yeah.

It sounds really dangerous for her to push for a situation in which someone will actually, officially determine whose fault all this is. It's unclear if she was painting with or without the permission of the church, but up to now, everyone seemed ready to shrug it off and forgive her either way.