November 8, 2007
Civil law copyright sucks
Apparently there's a elaborate fan movie based on the Warhammer 40k setting that's being made in Germany. The fans are excited. Games Workshop is excited.
So why is the film never to be released?
Because German copyright law treats artistic creations as part of the identity of the author, and prevents any kind of transfer of the work to anyone but heirs. The fan producers would be entirely happy to turn over all of their rights to Games Workshop, which would be entirely happy to take them. But German law doesn't allow this, and most other European countries wouldn't either (I think the UK might be an exception, as their copyright system, while bad, is far more rational). If the film were to be distributed, Games Workshop could theoretically lose a lot of their rights to the Warhammer 40k universe in Germany, and clearly that's not acceptable.
End result? Copyright law suppresses yet another work of creative expression.
