This is a really interesting case about how we need to confront the issue of rights when something is made public. It seems a little ludicrous to suggest that something like the Eiffel tower lights display is copyright, when it is obviously put on for the public purpose of having millions of people see it.

On the other hand, it seems ludicrous to demand that because someone puts a picture on their web page, it is now public in the same way, and that the creator should not be able to control the market for it.

I do think it is worth thinking about the idea that there is a threshold of publicness after which point a work ought to become subject to mandatory licensing. The intuition is that if a work is kept sufficiently private, it is not involved in a substitutable market for similar items. If it is made sufficiently public, then it is competing in a market for other substitutable creative goods of the same sort. Another intuition is that there's a threshold of publicness after which it becomes fair to assume that the rightsholder is interested in wide distribution more than controlling use, or that after a certain threshold of publicness, a creative product has been introduced into the public sphere as a cultural artifact that others ought to be able to use freely.

Right now all we have is a binary move from rightsholder-retains-complete-rights to public domain, which has led to the craziness of current copyright law. If we had some intermediate stages of publicness and the rights split between creator and public, perhaps we could come up with something more sensible.

Yes it's ironic that the Eiffel Tower has copyrighted it's nighttime light display.

I don't think that any physical 3D object (ie: buildings) should be copyrightable, even statues or art displays. The fact that the Eiffel Tower, Sears Tower, and Empire State Building are iconic (and beautiful works of art themselves even) should not be enough to grant copyright.

lol =)

Lets say I had such a picture and wanted to put it on my site. WOuld this disclaimer suffice? "If you are currently residing in France you are not legally allowed to see this picture. Please cover the picture with one hand during your visit"

Just remember: it's only in France and other countries that lack panoramafreiheit.

I thought the RIAA suing grandmas was bad, then I read about the panoramafreiheit situation in Europe. It's far, far more stupid than you can ever imagine.

Indeed, quite a few physical places and things require permission or a license to be displayed in photos and video.