In seinem deutschen Weblog bespricht Dr. Karl-Friedrich Lenz IPKAT’s Überlegung, ob der Neubau von Teilen der Mauer eine Urheberrechtsverletzung darstellt.

Some time ago IPKAT speculated on the intellectual property law aspect of rebuilding a section of the Berlin Wall.

bq. The IPKat wonders whether there is an issue in Germany of copyright infringement, as there may well be in the UK. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 4, the Berlin Wall would be a “building or a model for a building” which would attract death-plus-70 years copyright protection as an artistic work. The only issue would be whether the rebuilding of a mere 200 yard section of the 96-mile wall would count as the copying of a “substantial part” of the original wall for infringement purposes.

Dr. Karl-Friedrich Lenz, who has blogs in English, German and Japanese, has researched the matter in German law. His English entry is brief. German sources differ as to the copyright position of unlawful works.