Nathanael Nerode <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > In the US, I could mutilate your work, but I couldn't pass it off as > yours (that would be misrepresentation, possibly fraud). If you were > alive, I couldn't distort it to give you a bad reputation: that > would be libel or slander, depending. (Dead people have no > right to defend their reputations in the US.)
I think I've figured out what's really going on with Duchamp. The French think Duchamp can "mutilate" the Mona Lisa because he's French, and Da Vinci is Italian. The "creator's rights" apply only if it isn't a French mutilator of an Italian work. Or, maybe, just maybe, it's all smoke, and the French (and others) have some *other* reason for their new law other than their pretend respect for the reputations and work of the dead.
