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Motezuma's [final] Revenge

Motezuma, the opera of Antonio Vivaldi discovered by Steffen Voss and performed for the first time by Modo Antiquo in 2005, was the object of an hard legal controversy that opposed Modo Antiquo and the Alstadtherbst Düsseldorf to the Sing Akademie Berlin. Now, Motezuma is finally a free opera and anyone, in every country of the world, can perform it without paying an unjust and expensive tax to its foxy guardians.

After the judge of Landesgerichtshof (who gave reason to Modo Antiquo and Alstadtherbst Düsseldorf), now the supreme justice court of Germany – the Bundesgerichtshof – sentenced that Sing Akademie has no rights on Montezuma score.

This last sentence, is not only the triumph of the law, but also declares unlawful any pretension to possess the artistic contents of an ancient artistic product: the owners of a manuscript are obviously the owners of the paper, but not the owners of its artistic content. This content is heritage of humanity. An important precept and a warning sign for all the artfuls who would like, in the future, to draw money advantage from the music of the past.

At this link, the motivations of the sentence:
http://www.jur-blog.de/lizenzrecht/rechtsanwalt/2009-01/bgh-urheberrechtsstreit-vivaldi-und-montezumas-rache