Here's an interesting intellectual property case: Sony's Playstation 3 first-person action shooter game, Resistance: Fall of Man, has tread where angels usually go--and the Dean and Canons of Manchester Cathedral aren't happy about it. The interior of the British cathedral has been digitally represented in the game, and players can engage in violent virtual acts within. Writes the Very Revd Rogers Govender in a letter of complaint to Sony: "We were sickened to discover that millions of people who play the game have a choice of weaponry to use within the Cathedral including the Rossmore 236 close-quarter combat shotgun, the L23 Fareye sniper rifle and the XR-005 Hailstorm chaingun." Normally, the real cathedral, when not being used for religious services, hosts events such as the Chetham School of Music's Lunchtime Concert and an exhibition on the British abolition of the slave trade.

Wherever you might stand in terms of the old shibboleth that video games cause violence, the IP implications here are intriguing, given the rise of projects like Google Earth mashups with photos, say, of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad featuring added editorial comments ("Lal Masjid (Red Mosque)is one of the most radical mosques in Islamabad. Frequently Islamist groups organize protest marches from the mosque after Friday's prayers"); or Photosynth, which compiles photos from all over the web, often of monuments, and aims, ultimately, to incorporate meta-data.

Sony insists it "sought and received" needed permissions--but a quick search I did revealed little helpful about the issue of who "owns" and can regulate the portrayal of monuments and buildings, although there is obviously plenty about who owns particular photos or representations. So "needed permissions" seems to be a fungible concept here.