Some of the world’s greatest artworks are turning into copyrighted properties. Five hundred years ago, Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Today, those images are copyrighted. How can ancient cultural icons become commercial properties, centuries after they fall into the public domain?

How this happened is a story that takes us from a Crusading Pope in the Borgias era, all the way to Bill Gates’ mansion on the shores of Lake Washington.

…Read more at The Register.