Spain, who sent the Italian explorer, didn't realize if they wanted to claim it, they had to do it themselves.
-They didn't pay attention to copyright details and now it comes back to hunt them.
-Everything Columbus discovered is by law Italian when the copyright laws are extended.
-Japan, India and China all fall back into Italian hands. Columbus was the first to copyright India and China, so even though he never found it, he still has legal ownership of it. It's like every time the Elvis catalog is up for extension, we're working on it.
Painting Wikipedia
