Church On Shaky Ground And Wrong Path

Speaking of The Escapist:

According to Alex Chapman of Campbell Hooper Solicitors, there is a provision in the United Kingdom's 1988 Copyright Designs and Patents Act which states that representing certain artistic works that are on public display, including buildings and sculptures which are "permanently situated in a public place or in premises open to the public," is not a copyright infringement.

"Therefore, the inclusion of the Cathedral in the game could not be considered to be an infringement of any copyright on it," Chapman declared, adding that since copyright on a work expires 70 years after the death of its creator, it is also very unlikely that the Cathedral has any copyright remaining on it at all.

He explained to The Escapist's Andy Chalk: “Pubic buildings are generally fair game for inclusion in videogames, films, etc., and it is something that their owners just have to accept."

-- Church on the wrong track in suing Sony over war-game, says lawyer

This is from Ekklesia, a British Christian think tank. They continue on to say:

"When Canterbury Cathedral complained about featuring in a war-game last year, we wrote to the Dean and chapter suggesting that they should use it as an opportunity to promote a positive message about peace-building and reconciliation, rather than getting into an unseemly and probably unwinnable legal case. Similar principles apply in this situation.”

Barrow added: “Using the publicity to focus on tackling gun crime is a positive move. Similarly, the Cathedral could ‘rebrand’ its public space by mounting an exhibition on initiatives in global non-violence. There is also an opportunity for the Church to reconsider its own image - Cathedrals are stuffed full of military images, so they cannot claim that being associated with war and violence is entirely alien – though arguably it should be.”

In short - yup.