A decree was issued by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos of Oman in regards to artistic works which abrogates the previous Royal Decree No. 45/76 along with any legal stipulations in conflict with the new law or its regulations.
The law states, however, that existing licenses for an artistic work will remain valid until they lapse.
The Copyright Law has already been well documented to protect the rights of poets, musicians, painters, and other authors of artistic works.
CORRECTION
The article "Amendment of Trademark Law in Egypt" featured in our issue no. 62, dated October 97, erroneously sighted amendments to Egypt's Trademark Law.
These in fact were proposed amendments which have not yet been effected. We regret the error.
JORDAN: Required Adjustment in the Pharmaceutical Industry
A meeting was held in Amman, Jordan, between representatives of the Pharmaceutical Industry and an American Committee in which they discussed the required adjustments to be made regarding patent protection in accordance with the TRIPS Agreement.
Currently the patent law in Jordan provides protection for the manufacturing process only and denies protection to the end product.
Eighty Percent of pharmaceutical products in Jordan will be deemed illegal if the end product is granted patent protection. The pharmaceutical industry in Jordan ranks fourth as a source of national income.
UAE: A New Regulation is to be Expected
The Pharmaceutical Licensing Department at the Ministry of Public Health is expected to announce a new regulation concerning trade in pharmaceuticals in the country.
According to the proposed regulation, manufacturers of pharmaceuticals who wish to export their medicinal products for use in the United Arab Emirates should apply for and obtain authorization. Among the conditions for obtaining the trade license is having a registration of the relative trademark as a prerequisite supporting document.
Effects of the Copyright Law on the UAE
The implementation of copyright law throughout the United Arab Emirates has increased international trade. Companies from Europe, United States, Canada, Far East, and the Middle East have indicated their interest in conducting business in the UAE as they are confident that their rights will be protected.
l OMAN Issues a New Decree on Artistic Works - page 1
l UAE: A New Regulation is to be Expected - page 1
l JORDAN: Required Adjustment in Pharmaceutical Industry - page 1
l Effects of Copyright Law on the UAE - page 1
l KUWAIT: Enacting an Intellectual Property Protection Law - page 2
l SAUDI ARABIA determines Penalties for Copyright Infringers - page 2
l Name Changes in Power of Attorney Form - page 2
l UAE is to Modernize IP Laws by the Year 2000 - page 2
l In Brief From Our International Office - page 3
Legal Angle
l Protection of Copyright in the ARAB COUNTRIES - page 4
Guinea-Bissau & Gambia
Guinea -Bissau and Gambia have deposited their instrument of accession to the Patent corporation Treaty (PCT) and will become bound by PCT as of December 12, 1997 and December 9, 1997 respectively. Accordingly, these two countries may be designated in any international application filed after these dates. In addition, nationals and residents of Guinea-Bissau and Gambia will be entitled to file international applications under the PCT
KUWAIT: Enacting an Intellectual Property Protection Law
The Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information has announced that the Ministry finalized a draft law on the protection of intellectual property. At present the Administration of Fatwa and Legislation of the Ministry of Justice is reviewing it to give an opinion on the penalties prescribed. The Ministry is waiting for opinions of the legislative bodies on the draft law so that it may be passed on to the Council of Ministers for approval.
The law is expected to be adopted during the upcoming session of the National Assembly which began the end of October. All international conventions relating to intellectual property were taken into consideration since Kuwait will be joining the World Intellectual Property Organization. Therefore, it is essential that the law should conform with the international conventions and legislation.
The Ministry is exercising its supervisory role in controlling any violation of intellectual property rights without any law. When enacted, the law will create an accurate system in addition to the present right to seize. The law will serve the interests of the business sector while taking into consideration the commercial, social and economic interests in one hand and the rights of the local consumers in reasonably-priced and competitive products on the other.
Kindly Complete the Power of Attorney Forms as Follows:
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property- TMP Agents P.O.Box 1991 Deira, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
TUNISIA
Amjad Al-Amad, of Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property - TMP Agents P.O.Box 44, 1013 El-Menzah 9 Tunis, Tunisia
TUNISIA OFFICE
NEW ADDRESS:
Appt. B.3.2, 7 Rue 8002, Montplaisir Tunis 1002, Tunisia P.O.Box 44, 1013 El-Menzah 9 Tunis, Tunisia Tel: (216-1) 846-142/848-499 Fax: (216-1) 849-665
SAUDI ARABIA Determines Penalties for Copyright Infringers
The Violations Committee at the Ministry of Information in Saudi Arabia has approved inflicting a set of penalties for computer software stores and advertising agencies which infringe copyrights.
Such penalties, which were disclosed through a report issued by the Ministry of Information for the period of six months, have ranged from financial fines to closing down the offending stores, destructing infringing materials, and revoking licences. The report disclosed that thirty-eight video stores, thirty- seven audio cassette stores, and forty computer software stores were affected by the penalties, which included a closure of total 1221 days with an average of 7 to 45 days per store. The Ministry of Information also revoked the licences of two stores due to repetition of the violation. The competent parties of the Internal Information Authority also served letters of desist to certain stores warning them that their licences will be revoked if the violation is repeated.
The report also stated that the Ministry of Information is very keen on following up and preserving the rights of authors in accordance with the regulations and the International Copyright Treaty.
UAE is to Modernize IP Laws By Year 2000
The UAE and the UNDP are studying a national project to modernize intellectual property laws to observe the stipulations of the TRIPS agreement by the Year 2000.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy and Trade has confirmed the interest of the UAE in protecting trademarks. This is evident in the issued Federal Law No. 27 for the Year 1992. The law aims at ameliorating conditions for the protection of rights arising from investment in goods and services production. It also encourages fair competition and investment initiatives in the fields of industries and services that have high quality and standards.
The United Arab Emirates' joining the World Trade Organization and the TRIPS Agreement dictate that the country deals seriously with the facts of the international commercial system by amending its laws to comply with international conventions, especially in the field of intellectual property, which is regarded as one of the mechanisms of liberalising trade in goods and services.
The UNDP resident representative gave a speech during a conference in Abu-Dhabi on October 14, 1997 in which he disclosed cooperation with the UAE government on the possibility of implementing a national project. This project will aim at enhancing and updating the intellectual property laws as part of an effort to develop trade and investment and enhance permanent economic development.
This proposed project will enable the UAE to respond to the conditions of the TRIPS Agreement within the deadline of January, 2000 at the latest. This is an important element in participating in the multilateral trade system supervised by the WTO. The project aims to build institution capabilities, updating legislation, and developing human resources.
A representative of WIPO also indicated that through enhancing various activities, they will enhance the activities that develop human resources. WIPO will assist in updating and amending the intellectual property laws to catch up with the new international obligations of the UAE, especially after endorsement of the TRIPS Agreement.(r)
Andorra
DECEMBER 5th, 1997 will be the expiry date of the term provided by the Andorran Trade Marks Act for filing new trademark applications in Andorra on the basis of registrations filed in a Paris Convention country prior to May 24th, 1995.(r)
Hong Kong
New Design Law
According to the old law, designs registered in the UK are automatically extended to cover Hong Kong. No further formalities or renewal fees were necessary. However, applications for registration of a design under the new law in Hong Kong should be filed at the Hong Kong Designs Registry, and renewal fees will become payable on designs registered in Hong Kong.
A design registered or pending in the UK would be considered registered in Hong Kong if the design was:
- Registered in the UK before June 27, 1997 and became in force on that date.
- Registered in the UK after June 27, 1997 but the application for registration was pending before June 27, 1997.
The first renewal fees for the above cases are due as follows:
- The date six months before the first UK renewal date after June 27, 1997.
- December 27, 1997
As for UK registered designs based on applications filed after June 27, 1997, direct applications have to be filed with the Hong Kong Designs Registry. Renewal fees will be payable at five-year intervals.
Iran
The following is a new Judgement No. 615 - 19.1.1376 (08.04.1997) Identical Rulings of the General Board of The Supreme Court:
"Article 27 of the Trademarks and Patents Act of 1931, in an obsolete sense, provides for the registration of inventions, novel industrial products, discovery of novel means, or a new application of an existing facility yielding a new result or product, thus permitting the utilization of benefits as envisaged in Article 26 of said Act. It results from this, that the above article is applicable to innovations, inventions and discoveries of pharmaceutical compositions as well. Consequently in Section 3, Article 28 of the said Act, the term 'pharmaceutical arrangements' only refers to components of a drug and excludes these components from the scope of Article 27."
Spain
Spain has notified its withdrawal of reservations regarding the provisions of Chapter II of the PCT effective September 6, 1997. Consequently, Spanish nationals and residents who have filed international applications may request an international preliminary examination of their application. Accordingly, the applicant would elect the desired states to make use of the result of such examination. The benefit of this is that applicants would enjoy more time for evaluating the chances of obtaining patents and of exploiting their inventions commercially. Applicants would also study the need for having a patent in each elected state before having to incur expenses of translation, governmental fees and such.
Spain was the remaining country with reservations on chapter II. Thus its withdrawal results in that all PCT contracting states are bound to Chapter II of the PCT.
Protection of Copyright in the ARAB COUNTRIES
INTRODUCTION
By reviewing copyright laws in the Arab World one can notice that legislative copyright laws are now in force in the majority of the Arab countries, and that the enactment dates for most of them fall within this decade. However, it is important to note that copyright protection existed outside the realm of proper copyright legalisation. Therefore, copyright protection is available under the general rules of justice and fair play.
SCOPE OF PROTECTION
Generally, copyright protection in the Arab world is built on the twin concepts of originality and expression, thus conforming to the general concepts of the Berne Convention.
All aspects of expression , whether by writing, sound, drawing, photography, or motion, and whatever the type, value, importance, or purpose of the work are protected as opposed to ideas . Thus the weight of creation or artistic merits is not a consideration, as a simple test of originality suffices. In addition, the term (the work) means the created work in its original form as well as in its derived forms.
A substantial number of laws mentioned specific protection to modern works. For example, computer software is specifically protected in Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Egypt. Moreover, data bases are specifically protected in Bahrain, Egypt and Oman. Although this represents a good sign that the legislators in these countries have expressly dealt with these subject matters, one however has to wonder whether computer software and data bases enjoy protection when the legislator is silent?
In the absence of any case law on the subject, the answer to this question has to be in the affirmative. Computer programs have sufficient originality to be copyrightable, and this applies to all computer uses of copyrighted programs, especially when one considers that the copyrightable subject matter mentioned specifically is by way of example. Therefore, one can easily assert the copyrightability of computer software and data bases if they enjoy originality of expression. How the Arab countries would react to this issue remains unclear.
Moreover, it is important to consider the limits of the copyrightability of computer programs. The only significant limitations on computer programs are those due to the idea of expression dichotomy and originality issues. That is to say, if a computer program lacks minimum originality, being so simple and basic as to reflect an inadequate investment of labour to merit copyrightability, or if it constitutes the only way of accomplishing a particular result, that the program can be characterized as embodying an idea rather than as one way among many of expressing that idea, then copyrightability shall be denied.
As for the scope of protection with regards to authors included and excluded from protection, foreign authors can only be protected if their works are published for the first time locally, or if they are covered by an international convention through reciprocity.
TERMS OF PROTECTION
The duration of protection may be summarized as follows:
UAE: 25 years as from the date of publication with the exception of 10 years for Photographic works.
JORDAN: 30 years with the following exceptions:
15 years as from the date of the author's death for:
- Computer Software
- Translated works
- Paintings
- Manuscripts
- Diagrams
- Photographs
- Architectural Plans
- Geographical or Topographical Maps
- Two or Three Dimensional Works
EGYPT: 50 years with the exception of 10 years as from the date of publication for non-creative photographic and audiovisual works
TUNISIA: 50 years as from the date of the work's completion with the exception of 25 years for:
- Photographic works
- Computer Software
ENFORCEMENT OF COPYRIGHT LAW
Protection of copyright can be enforced through three avenues:
i) Provisional measures:
The various copyright laws contain several provisional measures to help in strengthening the copyright protection. These range from banning publication of the infringing material, alteration of the work, and removal of the infringing parts thereof, confiscation of the infringed copies, impounding revenues resulting from exploiting the infringed material, seizure and destruction of the infringed work in its original forms as well as its copies or photocopies and all materials used in republication, provided that they are not useful for anything else.
ii) Criminal Protection form:
a. Committing one of the infringing acts such as publishing a work, modifying the substance or form of the work, conveying the work to the public whether directly or indirectly, and importing, exporting or offering for sale such works without the author's permission.
b. The criminal intent: In the case of copyright infringement, the mere commission of the act creates the presumption of intent. Therefore, the onus of proving good faith rests on the defendant in this case who has to prove his good faith.
iii) The Civil Protection
In the Arab countries generally, civil actions are based on the general rules of tort embodied in their civil codes, which have been used as the basis for awarding damages in infringement cases throughout the Arab region, even if the civil protection is not expressly mentioned in the copyright legislation. The infringer is subject to payment of damages if the plaintiff establishes to the court's satisfaction the following:
1- The Injurious Act (The Infringement Act).
2- The Occurrence of Damage.
3- Direct Causal Connection Between the Injurious Act and the Damage.
If all of these factors were proven up to the court's satisfaction, the court will grant damages in value of the lost volume of sales and the lost profits resulting therefrom.
AMOUNT OF DAMAGES AWARDED
A plaintiff in a civil case may request either specific performance or compensation in its claim. In determining compensation, the court takes into consideration the following aspects:
The severity of damages, academic and literary value of the work, number of pirated copies, and other relevant factors.
The Egyptian courts, and other Arab courts by analogy, consider the issue of determining compensation a matter of fact which is not subject to judicial review.
ANTICIPATED CHANGES DUE TO TRIPS
Enforcement of rights are available in the present copyright laws; however, to be in accordance with the TRIPS agreement standards, the following should be done:
1. Protection should be afforded for computer software, database and sound recordings.
2. There should be a minimum protection period of 50 years.
3. There should be strict enforcement rules against piracy and obligations to comply with the provisions of the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement.
4. The enjoyment of protection should not be subject to any formalities such as recording and deposition requirements.
5. Rental rights in respect of computer programs and cinematographic works should be introduced.
6. Protection for performers, producers of sound recordings, and broadcasting organization should be included.
7. Confining the limitations and exceptions to exclusive rights to certain special cases.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.