In addition to the other elements in common among the Arab countries, a new common ground has come into existence after many Middle East states put into effect laws to curb infringements of copy rights and intellectual properties.
According to a report by the Emirati English daily, Gulf News, on Tuesday, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Morocco have adopted policies prohibiting reproduction of copyrighted works or computer software without the authorised entity's permission.
The latest development in this regard is Syria’s joining the club.
AFP reported Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad approved a law the previous day making intellectual piracy punishable by up to two years in jail.
The official SANA agency said the prison sentences were part of new legislation to protect royalties in Syria, where piracy is widespread.
The law will protect "the rights of creators in all sectors: literature, science and arts.”
Those who receive, resell, distribute or bring into the country items which do not respect royalties, risk prison terms ranging from three months to two years and/or a minimum fine of 100,000 Syrian pounds (2,000 dollars), the law says.
The Syrian market for illegal copies of audio and video documents, as well as software and satellite decoders is estimated at tens of millions of dollars.
The Gulf News report added that works of foreign authors are also protected in all Middle East countries in view of reciprocity provisions in both the Berne Convention and Trips (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). The also impose heavy fines and/or imprisonment for offenders and order the destruction of pirated goods.
Citing a statement by Nasser Khasawneh of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the paper gave an overview of copyrights laws in the Arab World.
Egypt was the first country in the region to impose jail sentences on end-user offenders. One sentence even included hard labour. The UAE was the first country in the Gulf to sentence infringers to jail. Save for Saudi Arabia, all countries are Berne Convention and/or Trips members. Until 1999, Bahrain was the only Gulf state to be a Berne member.
The BSA has been following the issue and all the procedures taken by the governments to meet their international commitment to safeguard copyrights.
The international agreements joined by Arab countries include Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1971), Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips Agreement) (1994), Wipo Copyright Treaty (WCT) in addition to the World Trade Agreement (WTA).
The reports concludes that all legislative developments in the Arab world point in the same direction: Infringement of software rights is a grave copyright offence, criminal sanctions are increasing to ensure that a message of deterrence is sent to all pirates, and authorities are increasing their crackdown on software piracy in defence of the law and the economic well-being of their countries – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
