Applicable legislation in Egypt with regard to copyright
Egyptian copyright law
[1]
has evolved over time. The currently applicable legislation in
Egypt
with regard to
copyright
is Book Three of the
Law on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights 82 of 2002
, which entered into force on 3 June 2002, the day following its publication in the
Official Gazette
. The implementing decree is
Prime Ministerial Decree 497 of 2005
(effective by Issue No. 12,
Official Gazette
, 29 March 2005).
Legislative texts
[
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]
Prior to 1954, there was no legislation in Egypt protecting artistic and
literary property
.
[2]
[3]
Despite the absence of any such legislation, indigenous and
mixed courts
invoked principles of
natural law
and
justice
to protect
intellectual property
rights.
[2]
[4]
However, indigenous and mixed courts had two different approaches to sanctioning violations. Indigenous courts refused to apply
criminal law
provisions, on the ground that no criminal responsibility could be determined in the absence of a specific legislative text dealing with artistic and literary property. On the other hand, mixed courts did not wait for implementing regulations to be enacted. In a hearing on 17 February 1941, the Criminal Chamber of Cassation, Mixed Court of Appeal, ruled that performance of a song or musical composition, without the authorization of the author or composer, was considered as an offence punishable under Article 351 of the Penal Law.
[2]
[5]
Law 354 of 1954
[
edit
]
Arabic
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
Literary and artistic protection were dealt with for the first time by Egyptian law in 1954, with the promulgation of Law No. 354 of 1954 on the Protection of Copyright.
[5]
Article 20 of the law provided for a
term of protection
of 50 years after the author's death, although this was reduced to
15 years from publication
in the case of "works of photography and audiovisual works that are not of
creative character
and merely consist of a mechanical reproduction of scenes."
Official documents
were explicitly excluded from copyright protection (Art. 4).
Law 82 of 2002
[
edit
]
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
The 1954 law was repealed in its entirety when the new Intellectual Property Law 82 of 2002 entered into force on 3 June 2002. The new law retains many provisions contained in the previous law, notably the 50-year
p.m.a.
term of copyright protection (Art. 160). However, it also introduces several new concepts, among them the concept of national folklore (Art. 138 & 142). The new law also deals for the first time ever with the protection of
neighbouring rights
(Art. 153 and following).
[6]
However, the new law is not without its critics. The
International Intellectual Property Alliance
(IIPA) has repeatedly highlighted in its reports a number of shortcomings in the law, stating in its
Special 301 Report
published in 2009 that "the Copyright Law and the Implementing Decree, while suitable to enforce against copyright piracy in general, left unresolved some
TRIPS
deficiencies, other ambiguities in protection, and important gaps for protection recommended by IIPA in order to modernize protection." Among the controversial provisions of the law is Article 148, which states that all foreign-language literary works fall into the
public domain
if they are not translated into Arabic within three years of publication.
[7]
[8]
[9]
Proposal to copyright antiquities
[
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]
In late 2007, reports surfaced in the media that Egypt intended to pass a law requiring the payment of
royalties
whenever copies were made of its
antiquities
and monuments.
Zahi Hawass
, the head of the
Supreme Council of Antiquities
, told
AFP
news agency that the law would not affect buildings such as the
Luxor Las Vegas
hotel because it was not an exact copy of a pyramid and its interior was completely different.
[10]
BBC News
stated that "MPs are expected to pass" the law, although it is unclear whether the proposal ever made it through
Parliament
.
[11]
International agreements
[
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]
Egypt is a signatory to various
international copyright agreements
. The
Berne Convention
entered into force in Egypt on 7 June 1977,
[12]
and the
Phonograms Convention
on 23 April 1978.
[13]
Egypt became a member of the
World Trade Organization
on 30 June 1995.
[14]
Piracy
[
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]
As early as 1985, Egypt has been targeted by the
IIPA
. Based on the results of the
Special 301 Report
(which "examines in detail the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights" in many countries around the world), the
United States Trade Representative
(USTR) placed Egypt on the
Priority Watch List
in 1992. The USTR lowered Egypt to the
Watch List
in 2008.
[15]
The problem of
piracy
is pervasive in Egypt. The IIPA stated in a 2009 report that Egypt is "a nightmare market for right holders, stunted by piracy, difficult bureaucracy, and almost unparalleled market access hurdles."
[9]
Trade losses due to copyright piracy amounted to nearly $119 million in 2007, with a piracy level of 32% for books and 15% for records and music.
[9]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Yasser OMAR AMINE, "Chronique d'Egypte",
Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur
(
RIDA
), janvier 2010, n° 223
- ^
a
b
c
Yasser OMAR AMINE,
The Forgotten Memory of the History of the Egyptian Copyright Law : the jurist M. Linant de Bellefonds, M. Pupikofer and E. Piola Caselli
(La memoire oubliee de l'histoire du droit d'auteur egyptien : Les juristes M. Linant de Bellefonds, M. Pupikofer et E. Piola Caselli), Publisher Dar El Nahda El Arabia, Cairo, 2014-2015, 602 p. (in Arabic and part in French)
- ^
Koepfle, Leo (January 1937).
Copyright Protection Throughout the World Part VII Near East, Far East, Africa, Asia, Surinam and Curacao
. US Department of Commerce. p. 9.
- ^
Yasser OMAR AMINE, "Chronique d'Egypte",
RIDA
, janv. 2010, n° 223.
- ^
a
b
Dr. Hassan El Badrawi (2004-06-04).
Role of the Judiciary in the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
(
PDF
)
. Advisory Committee on Enforcement: Second Session. Vol. WIPO/ACE/2/6.
Geneva
:
World Intellectual Property Organization
. Retrieved
2009-08-07
.
- ^
Dr. Hassan El Badrawi (2004-12-01).
??????? ?????? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????: ????? ???????? ???? ?????? ????????? ???????
[
The Egyptian Intellectual Property Law: Main Features and Compatibility with International Standards
]
(
PDF
)
. WIPO National Training Workshop on Intellectual Property for Diplomats (in Arabic). Vol. WIPO/IP/DIPL/CAI/04/2.
Cairo
:
World Intellectual Property Organization
. Retrieved
2009-08-07
.
- ^
Yasser OMAR AMINE, ≪ Abrogeons l’article 148 du Code egyptien de la propriete intellectuelle (droit de traduction et droit d’auteur en Egypte) ≫,
Communication ? commerce electronique
, nov. 2011, n° 11, alerte 88, p. 2
- ^
Yasser OMAR AMINE, ≪ Le droit international prive du droit d’auteur en Egypte : a la croisee des chemins ≫,
Revue Critique de Droit International Prive
, janvier-mars 2013/1, pp. 75-100
- ^
a
b
c
"2009 Special 301 Report: Egypt"
(PDF)
.
International Intellectual Property Alliance
. 2009-02-17. Archived from
the original
(
PDF
)
on 3 March 2016
. Retrieved
16 August
2009
.
- ^
Yasser OMAR AMINE, ≪ Intellectual Property... and the protection of pharaonic monuments ≫, Review of
Al-Mejalla
, ed. The General Egyptian Book Organization, January 2014, n° 20, p. 7-12 (in Arabic).
- ^
"Egypt 'to copyright antiquities'
"
.
BBC News
. 2007-12-25
. Retrieved
17 August
2009
.
- ^
"Berne Convention: Egypt"
.
World Intellectual Property Organization
. Archived from
the original
on 24 September 2009
. Retrieved
7 August
2009
.
- ^
"Phonograms Convention: Egypt"
.
World Intellectual Property Organization
. Archived from
the original
on 5 June 2011
. Retrieved
7 August
2009
.
- ^
"Egypt and the WTO"
.
World Trade Organization
. Retrieved
7 August
2009
.
- ^
"Appendix E: Historical Summary of Selected Countries' Placement for Copyright-Related Matters on the Special 301 Lists"
(PDF)
.
2009 Special 301 Report on Copyright Protection and Enforcement
.
International Intellectual Property Alliance
. 2009-02-17. pp. 15?16
. Retrieved
16 August
2009
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Yasser OMAR AMINE,
The Forgotten Memory of the History of the Egyptian Copyright Law : the jurist M. Linant de Bellefonds, M. Pupikofer and E. Piola Caselli
(
La memoire oubliee de l'histoire du droit d'auteur egyptien : Les juristes M. Linant de Bellefonds, M. Pupikofer et E. Piola Caselli
), Publisher Dar El Nahda El Arabia, Cairo, 2014-2015, 602 p. (in Arabic and part in French).
External links
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