The Council of Ministers has recently approved on the new Copyright Draft Code as per the Royal Decree No M/41 dated 30th of August 2003 published in the Official Gazette No.3959 dated 19th of September 2003.
The new Code protects any innovative original work in the literary, artistic or scientific domain, regardless of the type, significance, or manner of expression. Said works include books, lectures, plastic arts, architectural works, computer software and applications. The Code also protects derivative works such as translation, summaries and encyclopedias.
The Code clarifies that works such as ideas, procedures, judicial rulings, and mathematical concepts are excluded from protection. The exclusion covers media reports and news of current local and international events.
The Code defines the author as any person who publishes the work whether his name is mentioned on the work, or in any other way that attributes works to their authors, unless otherwise indicated.
The Code indicates that cultural heritage (folklore) is considered a publicly owned property, and the Ministry of Culture and Information shall exercise the copyright thereto. Thus, the importation of folklore or distribution of the works or their translation is prohibited.
The Code states the moral and financial rights of the copyright holder as well as the methods of assignment of copyright. However, the published author may not prevent third parties from undertaking certain acts such as reproducing a copy for personal use. Further, the author may not prevent the use of his work for educational purposes such as allocation of short paragraphs and quotations in research. The law does state however that the original author and his work must be cited as the source of such extractions.
The Code specifies the infringement acts on the rights protected by the Code. The Code also states different penalties for copyright infringement that include closure of infringing facility, and/or imprisonment.
The Implementing Regulations shall be issued before 3rd of December 2003 and the new Code shall come into force on 13th February 2004.