"The Legal Part of the Art", a seminar addressing commonly faced situations and legal issues related to creative assets, and the rights of artists, performers, and entertainment professionals, was held in Amman from April 25-28, 2005.
The four-day seminar was organized by the Royal Film Commission (RFC), in cooperation with the University of Jordan (UJ), the Goethe Institut-Amman, the National Library, the Arab Society for Intellectual Property (ASIP), UNESCO Amman, and the Companies Control Directorate.
Mr. Mohammad Al Abbadi, assistant director of the National Library, explained what copyright protection is, and discussed issues such as procedures and requirements for copyright registration, copyrightable and non-copyrightable works, how long copyright protection lasts, and remedies available in law.
Mr. Al Abbadi also gave a briefing on the history of Jordan’s copyright law and how it has changed throughout the years.
Meanwhile, Dr. Silke von Lewinski, head of the department specializing in International and European copyright law at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property in Germany, gave an overview on copyrights and related rights, explaining protection offered to publications, recordings, and musical compositions as well as to paintings and drawings.
Dr. Lewinski also tackled the issue of international protection of copyrights and related rights focusing on main international treaties in the copyright field, such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of 1886, the Universal Copyright Convention of 1952, and the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms, and Broadcasting Organization of 1961.
On the other hand, the situation of protecting intellectual property rights in the Middle East was also approached. “I believe that the laws and legislation are well-drafted; however, the problem remains in enforcing them,” Dr. Lewinski noted.
To find a solution to this dilemma, Dr. Lewinski suggested that more training courses should be organized targeting the concerned parties, mainly police officers, customs employees, judges, and others.
Assistant Professor of Commercial Law at the Faculty of Law, the University of Jordan, Dr. Tariq Hammouri, pointed out that much has been achieved in Jordan to protect IPRs compared to other Arab countries, especially in drafting IP legislation.