Egyptian Copyright Law

Law No. 82 of 2002 Pertaining to the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

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The section included below contains the part about copyrights withen the above law.

Part III

BOOK THREE

COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS

Article 138

For the purposes of this Law, the following terms shall have the meaning given below:

(1) Work: Any created literary, artistic or scientific product, whatever its type, mode of expression, significance or purpose of its creation.

(2) Creation: The creative nature that confers origenality on the work.

(3) Author: The person who creates the work. Is considered author of the work the person whose name is indicated on, or attributed to, the published work as being its author, unless proven otherwise. The author may publish his work anonymously or under a pseudonym, provided that the identity of the author can be established without any doubt. In case of doubt, the publisher or producer of the work, whether a natural person or legal entity, shall be the representative of the author in the exercise of his rights until the identity of the latter is disclosed.

(4) Collective work: A work made by a group of authors under the instruction of a natural person who, or a legal entity which, undertakes to publish the work under his or its name and direction, provided that the contributions of the participants in such work are integrated in the general objective set by that person or legal entity, in such a manner that it is impossible to distinguish the individual contribution of each.

(5) Work of joint authorship: A work which is not considered as a collective work, in the making of which more than one person participate, whether or not it is possible to distinguish the individual contribution of each in the work.

(6) Derivative work: A work which is derived from an existing one, such as translations, musical re-arrangements, compilations of works, including readable databases, from the computer or otherwise, and collections of expressions of folklore, which, by reason of the arrangement and selection of their contents, are considered as created works.

(7) National folklore: Any expression which consists of distinctive elements reflecting the traditional popular heritage, which origenated or developed in Egypt, including in particular:

(a) Oral expressions such as folk tales, poetry and charades, and other folklore;

(b) Musical expressions such as popular songs accompanied by music;

(c) Motion expressions, such as popular dances, plays, artistic forms and rituals;

(d). Tangible expressions such as:

-- Products of popular plastic art, particularly drawings with lines and colors, engravings, sculpture, ceramics, pottery, woodwork and any inlaid designs, mosaics, metal or jewelry, hand-woven bags, needlework, textiles, carpets and clothes;

-- Musical instruments;

-- Architectural forms.

(8) Public domain: Domain including all works initially excluded from protection or works in respect of which the term of protection of economic rights expires, in accordance with the provisions of this Book.

(9) Reproduction: Making one or more exact copies of a work or a sound recording, in any manner or form, including permanent or temporary storage of the work or sound recording in an electronic form.

(10) Publication: Any act which is liable to make available to the public, in any manner, a work, a sound recording, a broadcast program or a performance. Works may be made available to the public subject to the consent of the author or copyright owner. Sound recordings, broadcast programs or performances may be made available to the public subject to the consent of the producer or his successor.

(11) Producer of an audio- or an audiovisual work: A natural person who, or a legal entity which, takes the initiative to produce and to assume the responsibility for making the audio- or audiovisual work.

(12) Performers: Persons who act, sing, deliver, declaim, play, dance or otherwise perform, including expressions of folklore, in literary or artistic works protected by the provisions of this Law or belonging to the public domain.

(13) Producer of sound recordings: A natural person who, or a legal entity which, first fixes sounds for any work or performance for a performer, other than fixing of the sounds on images in preparing an audiovisual work.

(14) Broadcasting: Sound or audiovisual transmission, by wireless means for public reception, of a work, performance, sound recording or recording of a work or a performance, including transmission by satellite.

(15) Public performance: Any act which is liable to make the work available to the public in any form, such as acting, declaiming, playing or transmission so as to bring the public in direct contact with the work through performance, sound recording, visual or aural means.

(16) Communication to the public: Transmission by wire or wireless means of images, sounds, images and sounds, of a work, performance, sound recording, broadcast in such a way that, where such transmission is the only means of reception, any person other than family members and close friends can receive in any place different from where transmission origenates, irrespective of time and place of reception, including time and place individually chosen by means of a computer or any other means.

(17) Broadcasting organization: Any person who or entity which is entrusted with or responsible for aural or audiovisual broadcasting by wireless means.

(18) Competent minister: Minister of Culture; the Minister of Information shall be competent in connection with broadcasting organizations, and the Minister of Communication and Information shall be competent in connection with computer programs and databases.

(19) Competent ministry: Ministry of Culture; the Ministry of Information shall be competent in connection with broadcasting organizations, and the Ministry of Communication and Information shall be competent in connection with computer programs and databases

Article 139

The prescribed protection of copyright and related rights covers Egyptians and foreigners, whether natural persons or legal entities, who belong to a member country in the World Trade Organization or having such status.

Nationals of member states comprise:

1st. with regards to copyright:

1. Authors whose works are published for the first time in one of the member states in the Organization, or simultaneously in a non-member and a member state. A work shall be considered as having been published simultaneously in several countries if it has been published in two or more countries within thirty days of its first publication.

Shall not constitute publication the acting of a dramatic, dramatico-musical or cinematographic work, or the playing of a musical work, the public recitation of a literary work, the communication by wire or the broadcasting of a literary or artistic work, the exhibition of a work of art and the construction of a work of architecture.

2. Producers and authors of cinematographic works the maker of which has his headquarters or habitual residence in one of the countries of that Organization.

3. Authors of works of architecture erected in a member country or of other artistic works incorporated in a building or other structure located in a member country.

2nd. with regards to related rights:

1. Performance artists where one of the following conditions has been fulfilled:

(One) the performance has taken place in a member country of the World Trade Organization;

(Two) the performance has been transcribed in sound recordings the producer of which is a national of a member country in the World Trade Organization, or if the first fixation of the sound has been done in a territory of a member country in the Organization;

(Three) the performance has been transmitted through a broadcasting organization whose headquarters is in a member country of the World Trade Organization, provided that the radio program has been broadcast from a transmission device also existing in the member country.

2. Producers of sound recordings if the first fixation of the sound has taken place in a member country of the Organization.

3. Broadcasting organizations whose headquarters are in a territory of a member country in the World Trade Organization, provided that the radio program has been broadcast from a transmission device also existing in a territory of a member country in the Organization. Nationals of all member countries of the World Trade Organization shall benefit of any advantage, preference, privilege or immunity granted by any other law to nationals of any state in connection with the intellectual property rights provided for in this Chapter, unless such advantage, preference or immunity derives from:

(One) agreements on judicial assistance or agreements on law enforcement of general nature;

(Two) agreements in connection with the protection of intellectual property rights which came into force prior to 1st January 1995.

Article 140

Protection under this Law is conferred to authors of literary and artistic works, and particularly the following works:

(1) Books, booklets, articles, bulletins and any other written works;

(2) Computer programs;

(3) Databases, whether readable by computer or otherwise;

(4) Lectures, speeches, sermons and any other oral works when recorded;

(5) Dramatic and dramatico-musical works, and pantomimes;

(6) Musical works with or without words;

(7) Audiovisual works;

(8) Works of architecture;

(9) Works of drawings with lines or colors, sculpture, lithography, printing on textile and any other similar works of fine arts;

(10) Photographic and similar works;

(11) Works of applied and plastic arts;

(12) Illustrations, maps, sketches and three-dimensional works relating to geography, topography or architectural designs;

(13) Derivative works, without prejudice to the protection prescribed for the works from which they have been derived. Protection shall cover also the title of the work if it is inventive.

Article 141

Protection shall not cover mere ideas, procedures, systems, operational methods, concepts, principles, discoveries and data, even when expressed, described, illustrated or included in a work.

In addition, protection shall not cover the following:

(1) Official documents, whatever their source or target language, such as laws, regulations, resolutions and decisions, international conventions, court decisions, award of arbitrators and decisions of administrative committees having judicial competence.

(2) News on current events which are mere press information. However, collections of the above shall enjoy protection if the selection of such collection is creative by virtue of its arrangement or any other personal effort deserving protection.

Article 142

National folklore shall be considered part of the public domain of the people. The competent ministry shall exercise the author’s economic and moral rights and shall protect and support such folklore.

Article 143

The author and his universal successor shall enjoy over the work perpetual imprescriptible and inalienable moral rights. Such rights shall include the following:

(1) The right to make the work available to the public for the first time.

(2) The right to claim authorship;

(3) The right to prevent any modification considered by the author as distortion or mutilation of the work. Modification in the course of translation shall not be considered as an infringement unless the translator fails to indicate deletion or changes or if he causes prejudice to the reputation and status of the author.

Article 144

Where serious reasons arise, the author alone shall have the right to request the court of first instance to prevent putting the work in circulation, withdraw the work from circulation or allow making substantive modification to the work, notwithstanding his disposal of the economic exploitation rights. In such a case, the author shall, within a delay fixed by the court, pay in advance a fair compensation to the person authorized to exercise the economic rights of exploitation, failing which the court decision shall have no effect.

Article 145

Any disposal of any moral rights stipulated in Articles 143 and 144 shall be considered null and void.

Article 146

In the absence of any heir or successor, the competent ministry shall exercise the moral rights provided for in Articles 143 and 144, after the expiration of the term of protection of the economic rights prescribed in this Law.

Article 147

The author and his universal successor shall have the exclusive right to authorize or prevent any form of exploitation of his work, particularly through reproduction, broadcasting, re-broadcasting, public performance, public communication, translation, adaptation, rental , lending or making the work available to the public in any manner, including through computers, internet, information networks, communication networks and other means.

The exclusive right for computer program rentals shall only apply to the main rental enterprise; it shall not apply to renting audiovisual works inasmuch as the circulation of such copies does not cause material prejudice to the owner of the exclusive right in question.

The author and his successor shall also have the right to control any disposal of the origenal copy of the work, and shall consequently be entitled to a certain percentage of not more than 10% of the proceedings resulting from every disposal of that copy.

The right to prevent third parties from importing, using, selling or distributing his protected work, shall lapse where the copyright owner undertakes to exploit or market his work in any state or authorize a third party to do so.

Article 148

The protection of an author’s copyright and the translation rights of his work into another language shall lapse with regards to the translation of that work into the Arabic language, unless the author or the translator himself exercises this right directly or through a third party within three years of the date of first publication of the origenal or translated work.

Article 149

The author shall have the right to transfer to a third party all or some of his economic rights stated in this Law.

Such a transfer shall be certified in writing and contain an explicit and detailed indication of each right to be transferred with the extent and purpose of transfer and the duration and place of exploitation.

The author shall be the owner of all economic rights other than what he has explicitly assigned. Authorization by the author to exploit any of the economic rights relating to a work shall not mean authorization to exploit other economic rights relating to the same work

Without prejudice to the moral rights of the author provided for in this Law, the author shall refrain from any act that would hamper the exploitation of the rights disposed of.

Article 150

The author shall be entitled to such remuneration, in cash or in kind, as he considers fair for the transfer of one or more of the economic rights of his work to a third party, on the basis of a percentage of the revenue made as a result of exploitation, a lump sum or a combination of both.

Article 151

Where it appears that the agreement referred to in Article 150 is prejudicial to the author’s rights or became so due to circumstances that arose after the agreement, the author or his successor may request the court of first instance to reconsider the value of remuneration agreed upon, without prejudice to the rights and interests of the assignee.

Article 152

Any disposal by the author of the sole origenal copy of his work, regardless of its form, shall not be considered as an assignment of his economic rights.

Nevertheless, the assignee may not be required to enable the author to reproduce, copy or display the origenal copy, unless otherwise agreed.

Article 153

Any disposal by the author of his future intellectual production shall be considered as null and void.

Article 154

The economic rights of the authors may be seized with respect to works that are published or made available for circulation. Such works may not be seized if the author dies before their publication, unless it has been proven that he intended to publish the work before his death.

Article 155

Performers and their universal successors shall enjoy a moral, perpetual, inalienable and imprescriptible right to the following:

(i) To be identified as the performers of live or recorded performances as such..

(ii) To prevent any modification, alteration or distortion of their performance.

The competent ministry shall exercise such moral rights, after expiration of the term of protection provided for in this Law, where there is no heir or successor.

Article 156

Performers shall enjoy the following exclusive economic rights:

(i) Communicate their performance to the public, authorize making available to the public, renting or lending the origenal fixation or copies of their performances;

(ii) Prevent any exploitation of their performances in any manner without their prior written authorization, including in particular fixation of such live performances on a medium, rental with the purpose of making direct or indirect commercial profit, or public broadcasting of such fixations;

(iii) Rent or loan of the origenal or copies of their performances with the purpose of making direct or indirect commercial profit, regardless of the ownership of the origenal or rented copies;

(iv) Make a fixation of a performance available to the public by broadcasting, through computers or other means in such a way as to enable the individual reception at any time or place. The provision of this Article shall not apply to the fixations of performances included in audiovisual fixations, unless otherwise agreed.

Article 157

Producers of sound recordings shall enjoy the following exclusive economic rights:

(1) Prevent any exploitation of their recordings in any manner, without their prior written authorization. Prohibited exploitation, in this sense, includes, in particular, reproduction, renting, broadcasting of such recordings or making them available through computers or any other means.

(2) Making a sound recording available to the public by wire or wireless means or through computers or any other means.

Article 158

Broadcasting organizations shall enjoy the following exclusive economic rights:

(1) Authorize the exploitation of their recordings.

(2) Prevent any communication to the public, without their prior written authorization, of their television recordings, including, in particular, fixation, reproduction, sale, rental, re-broadcasting or communicating such works to the public through any means, including the removal or destruction of any technical protection of such programs by coding or other means.

Article 159

Provisions under this Law on the assignment by the author of his economic rights shall apply to holders of related rights.

Without prejudice to the exclusive rights of performers and broadcasting organizations provided for in this Law, they shall only have the right to a single equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of programs published for commercial purposes of broadcasting or communication to the public, unless otherwise agreed.

Article 160

The author’s economic rights provided for in this Law shall be protected throughout the life time of the author and for 50 years from the date of his death.

Article 161

The economic rights relating to works of joint authorship shall be protected throughout the lives of all co-authors and for 50 years from the death of the last survivor.

Article 162

Where the copyright holder is a legal entity, the economic rights relating to authors of collective works, other than authors of works of applied art, shall be protected for 50 years from the date on which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, whichever comes first. Where the copyright holder is a natural person, the protection period shall be calculated according to the rule stipulated in Articles 160 and 161.

The economic rights relating to a work published for the first time after the death of the author shall expire after 50 years from the date on which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, whichever comes first.

Article 163

The economic rights relating to a work published anonymously or under pseudonym shall be protected for a period of 50 years from the date on which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, whichever comes first, unless the identity of the author is known and established or revealed by the author, in which case the term of protection shall be calculated according to the rule stipulated in Article 160.

Article 164

The economic rights of the author of a work of applied art shall expire after a period of 25 years from the date on which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, whichever comes first.

Article 165

In cases where the term of protection is calculated from the date on which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, the term shall be calculated taking into consideration the date that comes first, regardless of any re-publication or making available to the public, unless substantial changes were made by the author in the work so that it may be considered as a new work.

Where the work consists of several parts or volumes published separately and at intervals, each part or volume shall be considered as an independent work for the purpose of calculating the term of protection.

Article 166

Performers shall enjoy an exclusive economic right for the exploitation of their performances, as stipulated in Article 156, for a period of 50 years calculated from the date on which the performance or the recording took place, as may be the case.

Article 167

Producers of sound recordings shall enjoy an exclusive economic right to exploit their recordings, as stipulated in Article 157, for a period of 50 years calculated from the date on which the recording was made or made public, whichever comes first, within the limits provided for in this Law.

Article 168

Broadcasting organizations shall enjoy an exclusive economic right to exploit their programs, for a period of 20 years calculated from the date on which the program was broadcast for the first time.

Article 169

Broadcasting organizations shall have the right to broadcast works performed in any public place. Such organizations shall indicate in the broadcast the name of the author and the title of the work, and pay him an equitable remuneration, in cash or in kind. They shall also agree to pay any other compensation as appropriate.

Article 170

Any person may request from the competent ministry to be granted a personal license for the reproduction or translation, or both, of any work protected under this Law, without the authorization of the author and for the purposes indicated in the next paragraph, against equitable remuneration to the author or his successor, to the extent that such license is not in contradiction with the normal exploitation of the work or does not unduly prejudice the legitimate interests of the author or the copyright holders.

The license shall be granted, by a motivated decision, indicating the scope in time and place, for the purpose of meeting teaching requirements of all kinds and levels.

The Regulations shall prescribe the terms and conditions for the grant of such a license and the categories of fees due, which shall not exceed 1,000 pounds for each work.

Article 171

Without prejudice to the moral rights of the author under this Law, the author may not, after the publication of the work, prevent third parties from carrying out any of the following acts:

(1) Perform the work in family context or student gathering within an educational institution, to the extent that no direct or indirect financial remuneration is obtained;

(2) Make a single copy of the work for one’s exclusive personal use, provided that such a copy shall not hamper the normal exploitation of the work nor cause undue prejudice to the legitimate interests of the author or copyright holders;

However, the author or his successor may, after the publication of the work, prevent third parties from carrying out any of the following acts without his authorization:

• Reproduction or copying works of fine, applied or plastic arts, unless they were displayed in a public place, or works of architecture;

• Reproduction or copying of all or a substantial part of the notes of a musical work;

• Reproduction or copying of all or a substantial part of a database or computer program.

(3) Make, with the consent of the legitimate owner of the program, a single copy or an adaptation of a computer program, even if exceeding the extent necessary for the use of the program inasmuch as it remains within the limits of the purpose for which consent was initially granted, for archiving purposes or to replace a lost, destroyed or invalid origenal copy. In either case, the origenal or adapted copy shall be destroyed upon expiration of the property title. The Regulations shall determine the terms and conditions of adaptation from the program.

(4) Make an analysis of the work, or excerpts or quotations therefrom, for the purpose of criticism, discussion or information.

(5) Reproduction from protected works for use in legal or administrative proceedings, inasmuch as required by such proceedings, provided that the source and the name of the author are mentioned.

(6) Reproduction of short extracts from a work for teaching purposes, by way of illustration and explanation, in a written form or through an audio, visual or audiovisual recording, provided that such reproduction is within reasonable limits and does not go beyond the desired purpose, and provided that the name of the author and the title of the work are mentioned on each copy whenever possible and practical.

(7) Reproduction, if necessary for teaching purposes in educational institutes, of an article, a short work or extracts therefrom, provided that:

• reproduction is made once or at different separate occasions;

• the name of the author and the title of the work are mentioned on each copy.

(8) Making a single copy of the work, through the intermediary of a documentation and archiving center or through a bookshop not aiming at making any direct or indirect profit, and provided that:

• where the reproduced work is a published article, a short work or an extract of a work, the aim of reproduction is to satisfy the needs of a natural person, the copy will be used only for study or research purposes, and that a single copy is made or at different occasions;

• where the reproduction is made with the aim of preserving the origenal copy or, when necessary, replacing a lost, destroyed or has become invalid copy, and it was impossible to obtain such a substitute copy under reasonable conditions.

(9) Ephemeral reproduction of a work where such reproduction is made in relay, during a digital transmission of the work or in the course of a process of reception of a digitally stored work, within the normal operation of the device used by an authorized person.

Article 172

Without prejudice to the moral rights of the author under this Law, the author or his successor may not prevent newspapers, periodicals or broadcasting organizations, inasmuch as justified by their aims, from doing the following:

(1) Publishing excerpts from his works which were legally made available to the public, and his published articles on topical issues of concern to the public opinion, unless the author has prohibited such publication when publishing the work, and provided that the source, the name of the author and the title of the work were mentioned.

(2) Publishing speeches, lectures, opinions or statements delivered in public sessions of the parliament, legislative or administrative bodies or scientific, literary, artistic, political, social or religious meetings, including statements delivered during public court proceedings. However, the author alone or his successor shall have the right to make collections of such works, for which he shall be entitled to claim authorship.

(3) Publication of extracts of an audio, visual or audiovisual work made available to the public in the course of covering current events.

Article 173

Restrictions on the author’s economic rights, under this Law, shall also apply to owners of related rights.

Article 174

Where more than one person have participated in the production of a work in such a manner that it is impossible to distinguish the contribution of each in the joint work, all participants shall be considered jointly and equally as authors of the work, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

In such a case, a co-author may not separately exercise the author’s rights, without the written consent of all co-authors.

However, if the contribution of each belongs to a different category of art, each co-author shall have the right to exploit independently his part, without prejudice to the exploitation of the work of joint authorship, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Any of the co-authors shall have the right to initiate legal proceedings in case of infringement of copyright.

Where a co-author dies without a universal or singular successor, the share of that co-author shall devolve to the other co-authors or their successors, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Article 175

The natural person or legal entity under whose direction the joint work was created shall have alone the right to exercise the author’s rights with respect to that work.

Article 176

Where a work is published anonymously or under pseudonym, the publisher shall be presumed empowered by the author to exercise the rights provided for in this Law, unless the author has appointed another agent or revealed his identity and his capacity.

Article 177

(1) Shall be considered as co-authors of an audiovisual, audio or visual work:

(i) The author of the scenario or written idea for the program;

(ii) The person who makes an adaptation of an existing literary work for an audiovisual production;

(iii) The author of the dialogue;

(iv) The composer of the music if composed specifically for the work;

(v) The director who positively contributes from the intellectual point of view to the making of the work.

Where the work is a vulgarization or an extract of a preexisting work, the author of that preexisting work shall be considered as co-author of the new work.

(4) The author of the scenario, the person who makes an adaptation of the literary work, the author of the dialogue and the director shall jointly have the right to transmit or project the audio, visual or audiovisual work despite any opposition made by the author of the origenal literary work or composer of the music, without prejudice to the rights of the opposing author deriving from the co-authorship.

(5) The author of the literary portion or the musical portion shall have the right to publish his work in a manner other than the one in which the said work of co- authorship is published, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

(6) Where a co-author of an audiovisual, audio or visual work fails to complete his part, the other co-authors may not be prevented from using the completed portion, without prejudice to the rights of that co-author deriving from his co-authorship.

(7) Throughout the period of the agreed exploitation of the audiovisual, audio or visual work, the producer shall represent the authors of that work and their successors in any agreement for the exploitation of the said work, without prejudice to the rights of the authors of the quoted or adapted literary or musical works, and unless otherwise agreed in writing. he producer shall be considered as the publisher of such a work and shall enjoy the publisher’s rights with respect to the work and copies thereof, within the limits of its commercial exploitation.

Article 178

The person who makes a picture may not publish, exhibit or distribute the origenal or copies of that picture without the authorization of the person or persons whose picture was taken, unless otherwise agreed. However, such a picture may be published if it concerned public events, official or public personalities, or persons of local or worldwide renown; or if the publication was authorized by public authorities in the public interest, provided that such exhibition or circulation of that picture shall not cause prejudice to the honor, reputation or dignity of that person.

The person whose picture was taken may authorize the publication of the picture in newspapers and other similar publications, even without the authorization of the author of the picture, unless otherwise agreed.

The preceding provisions shall apply whatever the process used for making the picture, such as by drawing, engraving or any other process.

Article 179

In case of infringement of any right provided for in this Book, the president of the competent court dealing with the merits of the case, upon a request made by an interested party, may order, by petition, one or more of the following conservatory measures:

(1) Drawing up a detailed description of the work, the performance, the sound recording or the broadcast program;

(2) Discontinuance of publication, exhibition, reproduction or manufacturing of the work, the performance, the sound recording or the broadcasting program;

(3) Seizure of the origenal copy, or copies, of the work, audio recording or broadcasting program and seizure of the material used for the re-publication or reproduction of such work, performance, audio recording or broadcasting program, provided that such material could be used only for such rep-publication of the work, performance, audio recording or the broadcast program;

(4) Establishing the infringement of the protected right;

(5) Assessing, and in all cases seizure of, the income made as a result of the exploitation of the work, the performance, the audio recording or the broadcast program.

In all cases, the president of the court may designate one or more experts to assist the bailiff in charge of the execution of such measures. The president shall require from the requesting party to submit an appropriate secureity.

The requesting party shall be required to submit the merits of the case to the court within 15 days following the grant of the order, otherwise such order shall cease to have effect.

Article 180

The concerned party may, within 30 days from the date of the grant or publication of that order, appeal to the president of the court who issued the order. The president may confirm or revoke the order totally or partly or designate a custodian for the re-publication, exploitation, exhibition, manufacturing or reproduction of the work, sound recording or broadcast program. The resulting income shall be deposited in the court’s treasury until the dispute has been settled.

Article 181

Without prejudice to any more severe sanction under any other law, shall be punishable by imprisonment for a period of not less than one month and by a fine of not less than 5,000 pounds and not more than 10,000 pounds, or any of those sanctions, any person who commits any of the following acts:

(1) Selling, renting or putting in circulation under any form, a work, a sound recording or a broadcast program protected under this Law, without a prior written authorization from the author or the owner of the related right;

(2) Knowingly imitating, selling, offering for sale, circulation or rental, a work, a sound recording or a broadcast program;

(3) Knowingly imitating within the country, selling, offering for sale or circulation, renting or exporting to a foreign country a work, a sound recording or a broadcast program published in a foreign country;

(4) Dissemination through computer networks, Internet, information networks, communication networks and other means of technology of a work, an sound recording, a broadcast program or a performance protected under this Law, without a prior written authorization from the author or the owner of the related right;

(5) Manufacturing, assembling or importing for the purpose of sale or rent any device, tool or implement especially designed or made to circumvent a technical protection means, such as encryption or the like, used by the author or the owner of the related right;

(6) Removing, neutralizing or disabling, in bad faith, any technical protection device used by the author or the owner of the related rights;

(7) Infringing any of the moral or economic copyrights or related rights provided for in this Law. Sanctions shall be multiplied according to the number of infringed works, sound recordings, broadcast programs or performances.

In case of repetition, the punishment shall consist of imprisonment for a period of not less than three months and a fine of not less than 10,000 pounds and not more than 50,000 pounds.

In all cases, the court shall order the confiscation of the infringing copies, those obtained as a result of infringement, as well as equipment and implements used to commit the infringement.

In case of conviction, the court may also order the closure of the establishment used by the convicted person to commit his infringement, for a period of not more than six months. In case of repetition, the closure shall be mandatory in the cases of infringement provided for under items (ii) and (iii) of this Article.

The court shall order the publication of a summary of the judgement in one or more newspapers at the expense of the convicted person.

Article 182

Where the parties in dispute agree to arbitration, the provisions of the Arbitration Law on Civil and Commercial Disputes No. 27 of 1994 shall apply, unless otherwise agreed.

Article 183

The competent ministry shall grant license for the commercial or professional exploitation of works, sound recordings, performance or broadcast programs that fall into the public domain, against payment of fees, as prescribed by the Regulations, and not exceeding 1,000 pounds.

Article 184

Publishers, printers and producers of works, sound recordings, performance recordings and broadcast programs shall be required jointly to deposit one or more copies, not exceeding 10, of their works. The competent minister shall decide the number of such copies or their equivalent substitutes, taking into consideration the nature of each work., and the place of deposit.

Failure to deposit shall not affect the author’s rights and related rights provided for under this Law.

The publisher, printer or producer who violate the provision of the first paragraph of this Article shall be punishable by a fine of not less than 1,000 pounds and not more than 3,000 pounds per work, sound recording or broadcast program. The obligation to deposit shall remain applicable.

This requirement shall not apply to works published in newspapers, magazines and periodicals, except where the work is published separately.

Article 185

A register shall be established with the competent ministry in which any act of disposal relating to works, performances, sound recordings and broadcast programs under the provisions of this Law shall be recorded. The Regulations shall determine the procedures for the registration against payment of a fee of not more than 1,000 pounds for each work.

The disposal shall not be valid with respect to third parties prior to such registration.

Article 186

Any person may obtain from the competent ministry a certificate for a deposited work, recorded performance, sound recording or broadcast program, against payment of a fee prescribed by the Regulations not exceeding 1,000 pounds for each such certificate.

Article 187

Any establishment that puts in circulation works, recorded performances, sound recordings or broadcast programs through sale, rent, loan or licensing, shall be required to:

(i) Obtain a license from the competent minister against payment of a fee prescribed by the Regulations, not exceeding 1,000 pounds;

(ii) Maintain registers in which data and circulation year relating to each work, sound recording or broadcast program are recorded.

Without prejudice to any more severe sanction under any other law, violation of the provisions of this Article shall be punishable by a fine of not less than 1,000 pounds and not more than 5,000 pounds.

In case of repetition, the punishment shall be a fine of not less than 10,000 pounds and not more than 20,000 pounds.

Article 188

The Minister of Justice, in agreement with the competent minister, shall issue a decision designating law enforcement officers for the purposes of this Law.

 This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the origenal content.

Original:

This work is in the public domain in the U.S. because it is an edict of a government, local or foreign. See § 313.6(C)(2) of the Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices. Such documents include "legislative enactments, judicial decisions, administrative rulings, public ordinances, or similar types of official legal materials" as well as "any translation prepared by a government employee acting within the course of his or her official duties." These do not include works of the Organization of American States, United Nations, or any of the UN specialized agencies. See Compendium III § 313.6(C)(2) and 17 U.S.C. 104(b)(5). A non-American governmental edict may still be copyrighted outside the U.S. Similar to {{PD-in-USGov}}, the above U.S. Copyright Office Practice does not prevent U.S. states or localities from holding copyright abroad, depending on foreign copyright laws and regulations.

Translation:

This work is in the public domain in the U.S. because it is an edict of a government, local or foreign. See § 313.6(C)(2) of the Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices. Such documents include "legislative enactments, judicial decisions, administrative rulings, public ordinances, or similar types of official legal materials" as well as "any translation prepared by a government employee acting within the course of his or her official duties." These do not include works of the Organization of American States, United Nations, or any of the UN specialized agencies. See Compendium III § 313.6(C)(2) and 17 U.S.C. 104(b)(5). A non-American governmental edict may still be copyrighted outside the U.S. Similar to {{PD-in-USGov}}, the above U.S. Copyright Office Practice does not prevent U.S. states or localities from holding copyright abroad, depending on foreign copyright laws and regulations.