An original work, art, novel is protected by copyright. The protection granted by the copyright is valid for a limited time and provides the authors of original works exclusive moral and financial rights as detailed below. This protection is intended to encourage creativity and the continued creation of new works, ideally open to the public.

Copyright is part of intellectual property rights that protects published or unpublished original works of authorship. It grants an author the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute its work.

However, what are the measures that shall be taken to protect the works’ creators, and what does copyright protection include; and what if a person wishes to use such protected work; such as without limitation, sing a poem, download a song, a movie, use a photo or picture, or an extract of a novel, or article.

We will be discussing herein (i) the works included in the copyright protection; (ii) the rights granted under copyright; (iii) the terms of protection; (iv), if the registration is mandatory for the protection of copyright; (v), the procedure to follow for the use of protected works under the law on the Protection of Literary and Artistic Property in Lebanon, Qatar Law No. 7 of 2002 on the Protection of Copyright and Neighboring Rights, UAE Federal Law No. 38 of 2021 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights (the “Copyright Law”), and the Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic work under which Lebanon, Qatar, and UAE are signatory members.

Copyrighted works, covered by the protection:

Copyright protects original works of authorship including dramatic, literary, artistic, and musical works such as songs, novels, computer programs, poems, movies, books, photographic works, drawing and painting, sound recordings, architecture work.

On the other hand, copyright protection does not cover laws, legal provisions, administrative decisions, international treaties, official documents, or any official translation thereof. However, collections of such material are protected if they involve creative work in the selection and arrangement of their subject matter.

Also, copyright protection does not cover daily news and such other news that are purely media-related, ideas, procedures, operational methods, mathematical concepts, principles, and un-collated data. Nevertheless, any derivative expression thereof shall be covered by protection.

Now that we are able to determine the works covered by the protection under the Copyright Law, and the Berne Convention, it is worth identifying the rights granted to the author/owner of such copyrighted works.

Rights granted to the author/owner of copyrighted works:

A copyright owner benefits from economic and moral rights, he has the exclusive right to exploit the work commercially and to carry out by himself or to authorize a third person any of the following economic rights:

• The right to reproduce the work.

  The copyright owner controls the making of a copy of the work, a print, a recording, and a reproduction of the work in any manner or form.

   

• The right to prepare derivative works based upon the work.

  The copyright owner controls the transformation of their works into new works. Transformations can include annotating, editing, translating, modifying, or making other types of changes to the work.

   

• The right to distribute copies of the work to the public.

  The copyright owner has the right to solely decide on the manner in which his work or a copy of his work is transferred to others, whether by sale, rental, lease, or lending. This right allows the copyright holder to not only prevent the distribution of unauthorized (i.e., infringing) copies of a work, nonetheless, it also allows the copyright holder to monitor the unauthorized distribution of authorized copies.

   

• The right to perform the copyrights work publicly.

  Performing rights are the right to perform music in public. It is part of copyright law and demands payment to the music's composer/lyricist and publisher (with the royalties generally split 50/50 between the two).
  Performances are considered "public" if they take place in a public place and the audience is outside of a normal circle of friends and family, including concerts nightclubs, restaurants etc. Public performance also includes broadcast and cable television, radio, and any other transmitted performance of a live song.

  No one other than the author may perform in public, unless it is licensed by the copyright holder or a collective rights organization against royalties to be paid for the benefit of the author.

   

• The right to display copyrighted work publicly.

This right can also include displaying a literary work on a web page or displaying a single image from a TV show or motion picture. The public display right is similar to the public performance right, except that this right applies to the display of a work as opposed to its performance.

In addition to the economic rights, an author benefits as well according to the Copyright Law from moral rights such as:

• The right to object to any alteration, distortion, or mutilation of the same.
• The right to disclose the work and determine the way and method of such disclosure.
• The right to use a pseudonym or to remain anonymous.
• the right to claim authorship of the work and to have his name mentioned on every copy of the work each time the work is used in public.
• And in Lebanon, according to article 21 of the Copyright law, he has the right to rescind contracts for the assignment of economic rights even after their publication if rescission is necessary to safeguard his reputation or due to a change in his beliefs or in the circumstances, provided that third parties are compensated for the damages resulting from such rescission.
• In UAE, according to article 5 of the UAE copyright law, the copyright owner has the right to submit a request to the Civil Court to withdraw his work from circulation, based on justifying reasons, except for smart applications, computer programs and applications.

Such economic rights and protection will cease once the copyrighted work fall into public.

According to the Copyright Law, and according to the Berne convention, the term of protection granted to the economic rights be the life of the author and 50 years after his death, to be computed from the end of the year in which the death has occurred.

However, moral rights, they shall enjoy perpetual protection and are not subject to prescription. They shall be transmitted to third parties by testamentary disposition or under inheritance laws.

We should note that for anonymous and pseudonymous works, they shall be protected for a period of (50) fifty years commencing on the first day of the calendar year following the year in which such works have been first published. If the author of such works has been known or identified, or if he reveals his identity, the protection period shall be calculated as from the date of the author’s death.

Besides, it is necessary to highlight if it is mandatory to register copyrighted works to enjoy protection.

Copyrighted works are granted protection regardless of any registration:

To the contrary to other intellectual property rights; a copyrighted work in the majority of countries, and the same applies to UAE, Lebanon, and Qatar, it is not mandatory to register copyrights, the author have an absolute property right over his work and shall reserve all his rights without having to follow any formalities. The copyright protection is obtained automatically.

The non-registration of the work or the actions that occur thereto shall not result in a breach of any aspect of the protection or rights.

Nevertheless, it is recommended to file and register the work at the intellectual property rights office, in order for the author/owner of the copyrighted work to have a clear evidence for his ownership in the event of future dispute regarding the ownership of the work.  

Therefore, despite the registration of copyright is not mandatory, nevertheless, it is recommended and necessary for evidence purposes.

Although the author/owner of copyrighted work has the exclusive right to publish, distribute, diffuse, reproduce, perform in public, or display the work publicly, he has the right to grant third-parties the license to exercise, and all or any of such economic rights.

Any person (whether an individual or a legal entity) wishing to use a copyrighted work, whether by performing it in public (such in the event of songs, poem, or musical plays), publishing, or reproducing such works and benefitting commercially from their sale,  downloading a song, a movie, or use photos or pictures for commercial use, it needs the authorization of the author/owner of the economic rights of the copyrighted works.

Such approval will take the form of a license agreement, by virtue of it the author will grant the third-party the right to use, perform, distribute, and publish the artwork, poem, song, movie, photo, or others.

Usually the author/owner of copyrighted work will grant the license for a third-party to benefit from the economic rights against royalty fees to be paid by the licensee to the author/owner of the copyright.

If a person uses a copyrighted work for commercial purposes without the appropriate permission, he will be violating or infringing the owner’s rights and will be subject to legal actions.

Unlike economic rights, moral rights are not transferrable to a third person, as they are personal to the author.

In Lebanon, Qatar, and UAE, all moral rights of authors or performers shall enjoy perpetual protection which are not subject to prescription. They may be transmitted to third parties by testamentary disposition or to the legal heirs after author’s death.

However, in certain countries, an author may waive his moral rights by a written agreement, whereby he agrees not to exercise some or all his moral rights. Other countries allow such agreements subject to certain conditions, for instance, for a limited period of time.

Nevertheless, we should note that it exist a certain limitation for the prohibition of copyright use by third persons. In accordance with the Copyright Law, permission is not always required. This will be true if the work has fallen into the public domain, or if the person’s use qualifies as what’s called “fair use”.

Works in the public domain are those that are never protected by copyright (like facts or discoveries) or works whose term of protection has ended either because it expired, or the owner did not satisfy a previously required formality.

Hence, it is important to never assume that it is okay to use a work without license, as the principle is the prohibition of use without license, and the exception would be the use without the need of the author’s permission.

On the other hand, “fair use” permits the person that wants to copy a text, or sing a poem, or play a musical play for example, to copy small portions or reproduce a few lines of the work without getting permission from its owner.

Moreover, it is not permissible for a third-party to use, download, or publish a photo or a picture of another unless in the occasion of public events, or if it is related to the coverage and photography of events and activities of government agencies that are held for the public or if the competent authorities have authorized such publication in the service of public interest.

Therefore, the author may transfer or license all of his rights or a part of them to a third-party. As a result, when he transfers his rights he might lose some or all of them.

Also, the author will no longer has the right to use his own work, to publish his work, or to perform and may need to request permission to reuse his work for commercial purposes in other instances. Thus, it is recommended for an author to make sure that the license or transfer agreement states that certain rights are licensed back to him so that he may use such licensed work.