Federal Law No. (7) of 2002 In respect of Author Copyrights & Parallel Rights

We, Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of U.A.E, after perusal of the Constitution;

Federal Law No. (1) for 1972 in respect of Competencies of Ministries and authorities vested in Ministers and the amendments thereto;

Federal Law No. (15) for 1980 in respect of printing and publication; and

Federal Law No. (40) for 1992 in respect of the protection of intellectual property and author’s copyrights;

Upon the presentation by the Minister of Information & Culture, and the approval by the Cabinet of Ministers and the Federal Supreme Council,

Ratified the following law:

Article 1 Definitions

In operation and implementation of the provisions hereof, the following words and expressions shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meanings shown opposite:

State:

The State of the United Arab Emirates.

Ministry:

The Ministry of Information & Culture.

Minister:

The Minister of Information & Culture.

Work of art:

Any original authored work of art in the field of arts, fine arts or sciences of whatever type, manner of expression, significance or purpose.

Author:

The person who originates the work of art. He whose name appears on or is ascribed to the work of art upon publication as an author shall, unless a proof to the contrary is established, be considered as the author thereof. Furthermore, he who publishes pseudonyms and anonymous works of art or in any other fashion provided that no doubt should arise as to his identity, shall be considered as the author thereof. In case doubt arises, then the publisher or producer of a work of art, whether corporate or natural person, shall be the agent for the author to undertake his rights till the true identity of the author is identify ascertained.

Originality:

The novel innovative nature, which bestows originality and distinctiveness on the work of art.

Parallel Right Holders:

Performer artists, producers of audio-record and broadcast corporations as defined herein.

Performer artists:

Actors, singers, musicians, dancers, and the likes who vocalize, chant, sing, compose or in any other form perform any literary or artistic work of art, or any work in the public domain and covered by or within the scope of protection under the provisions hereof.

Audio-recording Producer:

Corporate or natural person who for the first time audio-record voices for any of the performer artists, or any other sounds.

Broadcast Authority:

Any authority carries out any radio audio, visual or audio-visual transmission

Broadcasting:

The radio transmission of audio, visual or audio-visual work of art, performance, audio-record, or programme to the public and recording the same as well as transmission through satellites or dependencies.

Publishing:

Presentation of the work of art, audio-record, broadcast programme, or any other performance to the public in any medium whatsoever.

Public Performance:

Performance which entails the direct communication of the work of art to the public such as theatrical performance, presentations, performing works or arts, demonstration of audio-visual works, playing composed works, and vocalising literary works, whether live or recorded.

Open Communication:

Wired and radio (wireless) transmission of a work of art, audio-records, or broadcast programme which can, through transmission only, be received by any person other than family members and intimate friends, at any place other than that where transmission started, regardless of the elements of time, place or manner of transmission.

Copying:

The production of one or more copies of the work of art, audio-records, broadcast programme, or any other performance in any manner including downloading, permanent or temporary electronic saving regardless of the manner applied or tool utilised in copying.

Audio Recording:

The storing of audible sounds of performance vocalisations, regardless of the manner or medium of storing; including audio-visual storing to create audio-visual work of art, unless otherwise agreed upon.

Audio-visual Producer:

The corporate or natural person who provides facilities necessary to producing an audio-visual work of art and undertakes the responsibility for its production.

Communal Work of Art:

A work of art created by a group of authors under corporate or natural person’s direction who undertakes the publication in his name and under his control. The works by the group of authors are combined under the main objective set by the said person in such manner where their respective works cannot be separated or singled out independently.

Joint Work of Art:

A work of art to the creation of which several persons contribute whether or not their respective works can be separated or singled out independently, and does not fall under the category of communal works of art.

Derivative Work of Art:

A work of art that is derived or originated from pre – existent work of art, such as translations. Sets of literary and artistic works as well as folkloric expressions are deemed to be so, if original in terms of arrangement or selection of content.

National Folklore:

Any expression of vocalised, musical or chorographical folkloric material elements reflecting the artistic traditional heritage created or continued in the State, and cannot be attributed to an identified author.

Common title:

All the works of art primarily excluded from protection or those whose scope of protection for rights to commercial exploitation has expired.