Summary

Copyright in the United Arab Emirates is protected under the Copyright and Authorship Protection Law No. 7 for the year 2002.

For obtaining protection, copyrightable works have to be deposited with the Ministry of Information and Culture. Protection is granted to authors of literary, artistic and scientific works of whatever the value or kind or purpose or way of expression is.
Generally, protection is provided for works whose means of expression is writing, sound, drawing, image, motion pictures, creative titles or computer software. Translation of original works is also protected.

The duration of the protection is for the lifetime of the author plus 50 years after his death or 50 years from the date of publication in cases of cinematographic works, works of corporate bodies and works published for the first time after the death of the author.

The law reserves the right to allow reproducing protectable works by means of photocopying without obtaining the author’s permission by public libraries, non-commercial documentation centers and education, cultural and scientific institutions, provided that the number of 50 copies reproduced is limited to their needs and not detrimental to the interests of the author.

An unauthorized publication of an author’s work of art is penalized by imprisonment and/or a fine of not less than 50,000 Dirhams. A publisher who contravenes the author’s instructions through unauthorized addition, omission or modification shall be punished by imprisonment and/or a fine not less than 10,000 Dirhams.