Piracy, copying, unauthorised adaptions etc. are various forms of copyright violations that occur on a day to day basis.
Businesses have no choice but to resort to copyright to protect their genuine works. For those wishing to start a book publishing company in the UAE, it is vital to have knowledge of copyright laws in the UAE. Copyright now applies to various businesses, institutions, and other organisations. Copyright usually applies to works of software, movies, books.
© is the symbol used to denote a copyrighted work. Copyrighted works are protected from
- Unauthorised Copying
- Unauthorised Distribution of copies for free or for a price
- Unauthorised Lending and renting of copies
- Unauthorised public performance
An unauthorised adaptation of the work
How Copyright Applies to Different Sectors?
Copyright applies to different sectors of businesses. It is vital for businesses to apply copyright prudently in order to gain maximum profits and benefits from their work. Copyright will also serve as a tool to give credit to original authors, thereby increasing their fame.
Publishing Houses
Publishing houses are in the business of book, novel, and publications. Their revenue depends on the sale of books. If a person purchases a book, he can give it to a friend who will read it and give it to another friend. This is, however, legal. When a person buys a book, makes copies of it and sells it, he makes a profit out of the first purchase. This would be a violation of copyrights as there is a loss of revenue for the publishing house.
Copyrights, however, prevent this, and because of an infringement suit, a copyright holder can claim damages and compensation from the infringer. The Copyright laws in the UAE also allow for seizure and destruction of authorised copies of any copyrighted work.
So for those looking to start a publishing house in UAE, comprehensive, thorough research into the formalities of copyrighted work is vital before beginning operations. This would help the enterprise come up with innovative ways to prevent piracy. (Security measures, cyber protection, anti-download software) For Example, certain websites avoid copying the text from their page to prevent unauthorised copying.
Production Houses
Movie production houses are an excellent investment as the entertainment industry is always rising in the market. However, every movie now is available on the internet. This will make the sale of digital copies redundant as any individual would download a copy rather than buy it off an online or offline store. The movies, including the songs, are copyright protected.
The production houses make revenues from theatre viewings, digital copies and well as online platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Piracy would result in a loss of revenue from all the platforms. Unlike writing books which costs only time, production of movies is a high budget affair which has to be recovered. Therefore the scope for loose ends with respect to security is very less, and hence it's mandatory to have proper copyright protective measures to maximise the profits of a movie.
Music Academies
Music academies have a reputation of training artists and also get the royalties for any rights sold in respect of the music produced. This is because the artists are employed or have contracts with the academy where music produced during the course of employment or the contract belongs to the academy as well and the artists do not have sole rights to their original work.
Database Firms
Databases provide legitimate data to those firms that require it. However, this data comes at a price and is not available in the public domain. These databases are original works resulting from long term research and development. If these were not protected, the information would be open to the public, and there would be no reason for a company to establish a database company.
Copyrights come into action here as every database published is copyrighted and subject to use only under the authorisation of the firm. The benefit here is that firms would not provide this info to other competitors as it would affect their business. Hence the concept of pay for statistics and data is an excellent working method.
Software and Game Companies
The gaming industry makes more money than the movie and music industry combined. This means that the scope for the industry is unlimited, and it's a high profile business sector where piracy is most active. Hackers every year, upload pirated games online.
Over the years, however, new types of software have made it more difficult for piracy to exist. With software and game installation codes and single-use digital copies, developers have come up with ways to prevent piracy and copying. Software and applications that have been made with hours of research and coding are also protected as they are expressions of ideas. Thus software and game companies also require a considerable influx of copyright protection to function without loss of profits.
Need Help?
For those looking to know more about copyright law and how it works, our team at Commitbiz are experts at the field of intellectual property in UAE, and we'd be more than happy to help. Feel free to contact us.