Iran and copyright issues

According to "Circular 38a" of the U.S. Copyright Office, Iran has no official copyright relations whatsoever with the United States.

Therefore works originating in one of these countries are thus not copyrighted in the United States, regardless of the local copyright laws of these countries (see 17 USC § 104, quoted in the circular).

Iran however does have a legal code to protect the proprietary and intellectual rights of works produced for inside Iran [ [http://www.parstimes.com/law/copyright_law.html IRAN: Copyright Law ] ] . These laws however do not hold outside Iran as it is not a member of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, or its extension WIPO Copyright Treaty, or World Trade Organization (WTO). In short, there currently are no laws in effect that protect the intellectual or proprietary rights of anything of Iranian origin, outside of Iran. Fact|date=June 2008

Iran ratified the Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. (The Hague, 14 May 1954.) in 1959 and the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (Paris, 14 November 1970.) in 1975, and agreed to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Paris, 16 November 1972) and to the Second Protocol to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. (The Hague, 26 March 1999) in 2005. [Ratified and non Ratified conventions by country, UNESCO http://portal.unesco.org/la/conventions_by_country.asp?contr=IR&language=E&typeconv=1]

On the other hand, Iran's government refuses to abide by WTO copyright laws, endorsing the free distribution of pirated software in ubiquitous quantities, Linux is growing in popularity however. ["Security fears spark Linux drive in Iran"." The Age. September 21, 2004. Link: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/21/1095651288238.html?oneclick=true] Iran however must eventually change this status when it becomes a full-member of WTO, as all members must abide by WTO's copyright regulations. However, USA had previously vetoed Iran's ascension to WTO 22 times, and as of 2007, actively refuses to support Iran's full-membership in the WTO. Subsequently, Iran rejects the demands to observe the WTO copyright laws.

Patents' law and designer rights

Iran’s "Law of Registration of Marks and Patents" first passed in 1931, has been substantially revised and updated after 77 years.

The development takes place as the country comes to grips with the fast-paced changes in the world of trade and industry, plus developments in the area of intellectual property.

The Law of Registration of Patents, Industrial Designs and Trademarks was first passed by parliament on 23 January 2008, and is to be temporarily implemented for five years effective from May 5, 2008.

According to Nourlaw.com, the new law, unlike its predecessor gives priority to patents and industrial designs over trademarks and is substantlally more scrupulous in the protection of these instruments, as it is of intellectual property rights.

Iran is signatory to the "International Convention for Protection of Industrial Property" (also known as the Paris Convention) and in December 2003 became a party to the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol for the international registration of marks.

In October 2007 Iran's parliament approved becoming signatory to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) which enables inventors to register their patents in PCT member countries simply by filing a single application with the related national registration authority. [ [http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=55108&sectionid=351020102 Press TV - New law on patents, designer rights ] ]

In practice Iran does not respect designer rights. The Iranian Air Force has publicly demonstrated a "new", domestically produced fighter jet, named Saequeh-80, which is based on an enlarged american F-5 Freedom Fighter airframe, upgraded with a twin tail section, whose design was reverse engineered from an F-18 wreckage inspected in Iraq. The Republic of Iran did not ask for permission to use the American design, nor did it pay licences to the IP holder American companies.

Iran and pirated software

Unless they are pre-installed on newly purchased computers, Microsoft products are used without a license in Iran, whether by government offices, universities, or personal users. ["Ibid."] There are in fact entire shopping centers in Tehran and other cities in Iran that specialize in the wholesale of pirated, often highly specialized software. Catia for example, is a highly specialized Computer Aided Design software. It is sold in a double CD package for 5 $US in Iran. And government affiliated organizations such as the "Jahad Daneshgahi" sell such software at even further discounted prices across many campuses such as Tehran University. This problem has hindered the development of Iranian software companies because of lack of foreign direct investment in this sector. [ [http://www.iran-daily.com/1387/3104/html/economy.htm Iran Daily - Domestic Economy - 04/19/08 ] ]

Two such shopping centers notorious for the large quantity sale of pirated software are Pasazh Paytakht (مجتمع کامپیوتر پایتخت) located adjacent to K. N. Toosi University of Technology, and Bazaar Reza (near Amir Kabir University). Other centers exist in Ekbatan and Enqelab Square.

Recently, there has been a surge in Iranian "Warez" and "Crackz" websites, as the Iranian laws do not forbid hosting them in Iran. Hence, unlike most other countries where hosting these websites would lead to fine and imprisonment, it is very efficient to do so in Iran.

Copyright violations in the media

It is not uncommon nowadays for IRIB, Iran's state run television broadcasting organization, to air edited and censored versions of Hollywood blockbusters in Persian language. [Example Link from IRIB-1's program schedule: Dead Man, starring Johnny Depp: [http://tv1.irib.ir/cinema1/eng/now-prog-eng.HTM] . Click on "Next Program" and "Previous program" to see more movie listings on IRIB-1.] Or|date=June 2008 Some theaters however, such as "Cinema Farhang" in Tehran, screen the movies in the original language. None are screened with permission, as there are no relations between Iran and any US companies. Fact|date=March 2007

As is often the case, the pirated DVD of a Hollywood film hits the stores across Iran sooner than the movie is released in theaters in the U.S. Newly released movies however, are in-theater-handycam versions. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of pirated quality DVDs.

The academia for example rely almost entirely on translations of textbooks without any consenting publisher's permit. If in English, the books are unwarranted offset prints that enable students to purchase textbooks at subsidized prices.

References

ee also

*Economy of Iran
*List of countries' copyright length

External links

* [http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?lang=en&treaty_id=15 WIPO's BERNE membership list of states]
* [http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1095 Iran’s New Law On IP Protection Moves It Onto International Stage] (2008)