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School of Law

Law of the creative cultural industries in the Middle East and North Africa

Course Code:
15PLAC161
Unit value:
1
Year of study:
Year 1
Taught in:
Full Year

The main objective of the course is to examine how the law hinders or supports the growth of the cultural industries in the Middle East and North Africa.  The course will follow a comparative approach, examining the same issues in four different jurisdictions: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and United Arab Emirates.  Although the course will focus mainly on the developing countries, a frequent reference will be made to the position adopted in the US and the EC.  

Objectives and learning outcomes of the course

On completion of the course, students should be able to:

  1. understand how the different legal systems regulate the creative cultural industries;
  2. analyse and compare the impact of author’s right law/copyright law on the core cultural industries; and
  3. appreciate the problems and opportunities raised by modern technologies that facilitate the dissemination of cultural works.

Scope and syllabus

The course is designed to fit with the current LL.M/MA programmes.  It is consistent with the intellectual spirit of the programmes and complements a number of other courses such as International and Comparative Copyright Law; Law and Soceity in the Middle East and North Africa; Legal Regulation of the Music Industry; International and Comparative Commercial Transactions; and Law and Development in Africa.

Syllabus
  1. In order to reflect current issues, the syllabus may vary from year to year.
  2. The cultural Industries in the global village.
  3. Intellectual property and the creative cultural industries
  4. Protection of authorship
  5. Literary works and the publishing industry
  6. Artistic works and the effect of the droit de suite on the markets of MENA
  7.  Dramatic, Musical and Musico-dramatic works
  8. Films
  9. Sound recordings
  10. Broadcasting organisations
  11. Direct Broadcasting by Satellite, cabling/retransmission by cable and the Internet
  12. Censorship
  13. Folklore amid the cultural industries
  14. Protection of the cultural industries v. access to knowledge
  15. Conflict of laws
  16. Towards a common position at the regional level