Introduction

This chapter explores the scope of the application of the private use exception under the copyright laws of the six members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (the “GCC”) concerning certain private uses of protected works that involve making a copy of the work using a computer. The chapter illustrates that the scope of the private use exception varies greatly across the different copyright laws of the GCC members. In the case of some members, the scope of the exception is extremely narrow and does not permit users to perform some very basic activities in relation to works that they legally purchased. Some laws also include ambiguous conditions for utilising the private use exception that make it difficult to precisely determine what is permissible and what is not permissible under the law. Having a narrow or vague private use exception is evidence that copyright laws in the GCC are out of touch with the reality of how users utilise copyright works, and this consequently makes it difficult to expect GCC users to respect the law.

The first section of this chapter provides an overview of the role and importance of copyright exceptions, and the second section illustrates the legitimate utility of the private use exception in relation to computer-based copying. The third section undertakes a black letter analysis of the scope of the private use exception under the copyrights laws of the GCC members, and the fourth section analyses the implications of the scope of the private use exception on the status of copyright law of the GCC members.

Copyright Exceptions in the GCC

The exclusive economic rights granted by copyright law to authors of original works are not absolute and are limited in several ways. The permission of the author is only required when undertaking one of the specific exclusive economic rights (such as reproducing, translating, and publically performing a work) and no permission is required for activities that do not fall under any of these rights. These economic rights last for a specific period only and no permission is required for undertaking any of the economic rights in relation to works for which the copyright term has expired. Copyright law also only protects the expression of the work and does not protect against copying the underlying ideas. Therefore, such ideas can be copied without the permission of the author.