The Arab Copyright Convention of 1981 - The Necessity of Amendment to Accommodate Digital Rights
Bouzidi Ahmed Tidjani · Law and World · 2025
The growing digital challenges accompanying the rise of digital creativity, alongside the efforts of Arab countries to enhance legal frameworks for protecting authors’ rights and literary works, have exposed a misalignment between the provisions of the 1981 Arab Copyright Convention and the evolving national objectives. This discrepancy necessitates revising the Convention to align with the fundamental standards for copyright protection in the digital environment, as set out in the WIPO Copyright Treaty of 1996—the first international treaty to address copyright in the context of the internet. This paper explores the necessary revisions to the 1981 Convention to incorporate digital copyright protections. It examines the legal foundations required for recognizing such rights, including the originality and fixation of digital works, presumptions of ownership, the scope and limitations of rights, applicable legal protections, and enforcement mechanisms suited to the digital context. The study offers significant academic value by addressing a key gap in comparative legal analysis between the Arab Copyright Convention and the WIPO Copyright Treaty. It integrates relevant international instruments and judicial precedents to propose practical legislative amendments compatible with the demands of the digital age. The findings contribute to the development of intellectual property scholarship and offer a concrete basis for legal reform. Ultimately, this study aims to strengthen the rights of Arab authors and promote the harmonization of regional copyright frameworks with established international standards.