Earlier this month, the International Authors Forum (IAF) was invited to participate in WIPO’s regional meeting ‘Copyright: A Driver of the Creative Economy’ with the Heads of Copyright Offices and Collective Management Organizations in the Arab region, organised by the Ministry of Economy for the United Arab Emirates in Dubai.
Representatives from the Arab countries presented their national strategies and talked about the whole copyright ecosystem, exploring solutions to foster a conducive ecosystem with robust legal frameworks and efficient infrastructure, enabling individuals, especially the youth, to create and safeguard their copyright work.
Discussions delved into practices and ways in which this diverse and rich region could reach its full potential and how copyright plays an important role in the creative economy. Topics included the publishing, music and film industries, and the need for strong cooperation, open communication channels and exchange of information to overcome challenges and create new areas of work in the digital era.
IAF outlined the aspects of a strong author-publisher relationship and what it takes for this relationship to be fruitful. Our Ten Principles for Fair Contracts were also presented, stressing that they are the foundation for good work between authors and publishers.
