Law No. 75 of 2019 Promulgating the Copyright and Related Rights Law

Law No. 75 of 2019
Promulgating the Copyright and Related Rights Law

Copyright and Related Rights

Part One – Definitions and Scope of Protection

Article 1

For the purposes of applying this Law, the following words and expressions shall have the meanings assigned opposite each of them:
1- Work: any original literary, artistic or scientific creation, whatever its type, mode of expression, significance or purpose.
2- Creativity: the production of a new work in which the element of originality is present, or the renewal or development of an existing work in such a way that this renewal or development is distinguished by a special character.
3- Author: the person who creates the work. The person whose name is mentioned on the work, or to whom the work is attributed upon its publication, shall be deemed its author, unless proven otherwise. The person who publishes the work without mentioning his name or under a pseudonym shall also be deemed the author of the work, provided that there is no doubt as to his true identity; if doubt arises, the publisher or producer of the work, whether a natural or legal person, shall be deemed to represent the author in exercising his rights until the true identity of the author is established.
4- Collective Work: a work created by more than one person under the direction of a natural or legal person who undertakes its management and publication in his own name and for his own account, and in which the work of its authors merges into the objective intended by that person, without any specific right being determined for any of the authors over the work as a whole.
5- Joint Work: a work that does not fall within collective works and in whose authorship more than one author participates, whether or not the contribution of each of them to it can be separated.
6- Derivative Work: a work that derives its origin from a pre-existing work, such as translations, adaptations and musical arrangements, or other modifications or transformations made to the work, without prejudice to the rights in the original work.
7- National Folklore: inherited arts and traditional customs, expressions and performances, including oral, written, musical or kinetic popular traditions, or any of the foregoing that can be embodied in elements reflecting such inherited arts and traditional customs and the traditional heritage that originated or continued in the State of Kuwait, including:
(a) Oral expressions, such as tales, riddles, puzzles and poems, whether in classical or colloquial Arabic, and other poems and traditions.
(b) Musical expressions, such as folk songs accompanied by music, and folk music.
(c) Expressions by action, such as folk kinetic performances, plays and artistic forms.
(d) Tangible expressions, such as products of folk art, including fine art and drawings, whatever the lines or colours used, products of engraving, sculpture, ceramics and clay, products made of wood and the various inlays applied to them, and products of wickerwork, mosaic, metals, jewellery, textiles, needlework, carpets, garments, bags, musical instruments, architectural forms and others.
8- Related Rights: the rights enjoyed by those who communicate the author’s work to the public, who are known as holders of related rights, namely performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations.
9- Performers: actors, singers, reciters, chanters, instrumentalists, musicians, dancers and mime performers whose performance is connected with literary or artistic works subject to the provisions of this Law, which they perform in one manner or another, including folklore expressions or works that have fallen into the public domain.
10- Producer of a Sound Recording: the natural or legal person on whose initiative and under whose responsibility the first fixation of the sounds constituting a performance, or of other sounds, or the fixation of any representation of sounds, takes place.
11- Sound Recording: the fixation of the sounds constituting a performance or of other sounds, or the fixation of a representation of sounds, other than in the form of a fixation incorporated in a cinematographic work or other audiovisual work.
12- Broadcasting: the transmission of a signal carrying the programme intended for broadcasting by radio, television or broadcasting devices, by wire or wireless means, for reception by the public. Any such transmission made via satellite shall also be deemed broadcasting, and the transmission of encrypted signals shall be deemed broadcasting where the means of decryption is made available to the public by the broadcasting organization or with its consent. Forms of transmission made via computer networks shall not be deemed broadcasting.
13- Broadcasting Organization: the legal person that takes the initiative in assembling, compiling and scheduling the content of the broadcast programme, with the authorization of the right holders where necessary, and that bears the legal and editorial responsibility for communicating to the public everything contained in its broadcast signal.
14- Signal Carrying the Programme Intended for Broadcasting: an electronically generated carrier carrying a programme intended for broadcasting, as originally transmitted and in any subsequent format.
15- Programme Intended for Broadcasting: live or recorded material consisting of images or sounds or both, or of representations thereof.
16- Public Performance: any performance of a work, such as acting, recitation, narration, playing or broadcasting, whereby the performance takes place in a place where the public is or may be present, or in a place not open to the public but where a large number of persons from outside the circle of a particular family or its immediate surroundings are present.
17- Communication to the Public: making the work, performance, sound recording or broadcast programme available to the public by wire or wireless transmission, including making the work available to the public in a manner that can be received by broadcasting alone by persons other than family members and close friends, at a place other than the place of broadcasting, regardless of the time or place at which, or the manner in which, it is received.
18- Compilation: any form of compilation of data or other material, including folklore, which falls within the scope of intellectual creations by reason of the selection or arrangement of its contents.
19- Data Compilations (Databases): a collection of materials, data or compilations of folklore expressions, in whatever form, which constitute intellectual creations by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents, whether in machine-readable or electronic form or any other form.
20- Fixation: any embodiment of images or sounds, or of any representation thereof, through which they can be perceived, reproduced or communicated by any means.
21- Audiovisual Work: a work consisting of a series of related images which are essentially intended to be shown together with their accompanying sounds, if any, and which give an impression of motion when shown, broadcast or communicated to the public, through the use of machines or devices such as projectors, viewing devices or electronic equipment, regardless of the nature of the material objects in which such works are embodied.
22- Distribution: making the original copy of the work, or copies thereof, available to the public through their sale or the transfer of their ownership by any other means.
23- Rental: making the work available for use for a specified period of time for the purpose of obtaining an economic or commercial benefit, whether direct or indirect.
24- Computer Program: a set of instructions expressed in words, codes or any other form which, when incorporated in a material medium, can be read by a computer, or can cause it to perform or execute a particular task or produce a particular result.
25- Publication: making copies of the work available to the public by any means whatsoever, with the consent of the owner of the copyright or related rights, in a quantity sufficient to meet the needs of the public, through sale, rental or any other means that transfers the ownership or possession of a copy of the work or the right to use it.
26- Reproduction: making one or more copies of a work, sound recording or broadcast programme, or of any performance, in any form or manner, including downloading or electronic storage, whatever the method or tool used in the reproduction.
27- Technological Protection Measures: any technology, device or component that, in the normal course of its operation, is designed to prevent acts not authorized by the right holder in respect of works or subject matter of related rights, or to restrict such acts.
28- Rights Management Information: any information identifying the author, the work, the performers, the performance of such performer, the producer of the sound recording, the sound recording itself, the broadcasting organization, the broadcast programme or the owner of any right under this Law, or any information about the terms of use of the work, performance, sound recording or broadcast programme, or any numbers or codes representing such information, whenever any item of such information is attached to a copy of the work, the fixed performance, the sound recording or the fixed broadcast programme, or appears in connection with the broadcasting or communication to the public of the work, or the communication of the fixed performance, sound recording or broadcast programme to the public, or its making available to the public.
29- Public Domain: the common resource into which fall all works or subject matter of related rights that are excluded from protection from the outset, or in respect of which the term of protection of the economic rights expires, or which are voluntarily relinquished by the author or the holder of the related right.
30- The Organization: the World Intellectual Property Organization.
31- The Convention: the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
32- The Minister: the Competent Minister.
33- The Library: the National Library of Kuwait.
34- The Council: the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters.

Article 2

The protection prescribed for copyright and related rights shall cover Kuwaiti natural and legal persons, foreigners permanently residing in the State of Kuwait, and foreigners who are nationals of a state that is a member of the Convention or of the Organization or who reside in a state that is a member of the Convention.
The following shall be deemed as belonging to the member states:
First: With respect to copyright:
1- Authors who are nationals of a state that is a member of the Convention or of the Organization, in respect of their works, whether published or unpublished.
2- Authors who are not nationals of a member state, in respect of their works first published in a member state, or simultaneously in a non-member state and a member state. A work shall be deemed to have been published simultaneously in several states if it appears in two or more states within thirty days from the date of its first publication. The performance of a dramatico-musical or cinematographic work, the performance of a musical work, the public recitation of a literary work, the wire transmission or broadcasting of literary or artistic works, the exhibition of a work of art and the construction of a work of architecture shall not constitute publication.
3- Producers and authors of audiovisual works whose headquarters or place of residence is in a member state.
4- Authors of works of architecture erected in a member state, or of other artistic works incorporated in a building or other structure located in a member state.
Second: With respect to rights related to copyright:
1- Performers, where any of the following cases applies to them:
(a) The performance takes place in a state that is a member of the Convention or of the Organization.
(b) The performance is incorporated in sound recordings whose producer belongs to a state that is a member of the Convention or of the Organization, or the first fixation of the sound is made in the territory of a state that is a member of the Convention or of the Organization.
(c) The performance is broadcast by a broadcasting organization whose headquarters is located in a state that is a member of the Convention or the Organization, using a transmitter that is also located in a state that is a member of the Convention or of the Organization.
2- Producers of sound recordings, if the first fixation of the sound was made in a state that is a member of the Convention or of the Organization.
3- Broadcasting organizations whose headquarters is located in the territory of a state that is a member of the Convention or of the Organization, provided that the broadcast programme was broadcast from a transmitter also located in the territory of a state that is a member of the Convention or of the Organization.
Nationals of the states that are members of the Convention or of the Organization shall enjoy any advantage, favour, privilege or immunity granted by any other law to the nationals of any state with respect to copyright and related rights, unless the source of such advantage, favour or immunity is the following:
(a) Judicial assistance agreements or legal cooperation agreements.
(b) Agreements relating to copyright and related rights in force before the date of entry into force of the World Trade Organization Agreement in the State of Kuwait.

Article 3

The protection prescribed by this Law for the rights of authors shall apply to original works in literature, arts and sciences, whatever the type of such works, their mode of expression, their significance or the purpose of their authorship or classification, upon their mere creation and without the need for any formality, and shall include in particular the following:
1- Written materials, such as books, booklets and the like.
2- Works delivered orally, such as lectures, speeches, poems, anthems, chants and the like.
3- Dramatic works, musical plays, dramatic sketches, revues and similar choreographic works or dance shows, performed by movement or sound or both.
4- Works broadcast through broadcasting organizations.
5- Works of fine art of all kinds, decorative arts, artistic weaving, sculpture, drawing, engraving, lithography and the like.
6- Audiovisual works.
7- Musical compositions, whether or not accompanied by words.
8- Works of applied art, whether handicraft or industrial.
9- Photographic works or the like.
10- Designs, illustrations, geographical maps, plans and three-dimensional works relating to geography, topography, engineering, architecture or science; protection shall not cover the functional character of the design but rather its aesthetic features.
11- Computer programs in any language, whatever their mode of expression or form.
12- Economic feasibility studies.
13- Collective works.
14- Joint works.
15- The following derivative works:
(a) Works of translation, summarization, modification, alteration, explanation or musical arrangement, and other adaptations, including works derived from folklore.
(b) Data compilations (databases), whether in machine-readable or any other form, which are original by reason of the selection, arrangement or classification of their contents; protection shall not extend to the content of the databases and shall not prejudice the rights in such content.
(c) Collections of works of whatever kind, such as encyclopaedias, anthologies, and folklore expressions of popular heritage and anthologies thereof, provided that such collections are original by reason of the selection, arrangement or classification of their contents, without prejudice to the rights of authors in respect of each work forming part of such collections.
The protection prescribed for derivative works shall not prejudice the protection enjoyed by the authors of the original works.

Article 4

The protection established under the provisions of this Law shall not apply to the following:
1- Ideas, procedures, methods of work, methods of operation, mathematical concepts, principles, abstract facts, discoveries and data, even if expressed, described or explained in a work.
2- Official texts of a legislative, administrative or judicial nature, as well as their translations.
3- News or daily events that constitute mere press information.
4- The Holy Scriptures, the scripts used in writing them (their orthography), their recitation and the recording of their recitation.
5- Speeches, as well as pleadings made during judicial proceedings.
6- Single words, short phrases, lists of ingredients, and familiar symbols and designs.
Protection shall apply to a collection of the foregoing if its compilation is distinguished by creativity in arrangement, presentation or classification, without protection of the content presented.

Article 5

National folklore is public property of the people, and the Council shall be responsible for identifying, safeguarding, supporting and defending it against distortion or harm to the cultural interests or the public interests of the State.

Part Two – Copyright and Related Rights

Chapter One – Copyright

First: Moral Rights

Article 6

The author and his universal successor shall enjoy the following moral rights in his work:
First: The right to have the work attributed to its author.
Second: The right to decide on the publication of the work for the first time.
Third: The right to prevent any interference with or modification to the work that would distort or alter it, or that would prejudice the honour, reputation or standing of the author.
Fourth: The right to use a pseudonym or to have no name stated on the work.
The author and his universal successor shall have moral rights in his work that may not be waived or attached, and any disposition of them shall be absolutely null and void.

Article 7

The author may request the Court of First Instance to prevent the release of his work or to withdraw it from circulation, notwithstanding his disposition of the right of economic exploitation.
If the author’s request is granted, the person to whom the rights of economic exploitation have passed shall have the right to claim compensation to be assessed by the Court.

Article 8

The Council shall exercise the moral rights provided for in Article (6) if the Kuwaiti author dies without leaving an heir, as well as in the case of works whose author is unknown.

Second: Economic Rights

Article 9

The author, his universal successor and his legatee shall enjoy the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit any use or exploitation of his work in any manner whatsoever, as follows:
1- Reproduction of the work by any means, including printing, photography, recording on tapes, discs, laser compact discs or the electronic memories of a computer device, or storage in digital form in an electronic or optical environment, or by any other means.
2- Translation of his work into another language, musical arrangement of it, or making any other modification or adaptation to it that constitutes a derivative work.
3- Distribution of the work or its physical copies to the public by sale or any other disposition transferring ownership. The exclusive right of distribution shall be exhausted upon the first sale of the original copy of the work, and the purchaser of the original protected work shall be permitted to sell, relinquish or dispose of it without the permission of the right holder.
4- Public performance of his work.
5- Broadcasting or rebroadcasting the work or communicating it to the public.
6- Rental of the work. The exclusive right of rental shall not apply to computer programs where they are not the essential object of the rental, nor to the rental of audiovisual works where it does not lead to widespread copying that causes material harm to the holder of the said exclusive right.
7- Publication by any means whatsoever, including making it available through computers, communication networks and other means.

Article 10

The Council may exercise the economic rights in works whose Kuwaiti author dies without leaving an heir or legatee, and in works whose author is unknown and which were first published within the State of Kuwait.

Article 11

The author may receive the monetary or in-kind consideration that he deems fair in return for disposing of one or more of the rights of economic exploitation of his work to third parties, and the author shall remain the owner of everything not disposed of in the foregoing manner; nor shall his authorization to exploit any of his economic rights be deemed an authorization to exploit any other economic right that he enjoys in the work.
For a disposition of the rights established for the author and the holders of related rights to be validly concluded, it shall be in writing and shall specify expressly and in detail each right separately, stating the extent of the right subject to the disposition, its purpose, duration and place.
Without prejudice to the moral rights provided for in this Law, the author may not perform any act that would obstruct the exploitation of the right subject to the disposition or licence.

Article 12

Without prejudice to the exceptions to copyright provided for in this Law, the transfer of economic rights relating to works of computer programs, their applications and databases shall be subject to the contractual licence contained in the program or affixed to it, whether it appears on the medium carrying the program or appears on the computer screen when the program is downloaded or stored, and the purchaser or user of the program shall be bound by the terms contained in that licence unless they are contrary to public order or morals.

Article 13

The author’s disposition, in any form whatsoever, of the original copy of his work shall not entail the transfer of any of his economic rights to the transferee, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Article 14

The economic rights of the author in his published work may be attached if a court judgment is issued against him, and the economic rights in works whose author dies before their publication may not be attached unless it is conclusively proven that he intended to publish them before his death.

Article 15

Any disposition by the author of the whole of his future intellectual output shall be absolutely null and void.

Chapter Two – Related Rights

First: Moral Rights

Article 16

Performers and their universal successors shall enjoy moral rights in the performance that may not be waived or attached, in accordance with Article (6) of the Law, and which include the following:
1- Attribution of the performance, whether live or recorded, to its performer.
2- Prevention of any modification or change that would distort or alter the performance, or prejudice the honour, reputation or standing of the performer.

Second: Economic Rights

Article 17

Performers shall enjoy the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit the following:
First: Their live unfixed performances:
1- Broadcasting their unfixed performances and communicating them to the public, unless the performance has already been broadcast.
2- Fixation of their unfixed performances.
Second: Their fixed performances:
1- Authorizing the direct or indirect reproduction of their performances fixed in sound recordings, in any manner or form whatsoever.
2- Making available to the public the original or other copies of their performances fixed in sound recordings by sale or other transfer of ownership.
3- Authorizing the commercial rental to the public of the original or other copies of their performances fixed in sound recordings, even after their distribution by them or with their authorization. Performers shall have the right to obtain equitable remuneration for the rental by producers of sound recordings of copies of their performances fixed in sound recordings, provided that such commercial rental of sound recordings does not cause material harm to the exclusive rights of reproduction of performers.
4- Making available to the public their performances fixed in sound recordings, by wire or wireless means, in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.
5- The right to a single equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of sound recordings published for commercial purposes for broadcasting or communication to the public by any means whatsoever.
The provisions of this Article shall not apply to any recording of performers within any audiovisual recording, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
The Council may exercise the moral and economic rights of a Kuwaiti performer who dies without leaving an heir or legatee.

Article 18

Producers who have been authorized by performers to make the first fixation of the audiovisual work on any tangible medium shall have the exclusive right to:
1- Reproduce, distribute, sell and rent the audiovisual work they have produced, and communicate it to the public.
2- Authorize or prohibit the direct or indirect reproduction of their audiovisual recordings.
3- Authorize or prohibit the rental of their audiovisual recordings for any purpose whatsoever.
4- Assign, in whole or in part, their said rights without the consent of the performers.

Article 19

Producers of sound recordings shall enjoy the following exclusive rights:
1- The direct or indirect reproduction of their sound recordings, in any manner or form whatsoever.
2- Making available to the public the original or other copies of their sound recordings by sale or other transfer of ownership.
3- The commercial rental to the public of the original and other copies of their sound recordings, even after their distribution by them or with their authorization.
4- Making their sound recordings available by wire or wireless means in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.
5- Distribution of their sound recordings or copies thereof.
6- The right to a single equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of sound recordings published for commercial purposes for broadcasting or communication to the public by any means whatsoever.

Article 20

Broadcasting organizations shall enjoy the following exclusive economic rights:
1- Fixation of their own materials and programmes intended for broadcasting.
2- Reproduction of their own fixed materials and programmes intended for broadcasting.
3- Communication of their own materials and programmes intended for broadcasting to the public.
4- Rebroadcasting of their own materials and programmes intended for broadcasting by any means whatsoever.
5- Preventing third parties from communicating their broadcast programmes to the public without obtaining a prior written licence; works that have fallen into the public domain shall be excepted from this prohibition.

Article 21

The provisions governing the author’s disposition of his economic rights contained in this Law, and those contained in the Convention, shall apply to all dispositions by holders of related rights of their economic rights.
The Council may exercise the moral and economic rights of a Kuwaiti performer who dies without leaving an heir or legatee.

Chapter Three – Term of Protection

Term of Protection of Moral Rights

Article 22

Without prejudice to the provisions of Article (6) of this Law, the term of protection of moral rights shall expire upon the expiry of the economic rights provided for in this Law, and the attribution of the work to its original author shall remain in force, enjoying perpetual protection that does not lapse with the passage of time.

Term of Protection of Economic Rights

Article 23

1- The term of protection of the author’s economic rights in his work shall be his lifetime and fifty years after his death, calculated from the first of January of the year following the death.
2- The term of protection of the economic rights of the authors of joint works shall be the lifetime of all of them and fifty years from the date of death of the last surviving author, calculated from the first of January of the year following the death of the last of them to survive.
3- The term of protection of works whose author is a legal person shall be fifty years from the first of January of the year following the year in which the first lawful publication of the work took place.
4- If the work consists of several parts or volumes published separately or at intervals, each part or volume shall be deemed an independent work for the purpose of calculating the term of protection.
5- The term of protection of collective works and audiovisual works shall be fifty years from the first lawful publication of the work, calculated from the first of January of the year following that in which the said publication took place. In the absence of publication, the fifty-year term shall run from the first of January of the year following the year in which the work was completed.
6- The term of protection of works published without mention of the author’s name or under a pseudonym shall be fifty years from the first of January of the year following that in which the first lawful publication of the work took place; provided that, if the identity of the author is disclosed during the term of protection, the term of protection shall be calculated in accordance with Clauses (1 and 2) of this Article.
7- The term of protection of works published after the death of their author shall be fifty years from the first of January of the year following the year in which they were published.
8- The term of protection for works of applied art and photographic works shall be fifty years from the date of the first lawful publication of the work, irrespective of republication.

Article 24

1- The term of protection for performers shall be fifty years from the first of January of the year following the year in which the performance took place, or from the first of January of the year following the year in which the performance was fixed in a sound recording.
2- The term of protection for producers of sound recordings shall be fifty years from the first of January of the year following the year in which the sound recording was first published, or in which the publication of that sound recording was fixed if publication did not take place within fifty years of the fixation of the sound recording.
3- The term of protection for broadcasting organizations shall be twenty years from the first of January of the year following the year in which their programmes were first broadcast.

Chapter Four – Special Provisions for Certain Works

Article 25

The natural or legal person who directed the creation of, and assumed responsibility for producing, the collective work shall alone exercise the moral and economic rights of the author therein, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Article 26

Each author of a joint work shall be deemed an equal partner in the economic rights, unless otherwise agreed in writing, and in this case none of them may exercise the copyright individually except by written agreement.
If one of the joint authors dies without leaving heirs, his share shall devolve to the Council, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Article 27

If the work is created for the account of another person, the copyright shall belong to the creating author, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
Without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, if an employee, in the course of his employment, creates a work relating to the activities or business of the employer, upon his direct or indirect assignment, or uses, in order to achieve the creation of such work, the expertise, information, tools, machines or materials of the employer placed at his disposal, the copyright shall belong to the employer, taking into account the intellectual effort of the employee, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
The copyright shall belong to the employee if the work created by him does not relate to the business of the employer and the employee did not use the expertise, information, tools or raw materials of the employer in achieving such creation, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Article 28

In respect of works that do not bear the name of their author, or that bear a pseudonym, the publisher thereof shall be deemed authorised by the author to exercise the rights prescribed for him in this Law, unless the contrary is proven.

Article 29

Whoever makes a picture of another person may not publish, exhibit or distribute its original or copies thereof without the permission of the person represented in the picture, unless otherwise agreed.
However, the picture may be published on the occasion of events that took place publicly, or if it relates to persons of official or public capacity or who enjoy local or international renown, provided that the exhibition or circulation of the picture in such cases does not entail any prejudice to the honour, reputation or standing of the person.
The preceding provisions shall apply to pictures regardless of the method by which they were executed, whether by drawing, engraving or any other means.

Article 30

The rights of the author of a photographic work shall not entail preventing others from taking new photographs of the photographed object, even if they are taken from the same place and under the same circumstances in which the first photographs were taken.

Chapter Five – Limitations and Exceptions to Copyright and Related Rights

Article 31

Without prejudice to the moral and economic rights of the author pursuant to the provisions of this Law, others may use the work in certain special cases without the permission of the copyright holder and without paying him compensation, provided that such use does not conflict with the normal exploitation of the work and does not cause unjustified harm to the legitimate interests of the right holder, with mention of the source and the name of the author whenever possible.
The following shall, in particular, be deemed lawful use:
First: Reproduction of the original work for the purely personal use of the copier, by any means whatsoever, provided that the work has been lawfully published and that ownership of the original copy has been lawfully acquired, with the exception of the reproduction of works of architecture embodied in the form of buildings or any other structures.
Second: Quotation of passages from such work in another work, provided that the quotation is consistent with prevailing custom and is not substantial, and to the extent justified by the intended purpose, and that the source and the name of the author are mentioned; this shall apply to press summaries taken from newspapers and periodicals.
Third: Reproduction of short parts of the work for teaching purposes and educational purposes in educational establishments, and only within the limits of the intended educational purpose, and in this regard the following shall be required:
1- That the reproduction is not made for a commercial purpose or with intent to profit.
2- That the reproduction is made on one occasion or on several separate, non-consecutive occasions and times.
3- That the name of the right holder and the title of the work are indicated on each copy.
Fourth: Performance of the work at meetings within a family setting or for students for an educational purpose, as long as this takes place without collecting any direct or indirect monetary consideration.
Fifth: Making a single copy of a computer program by the person who has lawfully acquired ownership of the original copy, for use for one of the following purposes:
1- Modifying or adapting the original copy of the program in a manner suited to the needs of the licensee for operation.
2- Studying the ideas and theories on which the program is based through reverse engineering.
3- Converting the original language in which the program was written from source language into machine language.
4- Preservation or replacement upon loss of or damage to the original copy.
5- Preparing materials or programs that interact with the original program.
6- Correcting or rectifying errors in the program, or addressing a security weakness, in order to increase operating effectiveness and enhance its efficiency.
7- Testing the program and securing the network of which the program forms part.
Sixth: Making a temporary electronic copy in the following cases:
1- If it is transient or incidental.
2- If it is an essential part of an integrated technical process.
3- If the essential purpose of the copy is to enable the transmission of the work within a network to a third party by an intermediary, or for the lawful use of works that have no independent economic significance.
Seventh: Transmission or reproduction of articles published in newspapers and periodicals on current topics, or of broadcast works of a similar nature, provided that the source and the name of the author, if any, are clearly mentioned.
Eighth: Reproduction of speeches delivered in public, if the reproduction is made by the media and as required by the public interest, provided that the name of the author is clearly mentioned; the author may reserve the right to publish such works in the manner he deems fit.
Ninth: Reproduction of any broadcast work that may be seen or heard in the course of reporting current events by means of still or moving photography, provided that this is within the limits of the purpose to be achieved, and the source shall be clearly indicated.
Tenth: Production of ephemeral recordings by broadcasting organizations by their own means, without prejudice to the rights of the author, by making one or more copies of any protected work which they are licensed to broadcast or exhibit, provided that all copies are destroyed within a period not exceeding one year from the date of their making, or a longer period with the consent of the author; copies of such recording may be retained within official archives and as required by the public interest.
Eleventh: Transferring short excerpts from previously published works, or drawings, pictures, designs or maps, into school textbooks prepared for educational curricula, and into books of history, literature and arts, provided that such transfer is to the extent necessary and that the source and the name of the author are mentioned.
Twelfth: Exchange of documents between libraries by fax, post or secure electronic transmission, provided that the file is deleted immediately after a paper copy of the work is printed for non-commercial research or for the personal use of the patrons of the receiving library.
Thirteenth: Government-funded archives, libraries, museums and galleries which may distribute copies of works as part of their activity, in accordance with the following:
(a) Such institutions shall be permitted to reproduce the collection of works in their possession for the purpose of providing backup copies and for the purpose of preservation and converting the work into digital form, in response to the development of the needs of such entities and their electronic operation.
(b) If the work or a copy thereof is part of a collection held by one of the said entities and is incomplete, it may complete the missing parts by any lawful means.
(c) The work which is required to be available in their collections in their chosen form, if it is not possible for them to find such works in that particular form on the market or through the publisher.
(d) Reproduction of the work where it is impossible to obtain permission from the author or the right holder, or where the work is not available for sale or publication.
(e) Works reproduced in accordance with the preceding clauses may be used for personal or study purposes within the premises, both with and without electronic equipment, and may also be lent to the user.
Fourteenth: Photocopying a copy of the work by public libraries or non-commercial documentation centres, subject to the following conditions:
(a) That the reproduction is limited to the purpose of meeting the request of a natural person for purposes of study or research.
(b) That the reproduction is for the purpose of preserving the original copy, or for the copy to replace copies that are lost, damaged or become unfit for use, and that it is impossible to obtain a substitute thereof on reasonable terms.
Fifteenth: Use of the work for the purposes of caricature, parody and pastiche without causing harm to the author, with mention of his name.
Sixteenth: Facilitating access to the work for a person with a disability without the permission of the author, and taking any intermediate steps to achieve this purpose, in accordance with the following conditions:
(a) That the person wishing to undertake such activity has lawful access to such work or a copy thereof.
(b) That the work is converted into an accessible format, using any means needed to navigate the information to the extent that enables persons with disabilities to access the work, but without making any changes other than those necessary for persons with disabilities to access the work.
(c) That this is done on a non-profit basis.
A person with a disability who has obtained a copy of the work may make a copy for his personal use.
Works prepared in a format accessible to persons with disabilities may also be imported into and exported from the State of Kuwait.
Seventeenth: Display of part of the original or reproduced work to the public for the purpose of promoting it.
Eighteenth: Use of a limited part of a lawfully published work for the purpose of criticising it or supporting a point of view, provided that the size of the part used does not exceed what is necessary and customary, and that the name of the author is always mentioned.
Nineteenth: Public display or performance of a work at official occasions, within the limits required by such occasions, provided that the name of the author and the source are mentioned.
Twentieth: Newspapers, periodicals or broadcasting organizations may, without the permission of the copyright holder and without paying him compensation, provided that the source and the name of the author are mentioned, carry out the following acts:
1- Publishing excerpts from his works that have been lawfully made available to the public, and his published articles relating to topics of public concern at a given time, unless the author has prohibited this upon publication, and provided that reference is made to the source from which they were taken and to the name of the author and the title of the work.
2- Publishing speeches and talks delivered at public social, scientific, literary, artistic, political and religious seminars and sessions, and in parliamentary assemblies and legislative and administrative bodies; however, the author or his successor shall retain the right to collect such works in collections attributed to him.
3- Publishing excerpts from an audio, visual or audiovisual work available to the public in the context of news coverage of current events.
Any agreement contrary to the limitations and exceptions set out in this Chapter shall be null and void.

Article 32

The exceptions to the economic rights of the author provided for in this Law shall apply to the economic rights of the holders of related rights, insofar as they do not conflict with the nature of such rights.

Article 33

Any Kuwaiti natural or legal person having an interest may request the President of the Council, or whomever he delegates, to grant him a non-exclusive licence, non-assignable to third parties, for the reproduction or translation of any published work, without the permission of the right holder. Translation licences shall be granted for the purposes of school or university education or research, whereas reproduction licences shall be granted only for use within the framework of school or university education. Such licences shall be granted against fair compensation to the right holder or his successor, to be assessed by the competent court.
The licence shall be issued by a reasoned decision of the Competent Minister specifying the temporal and territorial scope of use, in accordance with what is determined by the Executive Regulations.

Part Three – Collective Management for the Collection of Rights, Precautionary Measures and Penalties

Chapter One – Collective Management for the Collection of Rights and Precautionary Measures

Article 34

Copyright holders and holders of related rights, and their particular and universal successors, may entrust the management of all the rights provided for in this Law, and the collection of consideration or compensation therefor, to associations or companies formed among them in accordance with the Clubs and Public Benefit Associations Law and the Companies Law referred to above.
The President of the Council shall issue a licence to practise the activity of collective management associations or companies. Their operating mechanism, the monitoring of their performance, supervision over them and the determination of the fees due shall be as determined by the Executive Regulations.

Article 35

The summary judge (urgent matters) shall have jurisdiction, upon the request of the concerned parties, to take the following measures or other appropriate precautionary measures upon the infringement of any of the rights provided for in this Law:
1- Establishing a detailed description of the work, performance, sound recording or broadcast programme.
2- Temporarily suspending the publication, display, reproduction or manufacture of the work, performance, sound recording or broadcast programme for a specified period, which may be extended until the substantive dispute is decided.
3- Seizing the original work, sound recording or broadcast programme and its copies, as well as the materials, devices and tools used in republishing such work, performance, sound recording or broadcast programme or in making copies thereof, provided that such materials are fit only for republishing the work, performance, sound recording or broadcast programme.
4- Establishing the fact of the infringement of the protected right.
5- Making an inventory of the revenue derived from the exploitation of the work, sound recording or broadcast programme and seizing it in all cases.
The President of the Court may order the appointment of one or more experts to assist the person charged with enforcement.
The Court may oblige the infringer to pay fair and appropriate compensation for the damage sustained by the right holder as a result of such infringement.

Article 36

The employees designated by the President of the Council upon the nomination of the Library, and in respect of whom a decision of the Competent Minister is issued granting them the capacity of judicial police officers, shall, for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of this Law, have the power to inspect printing presses, bookshops, publishing houses and public places, to detect offences committed in violation of its provisions, to draw up the necessary reports and to refer them to the Public Prosecution, and they may seek the assistance of police officers in performing their work when needed. The Competent Minister shall provide such employees with the necessary financial and administrative facilities to enable them to carry out their work.
By a reasoned decision of the Competent Minister, and after notifying the violating party and granting it a period of (7) working days to respond in writing to the violation, the violating establishment may be closed administratively and temporarily for a maximum period of three months. In the event of recidivism, the withdrawal of the licence may be ordered. The person concerned may file a grievance against the decision within a maximum period of sixty days.

Article 37

The General Administration of Customs may, on its own initiative or upon the request of the right holder, order by a reasoned decision the non-release from customs of goods that constitute an infringement of any of the rights protected under the provisions of this Law. The request for non-release shall be submitted to the Director General of the General Administration of Customs, in the manner regulated by the Executive Regulations of this Law.

Article 38

The right holder in a literary, artistic or scientific work subject to the provisions of this Law may deposit copies of the work with the Library at his own expense, and such deposit shall constitute a presumption of the depositor’s ownership, rebuttable by proof to the contrary.
The Library shall establish a register for the deposit of works subject to the provisions of this Law, and the Executive Regulations shall set out the rules and procedures of such deposit.

Article 39

The Executive Regulations shall determine the fees due and the procedures to be followed under this Law and its Executive Regulations.

Article 40

Concerned parties may file a grievance against decisions rejecting deposit, registration and the issuance of certificates thereof, in accordance with the rules. In the event of rejection, it shall be reasoned and made within one month from the submission of the request; otherwise, the grievance shall be deemed accepted.

Chapter Two – Penalties

Article 41

The penalties set out in this Chapter shall apply without prejudice to the exceptions set out in Articles (31, 32) of this Law.

Article 42

The Public Prosecution alone shall have the power of investigation, disposition and prosecution in all offences arising from the application of the provisions of this Law. The Felonies Division of the Court of First Instance shall have jurisdiction to hear all criminal actions provided for herein, its judgments shall be appealed before the Court of Appeal, and the judgments issued by the Court of Appeal may be challenged by way of cassation.

Article 43

Without prejudice to any more severe penalty provided for by another law, whoever, without the written permission of the author or the holder of the related right or their successors, commits any of the following acts shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of not less than six months and not more than two years and a fine of not less than five hundred Kuwaiti Dinars and not more than fifty thousand Kuwaiti Dinars, or by either of these two penalties:
1- Infringing any of the moral or economic rights of the author or of the holder of related rights provided for in this Law, including making any work available to the public or displaying any work, performance, sound recording or broadcast programme covered by the protection established in this Law via computers, information networks, communication networks or any other methods or means.
2- Selling or renting a work, sound recording or broadcast programme protected under the provisions of this Law, or putting it into circulation in any form whatsoever.

Article 44

Without prejudice to any more severe penalty provided for by another law, whoever commits any of the following acts shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of not less than six months and not more than two years and by a fine of not less than one thousand Kuwaiti Dinars and not more than one hundred thousand Kuwaiti Dinars, or by either of these two penalties:
1- Manufacturing, assembling, importing or exporting, for the purpose of sale, rental, trading or distribution, any device, means or tool designed or specifically adapted to circumvent the technological protection measures used by the author or the holder of the related right.
2- Breaching the technological protection measures used by the author or the holder of the related right to protect the rights provided for in this Law or to maintain the quality and purity of copies of works, without right.
3- Removing, disabling or impairing any technical protection or electronic information intended to regulate and manage the rights management information for the rights established in this Law, without right.
4- Deleting or altering any information in electronic form that is necessary for the management of the rights established in this Law, without right.
5- Distributing, importing for distribution purposes, broadcasting, communicating to the public or making available to the public works or subject matter of related rights, or copies thereof, with knowledge that information in electronic form necessary for the management of the rights established in this Law has been deleted therefrom or altered therein, without right.
6- Storing or loading any copy of computer programs, their applications or databases on a computer without authorization from the author or the holder of the related right or their successors.

Article 45

The copies that are the subject of the offence or derived therefrom, as well as the equipment and tools used in committing it, shall be confiscated, and the Court may order their destruction, with the exception of constructed architectural works, in accordance with environmental requirements, in addition to the penalties prescribed for the offences referred to in Articles (43, 44).
Upon conviction, the Court may order the closure of the establishment in which the offence was committed for a period not exceeding six months, and it may also order the withdrawal of the licence and the permanent closure of the establishment in the event of recidivism.
The Court may order the publication of a summary of the final judgment of conviction in two daily newspapers at the expense of the convicted person.

Article 46

In the event of recidivism in committing any of the offences referred to in Articles (43, 44) of this Law within five years from the date of the final judgment, the maximum penalty prescribed by law shall be increased by one half.

Article 47

Whoever obstructs the employees provided for in Article (36) from performing their work, or withholds any information or records they request to inspect, shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of not less than one month and not more than six months and by a fine of not less than one thousand Kuwaiti Dinars and not more than twenty thousand Kuwaiti Dinars, or by either of these two penalties.

Final Provisions

Article 48

The provisions of the attached Law on Copyright and Related Rights shall apply.

Article 49

Law No. (22) of 2016 on Copyright and Related Rights and Law No. (64) of 1999 on Intellectual Property Rights shall be repealed, and every provision contrary to the provisions of this Law shall also be repealed.

Article 50

The Competent Minister shall issue the Executive Regulations and the decisions necessary for implementing the provisions of the attached Law within one year from the date of its entry into force. The regulations and decisions in force shall remain effective insofar as they do not conflict with its provisions until they are amended or repealed.

Article 51

The Ministers, each within his own competence, shall implement this Law, and it shall be published in the Official Gazette.

Issued on 23 July 2019 and published in the Official Gazette Kuwait Al-Youm on 28 July 2019.