Iran and copyright issues
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According to Circular 38a of the U.S. Copyright Office, Iran has no official copyright relations whatsoever with the United States.
Therefore works originating in one of these countries are thus not copyrighted in the United States, regardless of the local copyright laws of these countries (see 17 USC § 104, quoted in the circular). Further so, not only are Iranian intellectual properties not protected in the U.S., but even physical properties on loan from the Iranian government to U.S. institutions are open to confiscation by law, as has been the ongoing case of Chicago's Persian heritage crisis. In short, there currently are no laws in effect that protect the intellectual or proprietary rights of anything of Iranian origin.
Iran however does have a set of fairly detailed legal codes to protect the proprietary and intellectual rights of works produced inside Iran [1]. These laws however do not hold outside Iran as it is not a member of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, or its extension WIPO Copyright Treaty, or WTO.
On the other hand, Iran's government actively refuses to abide by international copyright laws, endorsing the free distribution of pirated software in ubiquitous quantities.[2]
Iran however is aiming to eventually change this status, as it must in order to gain membership into the WTO.
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[edit] Iran and pirated software
Unless they are pre-installed on newly purchased computers, Microsoft products are used without a license in Iran, whether by government offices, universities, or personal users.[3] There are in fact entire shopping centers in Tehran and other cities in Iran that specialize in the wholesale of pirated, often highly specialized software. Catia for example, is a highly specialized Computer Aided Design software. It is sold in a double CD package for 5 $US in Iran. And government affiliated organizations such as the Jahad Daneshgahi sell such software at even further discounted prices across many campuses such as Tehran University.
Two such shopping centers notorious for the large quantity sale of pirated software are Pasazh Paytakht (مجتمع کامپیوتر پایتخت) located adjacent to K. N. Toosi University of Technology, and Bazaar Reza (near Tehran University). Other centers exist in Ekbatan and Enqelab Square.
[edit] Copyright violations in the media
It is not uncommon nowadays for IRIB, Iran's state run television broadcasting organization, to air edited and censored versions of Hollywood blockbusters in Persian language.[4] Some theaters however, such as Cinema Farhang in Tehran, screen the movies in the original language. None are screened with permission.
As is often the case, the pirated DVD of a Hollywood film hits the stores across Iran sooner than the movie is released in theaters in the U.S. Most of these however are in-theater-handycam versions. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of pirated quality DVDs.
Copyright infringements are also prevalent in the Iranian press and other printed media. The academia for example rely almost entirely on translations of textbooks without any consenting publisher's permit. If in English, the books are unwarranted offset prints that enable students to purchase textbooks at subsidized prices.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.parstimes.com/law/copyright_law.html
- ^ "Security fears spark Linux drive in Iran". The Age. September 21, 2004. Link: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/21/1095651288238.html?oneclick=true
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Example Link from IRIB-1's program schedule: Dead Man, starring Johnny Depp: [1]. Click on "Next Program" and "Previous program" to see more movie listings on IRIB-1.
