Cultural commons : an examination of Lebanese people's knowledge of copyright

Abstract

Among the Arab countries, Lebanon was the first to legislate a copyright law in 1924 besides signing and joining a number of international conventions such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Universal Copyright Convention and the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations. The 1924 copyright law was only amended in 1999 when the Lebanese parliament issued an Act replacing chapter VII of the 1924 Act. While Lebanon has been on the forefront of copyright legislation in the Arab world, it still does not have a copyright law to deal with online material and the sharing of digital information on social media platforms. Add to that, and although many studies exist on copyright (Abdallah, 2013; Obeid, 2001; Rabah, 2001), none of these studies assesses Lebanese people’s awareness of the law in Lebanon. This study, therefore, investigated Lebanese people’s awareness and knowledge concerning copyright and the use of the copyrighted material online. Moreover, this study offers a framework and suggestions for a new copyright law for the country - noting that the current law was issued in 1999 before the existence of the Internet in Lebanon. To investigate the topic, the study used both the quantitative and qualitative research methods. A questionnaire was sent out and filled in by 533 respondents in the winter of 2018. The questionnaire asked about the use of social media, knowledge about the copyright law, awareness of copyright and respect of online copyright material. For the qualitative research method, face to face semi- structured in-depth interviews were conducted with parliament members and copyright lawyers including member of parliament Georges Okais, judge Charbel El Helo, lawyer Joseph Chamoun and lawyer Dolly Farah. The interviews covered the law’s application, hindrances, complications and shortcomings. The questionnaire’s results were also shared with the interviewees to get their feedback and recommendations for the putting together of a framework for a new copyright law in Lebanon. Findings of the questionnaire showed a lack of knowledge concerning the online copyrighted material despite the fact that the Lebanese participants were in general aware of copyright as a concept. Interesting findings included the nonchalance of the participants who they do not file complaints against copyright violators. The findings demonstrated as well that Lebanese know that they should take permission to use others’ work but they do not. They do not apply the rules. The study revealed that age and education were not major factors when it came to knowledge about copyright. More importantly, it showed the urgent need for the suggested copyright law – an initiative that was welcomed by the interviewed law makers and members of parliament.