"la r�v�lation de l’exercice de fonctions de responsabilit� ou de direction au titre d’une quelconque appartenance politique, religieuse ou philosophique ne constitue pas une atteinte � la vie priv�e"

Copyright in the Arab region has a shorter history than in Europe and the United States but, due to the influence of international conventions, the legislation in most Arab countries it’s similar and it is also in tune with international legislation.

In Lebanon, the concept of intellectual property (IP) is not new. Lebanon’s first IP law was adopted in 1923, and was one of the earliest in the Arab region. Since then, several modifications have been made. In 1999, Lebanon, as a signatory to the Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works (although it had not signed up to all the Convention amendments), implemented Law No 75 of 4 April 1999 (Law 75/1999) on the protection of literary and artistic property. Copyright arose as a result of the advent of the first technology for the production of copies of works : printing. It exists to encourage the production of original literary creations such as books. It gives an author the exclusive right to publish his or her work or to determine who may publish it. It also allows the author to control certain uses of that work and protects against unfair use of the work, such as copying without permission.

The issue of copyright also affects publishers. Like authors, they must :

(1) Make sure that their works obtain complete copyright protection, and

(2) Be careful not to infringe works copyrighted by others.

The purpose of this article is to give guidance to foreign authors or publishers who have dealings with a Lebanese publisher.