A coordination meeting to discuss the latest updates regarding the establishment of a Reproduction Rights Organization (RRO) in the UAE has been held on the sidelines of the 3rd Arab Publisher’s Conference in Sharjah.The high level meeting was attended by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Founder and Patron of the Emirates Publishers Association; Dr. Habib Al Sayegh, Chairman of the Emirates Writers Union; Dr Mariam Al Shenasi, President of the Emirates Publishers Association; Ali Al Shaali, Vice President of Emirates Publishers Association; Dr. Abdulrahman Almuaini, Secretary-General of the Emirates Intellectual Property Association; Fawzi Al Jabri, Director for Copyright, Intellectual Property Department, Ministry of Economy, Abu Dhabi; Olav Stokkmo, the CEO of the Belgium-based International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFRRO), and Michael Healy, the Executive Director of International Relations at Copyright Clearance Center.In line with the efforts to develop the publishing and creative industries in the UAE participants agreed there was a need to establish a specialized organization for the management, licensing, and protection of mass copyright in the United Arab Emirates. It was agreed that such an organization will help to enhance the UAE's regional and international position in the field of creativity and innovation, by protecting the rights of authors and publishers.
The meeting is the latest in a series of meetings that started in 2009 through an initiative by the Emirates Publishers Association, the Emirates Writers Union, and the Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights to establish a collective management organization for the licensing and protection of copyright works.Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi said the UAE has always been a leader and pioneer in building a favorable environment for creativity and the field of intellectual and cultural creativity in particular. "Our interest in establishing an organization for the collective management of copyright stems from our belief that such a step will have a positive impact on the publishing industry, and help attract creative people to make the UAE their creative home from which they launch their work,” said Sheikha Bodour, “thus motivating them to exert more efforts and present more ideas.
”Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi called on all stakeholders to work on establishing this collective management organization, with the support of the Ministry of Economy, explaining that the UAE's law would support such an organization and act as a supervisory and licensing body to regulate activities in the publishing and copyright fields. Sheikha Bodour said, "This requires a buy in from all stakeholders, and a shared vision that such a organization will be in line with the country's efforts to support and protect creativity, as well as the national strategy for innovation.”Dr. Habib Al Sayegh said, “The establishment of the organization will be in line with the great progress achieved by the UAE in the fields of culture and creativity, as well as the country's efforts in protecting the rights of writers and publishers, thus assuring the active participation of the creative industries in the total sustainable development of the UAE.”