The Arab Creators Union concludes the activities of the “Arab Intellectual Property Day” in its 6th edition

DUBAI, May 11, 2017 (WAM) – The Union of Arab Creatives, a member of the United Nations, concluded the activities of the Arab Intellectual Property Day in its sixth edition, a community initiative launched by the Union of Arab Creatives six years ago in cooperation with the Union of Arab Media Professionals, a member of the United Nations. It was hosted and organized by the Emirates Association for Talented Care at the Dubai Police Club, in the presence of a broad qualitative presence of experts and specialists in the fields of law, sports, and media, and with prominent official and academic participation, which aimed to strengthen the system of protecting sports intellectual property in the Arab world.

The events were attended by Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Muaini, Assistant Undersecretary for the Intellectual Property Sector at the Ministry of Economy. The discussion sessions were characterized by a high level of specialized presentation and in-depth dialogue. They discussed the most prominent current and future challenges related to protecting innovation and intellectual rights in the sports sector, in addition to reviewing Arab and international models and experiences in this field.

An elite group of experts and specialists spoke during the sessions, including Major General Dr. Abdul Quddus Al-Obaidli, President of the Emirates Intellectual Property Association, Dr. Ahmed Saad Al-Sharif, President of the Athletes Association, journalist Muhammad Al-Joker, researcher and sports historian, Dr. Muhammad Fadlallah, the international sports legal and institutional strategic advisor, Charles Shaaban, the main representative of the Middle East and North Africa region at the International Trademark Association, and Dr. Hamida Abdel-Aty, the international expert in intellectual property.

The sessions were moderated by Dr. Nermin Selim, Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Creators, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and intellectual property expert, which contributed to enriching the discussions and formulating advanced strategic visions that serve the future of sports intellectual property in the Arab world.

Journalist Dr. Ahmed Nour, President of the Union of Arab Media Professionals and Arab Creators, stressed the importance of developing legislative and regulatory frameworks for sports intellectual property, praising the efforts made to enhance legal and institutional awareness of this vital sector.

Ahmed Al-Dabani, Secretary-General of the Emirates Association for the Gifted, pointed to the pivotal role played by the partner Arab federations in supporting initiatives related to innovation and preserving the rights of creative and talented people, including the sports field.

The activities resulted in a package of qualitative recommendations that the participants described as representing an “Arab road map” to enhance the protection of sports intellectual property.

The Union of Arab Creators announced its intention to adopt these outputs and submit them in an official report to the United Nations, in addition to the World Intellectual Property Organization, with the aim of supporting their adoption regionally and internationally.

The recommendations called for the enactment of an independent national law for sports intellectual property in every Arab country in order to provide comprehensive and specialized protection for intellectual rights related to sports, in line with global developments in this field.

She called for a mandatory intellectual property clause in all contracts of athletes, coaches, and organizations to ensure clarity of rights and duties related to intellectual property among all concerned parties, calling for the image right of professional athletes to be legislated with an independent, justiciable text to protect the commercial and personal rights of athletes with regard to the use of their images and data.

It recommended criminalizing the commercial use of athletes’ data without explicit permission to ensure that personal and commercial information of athletes is not exploited without their consent, and granting a temporary financial right to the Arab athlete when registering a movement in an international federation, to motivate athletes and support them financially when they achieve achievements or record distinguished movements at the international level.

The recommendations stressed the importance of regional cooperation to unify efforts in protecting sports intellectual property by designing a unified Arab protocol for registering sports trademarks with a single application in all countries to facilitate and accelerate the procedures for registering sports trademarks across Arab countries, and concluding an Arab agreement to combat piracy of digital sports broadcasting with an immediate closure within 24 hours to confront the phenomenon of piracy that threatens the sports broadcasting industry and incurring huge losses, in addition to designing a unified Arab contract model for athletes that includes mandatory intellectual property provisions: to unify standards and protect the rights of athletes in all Arab countries.

The recommendations called for the establishment of a unified Arab digital registry for sports innovations and trademarks to be a central reference for innovations and trademarks in the sports sector.

To ensure effective application of legislation, the participants recommended developing the judicial and arbitration system by establishing a specialized department for sports intellectual property in the courts and arbitration centers to provide specialized and rapid judiciary in sports intellectual property cases and qualifying judges and arbitrators with dual experience in sports law and intellectual property to ensure a deep understanding of the legal and technical aspects of these cases, in addition to adopting a system of immediate closure of digitally violating content without waiting for a court ruling to combat digital violations quickly and effectively.

In light of the rapid development of artificial intelligence, the recommendations, in the context of dealing with its challenges and opportunities in the context of sports intellectual property, called for an explicit legislative definition of the intelligent agent system in the sports context to determine the legal framework for the work of artificial intelligence systems in the sports field and the adoption of a model of joint ownership of the outputs of artificial intelligence between the developer, the club and the player to ensure a fair distribution of the rights resulting from the use of artificial intelligence while obliging clubs to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in contracting and training decisions: to enhance transparency and justice in sports transactions and define the legal responsibility of the operating party, not the system itself, to clarify who is responsible for Any violations or damages that may result from the use of artificial intelligence systems.

These recommendations constitute a clear road map towards enhancing the protection of sports intellectual property in the Arab world, and confirm the commitment of the organizing federations and associations to supporting innovation and creativity in this vital sector.

At the conclusion of the events, the participants stressed that protecting sports intellectual property has become a strategic necessity to keep pace with the rapid transformations in the global sports economy, and to enhance investment, innovation and creativity in the Arab sports sector.

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