The Rights of the Financier in the Innovative Work In Accordance With the Federal Decree-Law No. (38) Of 2021 Regarding Copyright and Neighboring Rights

Abstract

 The author is the one who creates the innovative work, and therefore he is the one who enjoys the rights arising from his work. However, he may need someone to help him financially to finance and materialize his idea, so does that person acquire rights in return for his assistance to the author?

 Based on the above question, it was necessary to discuss the legal status of the financier who financially supports the author to complete his innovative work. The Decree-Law no. (38) on UAE Copyright and Neighboring Rights did not address the legal status of the financier and his legal rights, so it was necessary to establish a legal definition of the financier, distinguishing him from the co-author in the innovative work, and then highlighting its rights by referring to the author's rights, and extracting the rights that the financier can enjoy. We have concluded that the UAE legislator has permitted under Article (5/1) of the Federal Decree-Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights. The work is created for someone else's account, with the copyright assigned to the person in whose favor it was made, unless it is agreed in writing that the rights of the created work belong to the author. Here we see that the legislator referred to the absolute enjoyment of copyright rights by others. Copyright includes moral rights and financial rights, knowing that the moral rights are not waived. Accordingly, the author cannot waive the moral rights of his innovative work to the financier, even if there is a prior agreement between them. This agreement violates a peremptory legal rule, and therefore waiving it will be null and void. So, we recommend the legislator to refer to the transfer of the financial rights only as he did in the second and third paragraphs of the same article.