Commons:Copyright rules by territory/Kuwait

Copyright rules of Kuwait Shortcut: COM:KUWAIT
Durations
Standard	Life + 50 years
Photograph	Publish + 50 years
Anonymous	Publish + 50 years
Audiovisual	Publish + 50 years
Other
Terms run to year end	Yes
Common licence tags	{{PD-Kuwait}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3	KWT
Treaties
Berne convention	2 December 2014
WTO member	1 January 1995
URAA restoration date	1 January 1996

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of Kuwait relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in Kuwait must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both Kuwait and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from Kuwait, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Background

The Sheikhdom of Kuwait became a British protectorate in 1899 and regained independence in June 1961.

Kuwait has been a member of the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995 and the Berne Convention since 2 December 2014.

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed Law No. 64 of 1999 concerning Intellectual Property Rights including Explanatory Memorandum as the main IP law enacted by the legislature of Kuwait. WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.

Protected works

Protection shall cover following literary works in particular: (a) Written literary works, (b) Literary works delivered orally such as lectures, speeches, religious sermons and the like, (c) Theatrical literary works and musical plays, (d) Musical literary works with or without songs, (e) Literary works performed by means of movement or steps and mainly prepared for direction, (f) Movie literary works, and audio, video and radio literary works, (g) Painting and literary works depicted by means of lines, colors; and diagrams as well as literary works of architecture, sculpture, arts carving and decorations, (h) Photographic literary works, (i) Literary works of applied art, including craft or industrial designs, (j) Illustrations, geographic maps, design, plans and models relating to geography, topography, architecture and science, (k) Computer literary works including software, databases and the like, (l) Derived and translated literary works.^{[64/1999 Article 2]}

General rules

Under Law No. 64 of 1999 an author's economic rights expire,

• Upon the lapse of 50 years after the death of the author. This period shall be calculated in the case of joint literary works as of the date of death of the last surviving author, and runs to the end of the calendar year in which the death occurs.^{[64/1999 Article 17.1]}
• Upon the lapse of 50 years as of the end of the calendar year in which the literary work is published with respect to the following:
  • Literary works, which are published under an assumed name without the author's name
  • Literary works in which the entitled person thereto is legal entity
  • Cinema works, photographic works, applied arts, computer software and databases
  • Literary works that are published for the first time after the depth of their authors.^{[64/1999 Article 17.2]}
• Upon the lapse of 50 years so of the end of the calendar year during which the performance was made in the case of actors and of the end of the calendar years during which the literary work was recorded in case of the producers of cinematic films, records or recordings prepared for TV Dr radio.^{[64/1999 Article 17.3]}
• Upon the lapse of 20 years as of the end of the calendar year when the programs were first transmitted in case of a broadcaster.^{[64/1999 Article 17.4]}

Copyright tags

See also: Commons:Copyright tags

• {{PD-Kuwait}} – photographs, films and two dimensional artistic works 50 years after publication, starting from the end of the publication year.

Citations

Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely.