Shariah Law Fatwa on Copyright: “the guilty should be punished…”

Dr. Mashael said the Islamic Fiqh Academy (IFA) of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) has already issued a fatwa in the matter which says “owners of trademarks, brands, authorship and inventions have copyright over them.”

Dr. Mashael also said the IFA has confirmed that copyrights and patents are protected according to Shariah laws, their owners have the right to protect them and infringement by others is forbidden.

For all my free-culture friends, colleagues and readers that think U.S. Copyright laws are too strict (and fair use practically non-existent), I challenge you to appropriate willy-nilly a la Richard Prince in a Shariah law-ruled country. Heck, it appears that under Shariah law there is no fair use, or any secondary use…at all! Take that for copyright maximalism.

More here.

Tags: appropriation, art, Art Law, Copyright, fair use, fatwa, intellectual property, international copyright law, Islam, Islamic law, Shariah law