Major publishing industry event takes place at Flag Island on February 27-28

Sharjah, 20 February 2017:  Sharjah is gearing up to host the Emirates Reproduction Rights Forum 2017, a major publishing industry event that is taking place at the emirate’s Flag Island on February 27-28. Organised by the Emirates Publishers Association in collaboration with the Emirates Intellectual Property Association and Emirates Writers Union, the forum will see the participation of elite experts from the Copyright Clearance Centre, as well as the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations.

A first-of-its-kind endeavour by Sharjah, the Emirates Reproduction Rights Forum 2017 aims to highlight the increasingly prominent role played by collective management organisations – in particular reproduction rights organizations - in dealing with publishing rights that protect the UAE’s creative economy. The platform will see the attendance of numerous writers, public and private organisation representatives, professionals from the publishing industry in the UAE and international experts in the field of reproduction rights.

The first day of the forum will host three sessions each addressing the importance of raising awareness around reproduction rights management and intellectual property rights. The sessions will host industry-leading speakers who will discuss how the UAE’s publishing sector can work in collaboration with governments, libraries and cultural organisations. Furthermore, session will highlight the significance of these entities, who play a leading role in promoting and protecting intellectual property rights, as well as numerous reproduction rights across the publishing sector. The final session will address multiple licensing mechanisms adopted by numerous institutions, cultural and educational organisations raising awareness on reproduction rights protection, as well as examine other key related issues.

Day two of the forum will headline the main discussion panel titled ‘Reproduction Rights Organisations Management.’ Representatives from the Emirates Publishers Association, Emirates Intellectual Property Association, Emirates Writers Union and Copyright Clearance Centre will also hold a closed session that will discuss reproduction rights organizations costs. The final workshop will address the topic ‘Licencing and Choosing the Right Model for a Reproduction Rights Organization in the UAE’.

An event for students at the American University in Sharjah and young entrepreneurs at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa) will be held on the side lines of the second day of the forum, while a workshop conveying the importance of reproduction rights will see the participation of a number of professors, counsellors and librarians. 

The Emirates Reproduction Rights Forum 2017 was conceived as a starting point for the establishment of a Reproduction Rights Organisation in the UAE, which will broaden the space for creativity and the protection of intellectual property rights in the country. It is hoped that the establishment of such an organisation for the management, licensing and protection of reproduction rights will help strengthen the UAE's regional and international position in the field of creativity and innovation by protecting and upholding the rights of authors and publishers.  

The forum’s organisers say that the objectives of the Emirates Reproduction Rights Forum reflect positively on the nation’s publishing industry and will attract creative minds to use the UAE as a springboard for their innovation in intellectual, literary and cultural fields. They also point out that it comes in line with UAE Vision 2021 – an aspiration that aims to place the country among the world's best by the time of the Golden Jubilee of the Union.