Selected year snapshot
For 1999, the active event in this file is قانون رقم 25 لسنة 1995 بشأن حماية المصنفات الفكرية وحقوق المؤلف.
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Current rationale
Qatar's first copyright law was Law No. 25 of 1995 on the Protection of Intellectual Works and Copyright. Before this law came into force, Qatar had no dedicated copyright statute. The law in force on 1990-01-01 therefore had no copyright exceptions or limitations regime. Law No. 25 of 1995 was enacted in 1995 and replaced by Law No. 7 of 2002. I was unable to retrieve the full statutory text of Law No. 25 of 1995 via web search to verify its specific exception provisions. The Arabic Wikisource text of Law No. 7 of 2002 references Law No. 25 of 1995 as a predecessor. Since no copyright statute was in force on 1990-01-01, and the earliest copyright law (1995) could not be verified in full text, this baseline is marked AMBIGUOUS.
Law changes
قانون رقم 25 لسنة 1995 بشأن حماية المصنفات الفكرية وحقوق المؤلف
Baseline · Effective 1990-01-01
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Dates: Effective 1990-01-01
Why this score
Qatar's first copyright law was Law No. 25 of 1995 on the Protection of Intellectual Works and Copyright. Before this law came into force, Qatar had no dedicated copyright statute. The law in force on 1990-01-01 therefore had no copyright exceptions or limitations regime. Law No. 25 of 1995 was enacted in 1995 and replaced by Law No. 7 of 2002. I was unable to retrieve the full statutory text of Law No. 25 of 1995 via web search to verify its specific exception provisions. The Arabic Wikisource text of Law No. 7 of 2002 references Law No. 25 of 1995 as a predecessor. Since no copyright statute was in force on 1990-01-01, and the earliest copyright law (1995) could not be verified in full text, this baseline is marked AMBIGUOUS.
قانون رقم 7 لسنة 2002 بشأن حماية حق المؤلف والحقوق المجاورة
Relevant update · Effective 2002-06-08
20%
Relevant section: المواد 18-27 (الباب الخامس: القيود على حق المؤلف والحقوق المجاورة)
Dates: Effective 2002-06-08 · Enacted 2002-06-08
Why this score
Law No. 7 of 2002 replaced Law No. 25 of 1995 and introduced Part 5 (Articles 18-27) on restrictions on copyright and neighbouring rights. The most permissive research-relevant exceptions are: (1) Article 19 — personal use exception allowing a natural person to reproduce a single copy for personal use without profit. For works in Art. 19(a) (articles, chapters, lawfully available works), full-work reproduction of articles/chapters is permitted. For other works under Art. 19(b), only 'short excerpts' are permitted. This is a private/personal use exception restricted to natural persons. (2) Article 20 — library/documentation center exception allowing reproduction of a single copy of an article, short work, or short excerpt for a person's study or research. This is an institutional exception limited to articles, short works, or short excerpts. (3) Article 21(a) — quotation of passages only. Evaluating the most permissive exception: Article 19(a) permits full reproduction of articles and chapters by any natural person for personal use. However, for works beyond articles/chapters (e.g., full books, full audiovisual works), only short excerpts are permitted under Art. 19(b). Article 20(a) similarly limits library reproduction to articles, short works, or short excerpts for research. No exception permits full-work reproduction of ALL types of works. Articles and chapters can be reproduced in full, but books as a whole, audiovisual works, and other categories cannot. This constitutes an ORANGE classification: full-work reproduction is permitted for some categories (articles, chapters) but not all. No exception covers sharing/communication. Non-commercial restriction and single-copy limit are classification-neutral factors and were not factored into the color decision. No TDM exception exists.
Exceptions considered
Personal use: natural person may reproduce single copy for personal use without profit. Art. 19(a) covers articles, chapters, lawfully available works (full reproduction). Art. 19(b) covers short excerpts of other works.
Library/documentation center may reproduce single copy of an article, short work, or short excerpt from a published work to fulfill a natural person's request for study or research.
Quotation of passages from a lawfully published work, within limits justified by the purpose.
Use for illustration in teaching in publications, broadcasts, or recordings, limited to the extent justified by the purpose, with attribution.
General three-step test provision: exceptions must not conflict with normal exploitation and must not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.
Original text
المادة 19: يجوز بدون إذن المؤلف ودون دفع مكافأة له استنساخ نسخة واحدة من المصنف بمعرفة شخص طبيعي وذلك حصراً للاستعمال الشخصي، على ألا يكون ذلك بقصد الربح المادي المباشر أو غير المباشر، وذلك في الحالات التالية: (أ) استنساخ مقال منشور في صحيفة أو دورية أو فصل من كتاب أو مصنف متاح قانوناً للجمهور. (ب) استنساخ مقتطفات قصيرة من مصنف متاح قانوناً للجمهور بخلاف المصنفات المشار إليها في الفقرة (أ) من هذه المادة. المادة 20: يجوز بدون إذن المؤلف ودون دفع مكافأة له استنساخ نسخة واحدة من المصنف بمعرفة مكتبة أو دار للتوثيق لا تستهدف الربح المادي المباشر أو غير المباشر وذلك في الحالات التالية: (أ) إذا كان المصنف المستنسخ مقالاً أو مصنفاً قصيراً أو مقتطفاً قصيراً من مصنف منشور وكان الغرض من الاستنساخ تلبية طلب شخص طبيعي لاستخدامه في دراسة أو بحث. المادة 21: يجوز بدون إذن المؤلف ودون دفع مكافأة له القيام بالأعمال التالية: (أ) الاستشهاد بفقرات من مصنف سبق نشره بصورة مشروعة...
English rendering
[Unofficial translation]: Article 19: It is permissible, without the author's permission and without payment of remuneration, to reproduce a single copy of a work by a natural person exclusively for personal use, provided this is not for direct or indirect material profit, in the following cases: (a) reproduction of an article published in a newspaper or periodical, or a chapter of a book, or a work lawfully available to the public; (b) reproduction of short excerpts from a work lawfully available to the public other than the works referred to in paragraph (a) of this article. Article 20: It is permissible, without the author's permission and without payment of remuneration, to reproduce a single copy of a work by a library or documentation center that does not aim at direct or indirect material profit, in the following cases: (a) if the reproduced work is an article, a short work, or a short excerpt from a published work, and the purpose of reproduction is to fulfill a request of a natural person for use in study or research. Article 21: It is permissible, without the author's permission and without payment of remuneration, to carry out the following acts: (a) quotation of passages from a work previously published lawfully...
Source links
قانون رقم 7 لسنة 2002 بشأن حماية حق المؤلف والحقوق المجاورة
Current law confirmation · Effective 2025-01-01
20%
Relevant section: المواد 18-27 (الباب الخامس: القيود على حق المؤلف والحقوق المجاورة)
Dates: Effective 2025-01-01
Why this score
As of 2025, Law No. 7 of 2002 remains the copyright law in force in Qatar. No amendments to the exceptions and limitations provisions (Part 5, Articles 18-27) have been identified through web search. The classification remains ORANGE for the same reasons as the 2002 event: Article 19(a) permits full reproduction of articles, chapters, and lawfully available works by natural persons for personal use, but Article 19(b) limits reproduction of other works to short excerpts only. Article 20(a) permits library reproduction of articles, short works, or short excerpts for study/research. No exception covers sharing/communication to the public. No TDM exception exists. Full-work reproduction is available for some categories of works (articles, chapters) but not for all types (e.g., full books, audiovisual works as a whole). The non-commercial restriction and single-copy limit are classification-neutral. The three dimensions: Uses — reproduction only, no sharing; Works — articles and chapters in full, but only short excerpts of other works; Users — natural persons (Art. 19) or libraries (Art. 20). The most permissive exception (Art. 19(a)) permits full reproduction of articles/chapters but excludes full reproduction of all work types, yielding ORANGE.
Exceptions considered
Personal use: natural person may reproduce single copy for personal use without profit. Art. 19(a) covers articles, chapters, lawfully available works (full reproduction). Art. 19(b) covers short excerpts of other works.
Library/documentation center may reproduce single copy of an article, short work, or short excerpt from a published work to fulfill a natural person's request for study or research.
Quotation of passages from a lawfully published work, within limits justified by the purpose.
Use for illustration in teaching in publications, broadcasts, or recordings, limited to the extent justified by the purpose, with attribution.
General three-step test provision: exceptions must not conflict with normal exploitation and must not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.
Original text
المادة 19: يجوز بدون إذن المؤلف ودون دفع مكافأة له استنساخ نسخة واحدة من المصنف بمعرفة شخص طبيعي وذلك حصراً للاستعمال الشخصي، على ألا يكون ذلك بقصد الربح المادي المباشر أو غير المباشر، وذلك في الحالات التالية: (أ) استنساخ مقال منشور في صحيفة أو دورية أو فصل من كتاب أو مصنف متاح قانوناً للجمهور. (ب) استنساخ مقتطفات قصيرة من مصنف متاح قانوناً للجمهور بخلاف المصنفات المشار إليها في الفقرة (أ) من هذه المادة. المادة 20: يجوز بدون إذن المؤلف ودون دفع مكافأة له استنساخ نسخة واحدة من المصنف بمعرفة مكتبة أو دار للتوثيق لا تستهدف الربح المادي المباشر أو غير المباشر وذلك في الحالات التالية: (أ) إذا كان المصنف المستنسخ مقالاً أو مصنفاً قصيراً أو مقتطفاً قصيراً من مصنف منشور وكان الغرض من الاستنساخ تلبية طلب شخص طبيعي لاستخدامه في دراسة أو بحث.
English rendering
[Unofficial translation]: Article 19: It is permissible, without the author's permission and without payment of remuneration, to reproduce a single copy of a work by a natural person exclusively for personal use, provided this is not for direct or indirect material profit, in the following cases: (a) reproduction of an article published in a newspaper or periodical, or a chapter of a book, or a work lawfully available to the public; (b) reproduction of short excerpts from a work lawfully available to the public other than the works referred to in paragraph (a) of this article. Article 20: It is permissible, without the author's permission and without payment of remuneration, to reproduce a single copy of a work by a library or documentation center that does not aim at direct or indirect material profit, in the following cases: (a) if the reproduced work is an article, a short work, or a short excerpt from a published work, and the purpose of reproduction is to fulfill a request of a natural person for use in study or research.