According to Circular 38a of the U.S. Copyright Office, Iran has no official copyright relations whatsoever with the United States.
Published works originating in Iran thus are not copyrighted in the United States, regardless of the local copyright laws of these countries. See 17 U.S.C. § 104(b), quoted in the Circular. Unpublished works, however, are copyrighted regardless of their origin or of the nationality of the works' authors, as long as they remain unpublished. See 17 U.S.C. § 104(a).
Iran has a legal code to protect the proprietary and intellectual rights of works produced for inside Iran [1]. These laws however do not cover works from outside Iran as it is not a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the WIPO Copyright Treaty, or a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Iran ratified the Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. (The Hague, 14 May 1954.) in 1959 and the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (Paris, 14 November 1970.) in 1975, and agreed to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Paris, 16 November 1972) and to the Second Protocol to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. (The Hague, 26 March 1999) in 2005.[2]
On the other hand, Iran's government has not agreed to be bound by WTO copyright laws, endorsing the free distribution of unlicensed software in massive quantities. Linux, freely reproducible even in countries with strong IP laws, is also growing in popularity within Iran, however.[3]
Iran may change this status if and when it becomes a full member of WTO, as WTO members are encouraged to abide by WTO copyright regulations. However, the U.S. has previously vetoed Iran's ascension to the WTO 22 times, and as of 2007 actively refuses to support Iran's full membership in the WTO. Thus, as a matter of reciprocity, Iran has determined that its interests are not served by observing WTO copyright treaties, and has thus exercised its sovereign right not to alter its laws, thereby making certain foreign copyrights unenforced by Iranian authorities, in theory, or in practice.
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Unless they are pre-installed on newly purchased computers, Microsoft products can be copied and distributed freely in Iran, whether by government offices, universities, or personal users.[4] There are shopping centers in Tehran and other cities in Iran that specialize in the distribution of often highly specialized software. Government-affiliated organizations such as the Jahad Daneshgahi sells copies of software at prices much cheaper than other countries across many campuses such as Tehran University. Iran Daily has argued that this has hindered the development of Iranian software companies because of lack of foreign direct investment in this sector.[5]
Two shopping centers are especially known for the sale of numerous copies of software are Pasazh Paytakht (مجتمع کامپیوتر پایتخت) located adjacent to K. N. Toosi University of Technology, and Bazaar Reza (near Amir Kabir University). Other centers exist in Ekbatan and Enqelab Square.
Recently, there has been a surge in Iranian "Warez" and "Crackz" websites, as the Iranian laws do not forbid hosting them in Iran. Hence, unlike most other countries where hosting these websites might potentially lead to prosecution, it is very efficient to do so in Iran.
It is not uncommon nowadays for IRIB, Iran's state run television broadcasting organization, to air edited and censored versions of Hollywood blockbusters dubbed in Persian.[6] Some theaters however, such as Cinema Farhang in Tehran, screen the movies in the original language. None are screened with permission, as there are no relations between Iran and any US companies.
In Iran, often the unlicensed DVD of a Hollywood film hits stores across Iran sooner than the movie is released in theaters in the US. Most newly released movies however, are in-theater-handycam versions. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of unlicensed DVD-quality reproductions.
Academia, for example, relies almost entirely on translations of textbooks without licensing by foreign publishers. If in English, the books are unlicensed offset prints that enable students to purchase textbooks at subsidized prices.
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