Abu Dhabi, March 06: The management of Abu Dhabi International Book Fair decided to shut down yesterday the stand of a publishing house participating in the fair for breaking copyright law.
Al Mass publishing house was shut down and blacklisted because it displayed and sold CDs and education materials without following copyright laws.
Juma’a Al Qubaisi, Director of the Fair said “the violation was proven following the publisher’s confession, which prompted an immediate closing down of the stand. We reported the publisher to the Ministry of Economy to take action.” Violators of copyright laws are fined UAE Dhs 50,000.
According to Qubaisi, the fair refused to host 20 publishing houses this year due to violating copyright low. “Abu Dhabi International Book Fair fallows strict copyright regulations; any publisher violate the low is black listed for the next five coming years” he said.
The fair management follows a number of inspection procedures to reveal law violations; one way is to check on publishers’ stands regularly, use secret inspectors and follow up on visitors complains.
Qubaisi said “violations happen mostly in audio-visual materials and educational materials, children books and translated books.”
—Agencies