Intellectual Property Rights: 

General Protections:

Egypt is a contracting party to the Berne Copyright Convention and Paris Patent convention. It is also a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The Egyptian government is drafting amendments to the Copy Right Law which aim at enhancing copyright protection and enforcement by enforcing civil and criminal penalties. 

Software  Legislation:

The 1954 Copyright Law was amended by Law 38 of 1992.  Under Law 38, computer software was specifically protected and penalties for piracy were increased substantially. In March 1994, Law 29  classified computer software as a literary work, which provides protection for a 50-year period. (AmCham)

This was followed by a further refinement of the patent law in order to comply with the the Trade in Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) provisions of the World Trade Organization’s Uruguay Round.  Negotiations were overly protracted because of resistance from the pharmaceutical and chemical industries (virtually no protection afforded to intellectual property in these industries).  As a developing country, Egypt is entitled to a legislative transition period ending January 1, 2000.  Once enacted, legal implementation could be subject to a 10-year transition period, which is permitted under the TRIPS agreement. (Ibid.)

As discussed in the government policies section, the government has announced a new government program that includes addressing the Intellectual Property Rights issue.  Another recent government initiative to combat software piracy was the reduction of customs duties on software from thirty-five to five percent. (Ibid.)

Hardware Legislation:

    Although Egypt is a signatory of the Washington Semiconductor Convention, there is no specific legislation protecting semiconductor chip layout design. As discussed in the Hardware Section, the lack of sophisticated hardware design and production facilities and the continued predominance of hardware importation obviates the need for such specific legislation.

Implementation:

 Widespread copyright piracy has been noted in the following areas: video cassettes, sound recordings, printed matter (particularly medical textbooks) and computer software As a result, since May 1997, Egypt  has remained on the U.S. Trade Representative's “Watch List.” (www.export-link.com)

Even with the above legislation, inconsistent enforcement and isolated prosecutions suggest that it will be difficult to reduce piracy in the end user, small business user segment substantially at least up to the year 2,000. (Harvard Study)

Internet Censorship

Egypt has set up censorship offices for practically all media, except the Internet.  So far there are no laws specifically regulating speech online. No efforts to censor, block, or punish online speech in Egypt have been reported, and ISPs are not required to submit information about the identities of Internet subscribers, or get clearance before issuing accounts or hosting websites. (www.export-link.com) It would seem that the government is caught in a conundrum, encouraging the Internet for economic development and therefore adopting a positive/tolerant position towards it, even though it poses a threat as an unregulated information flow.