Author name:
وداد وهيب لهمود
Supervisor name:
طارق كاظم عجيل
Abstract:
In an age when developments began to witness a steadfast growth in all fields, including the urban one, due to information and technology revolution; when the right to a decent life also became a matter of humane demand that is comprehensively and imperatively applicable ، The results and reflections of such as the above have led legislations, including the Iraqi legislation, to add a sort of regulations to the architectural designs, for the latter constitutes the highest image of property - a highness which stems from its connection to that which humans hold most high, namely ،in its creative and intellectual manifestations. Furthermore, the rights stipulated have become a weapon and competitive tool to protect the intellectual rights of architect, which is to encourage innovation and creativity - a goal that requires the presence of legal entity that manages to identify and protect these rights.That said, this research has been devoted to a substantive and significant matter, which is the legal regulation of the architectural designs and its designers, given that it is an essential safeguard for these designs and designers. The importance of this right is increasingly growing in the international conventions, yet the decisions of the Iraqi legislature stipulated in the Copyright Protection Law No. 3 of 1971, along with its amendments afterwards, remains just ideas and simple signals without careful regulations that commensurate with the significance of the architectural designs - which is something that should be taken seriously especially when taking into account that the issues associated with the right of the architect did not take its share so far in the legal sources. What is more, the scarcity of these legal sources did not create possibilities that would lead to evidence substantiation with other researchers’ findings.One might ask, what is the legal regulation of the architectural categories? And, what is the adequacy of such regulation of these designs?Our answer is divided into three chapters, each contains two sections. First, we have established the legal origin of these designs and designers through outlining their definitions and identifying their legal terms. They are, pursuant to the Iraqi legislation, are arts and architectural designs. In Paragraph(4) of Article (2), the Iraqi legislator counted Arts among architectural categories while categorizing architectural designs as written works in Paragraph (10) of Article (2), even though it was also considered artistic categories. However, the Iraqi legislator was no longer considering construction as an architect category worthy of protection. Although a design might be modeled in construction, leading, in this case, to the derogation of an architect’s right due to the lack of an effective protection from such an abuse as when others try, unjustly, to implement a design that is identical to the architect’s, or when a construction containing an architectural design is similar to that set forth by the architect. Hence, we call on the Iraqi legislature to take the position of the US Law to the Architectural Work Copyright Protection Act (AWCPA) No. (650 - 101), for a building containing an architectural design should be considered architectural category worthy of legal protection. We have also investigated the ethical and financial rights ،the ethical side would represent the attitudes and the depths of human soul to whom they are spiritually attached in a manner which is unbreakable and inseparable to the architect. In this sense, the property rights does not allow transferability of a property right into others even though the architect waives his/her rights to others or s/he wills to do so. The financial side, on the other hand, constitutes the financial value of the architectural design through which the architectural designer manages to exploit it, either directly or when s/he uses it as something based on a contract or work. In both cases of property rights, the law works, in most cases, to achieve a fair balance between the rights of the designer and that of others related to his/hers. Hence, the legal protection of both the architectural production and its architect is intended to stop abuse and reduce the aggravation of the damage caused by that abuse. Since these means won’t stop the infringement, the legislation would provide other means aimed at reforming the situation, bringing it back to what it is, or giving a fair compensation.We have finished our study with a conclusion stating the findings and recommendations that we have reached.come to conclude that legal alternatives shall be taken; effective protection means for architectural categories and its designers shall be provided, to which we have seen no attention been given - an attention that we are hoping we find soon.
