Shafaq News

Iraq’s digital media landscape is exposing a widening gap between intellectual property rights guaranteed by law and the ability to enforce them online.

Journalists, intellectuals, content creators and emerging media institutions increasingly complain of articles, investigations, photographs and videos being copied and republished without permission or attribution.

The problem extends beyond disputes over credit. It affects the economics of content production, journalistic ethics and investment in digital media, as copying and distribution tools evolve faster than institutions can document violations and enforce their rights.

Media researcher Haider Shallal says the practice has moved beyond unprofessional conduct, warning that copy-and-paste threatens the core of journalism. “Journalists’ efforts are stolen without attribution or added value, while the copier gets the reach and engagement,” he told Shafaq News.

The deeper concern, he explained, lies in weak professional and legal accountability, which “encourages the continuation of the phenomenon and creates unfair competition between those who invest in producing content and those who simply appropriate it.” He called for stronger legal protection, professional oversight and a culture that respects intellectual property and journalistic sources.

Read more: Iraq's press freedom index falls amid record violations

The Law in the Digital Age

Iraq's copyright legislation dates to 1971 but has since been amended, notably through Coalition Provisional Authority Order No. 83 of 2004.

Copyright Law No. 3 of 1971 protects original literary, artistic, and scientific works, including written works, computer programs, photographic and cinematic works, radio and television productions, sound recordings, compilations, and other forms of creative output.

The 2004 amendment extended copyright protections to digital reproduction and storage, as well as making works available to the public through wired or wireless means.

Online platforms have also become an important part of copyright enforcement. Social media platforms and YouTube employ mechanisms that include automated content-matching systems, copyright takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and other tools that allow rights holders to manage copyrights and submit disputes.

Zainab Rabie, head of Al-Nakheel Center for Press Rights and Freedoms, regards the theft of journalistic and cultural material as one of the most prominent problems of the modern era.

The issue is not confined to Iraq, she stressed, but appears “more uncontrolled” there because of weak laws and legislation, limited legal deterrence, and the exploitation of the space for freedom available online.

Rabie urged journalists, intellectuals, artists, and specialists to join efforts to develop legislation capable of keeping pace with the times and protecting journalistic, intellectual and cultural achievements. The path toward such reforms, she cautioned, remains “long and complicated.”

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A “Copy and Paste Republic”

In the digital environment, copyright infringement is no longer limited to reprinting a book or reproducing an article in another newspaper. A journalistic piece can be copied in full, broken into paragraphs, repackaged as a video or post, and distributed across dozens of pages within a short period.

Previous media reports have documented the case of an Iraqi journalist who accidentally discovered entire sections of her articles incorporated into another person’s work without attribution. After tracking the individual’s accounts, she found other material apparently assembled from the work of different journalists.

Journalists and intellectuals describe a problem that extends beyond articles to poetry, prose, books, academic research, and visual works, as well as investigative material requiring weeks or months of work.

The issue therefore reaches beyond copyright into professional ethics. The traditional journalistic principle rests on verifying information, attributing it to its sources, and recognizing the individual effort behind it. Digital platforms, however, reward speed and engagement, creating incentives to reproduce trending material quickly rather than invest in original reporting.

Shallal argues that the copy-and-paste culture harms “the core of journalism” by placing original producers in competition with those who merely appropriate their work. In his view, the absence of effective accountability also undermines fair competition, “as the cost of producing content becomes a burden on the original institution, while the copier gets a ready-made product.”

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The Battle over Proof

Legal action also depends on whether an alleged violation falls within existing law. Courts cannot create offenses or penalties without a legal basis.

That does not leave Iraqi courts without tools to address copyright violations. Existing law gives authors rights over the reproduction, adaptation, distribution and public communication of their work and provides penalties for certain infringements.

The broader difficulty in the digital environment lies in legal classification, evidence, and enforcement. Material published on a social media platform does not necessarily disappear when an account holder deletes it. It may remain in screenshots, archives, electronic copies, servers, or other accounts, making proof of the original publication date and the identity of the original creator a central element in disputes.

Raad al-Mashhadani, spokesman for the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, considers the copying and republication of journalistic content without permission or reference to the source “a violation of the rights of journalists and media institutions” and incompatible with professional and ethical standards.

The syndicate, he explained, treats the matter seriously but insists that individual cases be handled through professional and legal channels, with “judgments or accusations not being made until the facts are verified.”

Al-Mashhadani added that the syndicate’s disciplinary and monitoring committees track violations involving content theft or republication in ways that infringe on the rights of its owner. The committees document such cases and submit them to the syndicate’s council for appropriate action under its internal regulations and the applicable legal framework.

“Protecting rights in the digital environment also begins with the journalists themselves, by documenting published material and preserving evidence related to the original content and its publication date, which helps prove rights when violations occur.”

Legislation without Enforcement

Iraq has been a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) since 1976. The organization’s data shows that Iraq has national offices responsible for intellectual property, including the National Center for Copyright and Related Rights, alongside bodies dealing with patents and trademarks.

The legal framework extends beyond copyright to include Patent and Industrial Design Law No. 65 of 1970 and the law governing trademarks and commercial indications, whose amended version WIPO lists through 2010.

Yet the existence of multiple laws, with varying dates and scopes, does not by itself resolve the enforcement challenges created by the platform-driven digital environment.

Hadi al-Marai, head of the Iraqi Observatory for Press Freedoms, argues that political dominance over public institutions has also weakened protections for the press and intellectual property. At the same time, he rejects placing sole responsibility on the judiciary, arguing that “it is not fair to say that the judiciary turns a blind eye to all those intellectual violations and infringements of rights.”

In an interview with Shafaq News, Al-Marai places much of the responsibility on the political system, particularly the legislature, which he believes must establish enforceable rights through binding legislation and strict application of the law.

He further links the broader disorder to what he describes as political groups seeking to extend their influence and control the landscape, arguing that this contributed to a situation in which intellectual property concepts became obscured amid the expansion of social media and modern technologies.

The Cost of Content

The issue extends to a journalist’s right to have their name attached to their work. Journalistic content has become an economic asset that requires financing.

An investigative report may involve a research and production team, filming, editing, travel, documents, and substantial time, while another platform can obtain the finished product simply by copying it.

Under this model, the original producer carries the cost and risk of production, while the copier can generate reach, engagement and revenue from material for which they paid nothing.

That dynamic weakens the incentive to produce expensive work, particularly for smaller institutions that lack the resources available to larger organizations. The Iraqi Journalists Syndicate maintains that protecting content should not become a pretext for restricting the circulation of information.

Al-Mashhadi stresses that “press freedom does not mean wasting the rights of the journalist or media institution,” while protection of those rights “should not come at the expense of freedom of information.” He advocates a balance between the right to access information and respect for the rights of content owners, alongside stronger standards of journalistic integrity and proper attribution of information and sources.

Read more: Iraq’s media watchdog under fire for taxing content creators

Contracts and Creators’ Rights

Another dimension of the intellectual property debate concerns the contractual relationship between content creators and media institutions.

In a market where independent creators often have limited bargaining power, contracts can determine who owns a work, who may reuse, modify, or distribute it, and whether financial compensation covers only current use or also future rights.

Specialists therefore call for contracts to clearly identify the rights holder, licensing period, scope of use, financial compensation, and rights of reuse, rather than leaving these matters ambiguous.

This does not mean that every agreement between an institution and a creator constitutes a “contract of adhesion.” However, an imbalance in bargaining power can leave individual creators with limited choices, particularly when they depend on larger institutions for financing, distribution, or protection.

The debate remains divided over whether Iraq needs a new law or better enforcement of existing legislation.

One side argues that the current framework, despite its age, can address some forms of infringement and that the primary shortcomings involve documentation, enforcement, and technical expertise. Others call for a broader modernization of the system to address digital works, electronic evidence, and cross-border violations.

Digital rights advocates, meanwhile, stress that intellectual property or cybercrime legislation must not become a tool for criminalizing opinion or investigative journalism. They call for a clear distinction between protecting a work against unauthorized copying and offenses involving political content, while advocating effective compensation and explicit exceptions for criticism, education, and journalistic coverage.

They also call for clearer regulation of digital evidence, including publication data, original files and platform records, and for the use of digital fingerprints and blockchain technology in documentation without treating as conclusive evidence on its own.

Arab Experiences

Experiences in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt suggest that copyright protection requires more than penalties, combining digital-use rules, complaint mechanisms, technical expertise and safeguards for freedom of expression.

While those systems cannot simply be replicated in Iraq, they offer possible models for handling digital evidence, complaints and dispute resolution.

Amid legislative delays, civil and union activism continues to push for digital laws that distinguish intellectual property protection from political offenses and avoid vague language that could restrict opinion.

The approach seeks to protect creators from theft without turning copyright law into a mechanism for preventing legitimate quotation, criticism, satire or journalistic coverage.

Al-Mashhadani concludes that the syndicate “supports any legislative or regulatory direction that contributes to strengthening the protection of journalistic content and holding violators accountable under the law,” emphasizing that the rapid development of digital publishing requires a review of relevant procedures and legislation.

Written and edited by Shafaq News staff.