<p class="MsoNormal">MAURITIUS
COMPUTER MISUSE AND CYBERCRIME ACT 2003</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kelly O'Connell, Miami
Attorney<span style=""> </span>Email</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mauritius
is an island located in the Atlantic near Southern Africa, in the Indian Ocean,
east of Madagascar.
It was first explored by Portuguese sailors in the early in the 16th century. Later
it was controlled by the Dutch, French, and British until independence was
achieved in 1968. Given its inherent limitations of history, location, and
natural resources, the country has developed into an unmitigated success, by
anyone's standard.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>The Government carefully assembled the infrastructure for a
large, state-of-the-art cyber complex in the early 2000's which should prove
attractive to any company wishing for access to the Asian continent within a
business-friendly and highly modernized infrastructure. This law is an attempt
to protect any foreign or local businesses setting up shop there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To better understand the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act 2003;
Act No. 22 of 2003; Offense, found in Part II, these questions will be answered:
What is "Unauthorized Access to Computer Data"? What is "Access
with Intent to Commit Offences," or "Unauthorized Password Disclosure"?
What is "Unauthorized Access to and Interception of Computer Service"?
What is "Unauthorized Modification of Computer Material", or "Damaging
or Denying Access to Computer System"? What is "Unlawful Possession
of Devices and Data" or "Electronic Fraud"?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mauritius
island state has staged an impressive economic evolution, based upon its stable
democracy, featuring a British system of regular free elections and a positive
human rights record, as the markets transition from agriculture to building the
industrial, financial, and tourist sectors. The country has attracted
considerable foreign direct investments, earning one of Africa's
highest average incomes, per annum. The population is about one and a quarter
million within a land mass about ten times the size of Washington, DC.
A serious approach to property laws, in general, and Intellectual Property laws
specifically, is a major reason this well-ordered economy thrives.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What is "Unauthorized Access to Computer Data"?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This occurs when a person causes a computer to "perform
a function," ie, enters with the intent of a going into a computer system
to have unauthorized access. Here, "Unauthorized" means either
lacking general authority to enter a system, or without specific consent of the
owner of the equipment. The law does not differentiate whether the person had
intent to go after specific data or programming, or whether he was simply
accessing the device with a general intent to enter, without any firm goal in
mind beyond that. Those convicted of this crime will be fined 50,000 rupees and/or
be sentenced to "penal servitude" for no more than 5 years. The act
allows for a defense of a "reasonable belief" of consent or authority.
(Part II, Section 3)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What is "Access with Intent to Commit Offences," or
"Unauthorized Password Disclosure"?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Access with Intent to Commit Offences" occurs
when a person causes a computer system to do an act for the purpose of
accessing any program or data found within a computer system, with intent to
commit any crimes listed under the rest of this same Act. It is deemed
irrelevant whether the initial access was authorized, or unauthorized; or
whether the crime occurred at the same time, or at some period later. Those
convicted of this crime will be fined not exceeding 200,000 rupees, and/or
incarcerated not to exceed 20 years. (Part II, Section 4.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Unauthorized Password Disclosure" happens if
anyone "knowingly discloses any password, access code, or any other means
of gaining access to any program or data held in any computer system" to
commit a crime of theft, to damage files, or defame another, If convicted of
this crime, the person will be fined 50,000 rupees and/or incarcerated not
exceeding 5 years. (Part II, Section 8.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What is "Unauthorized Access to and Interception of
Computer Service"?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This occurs when anyone purposefully, and without permission
or authority, breaches a computer system for the end of obtaining computer
service to intercepts "any function of, or any data within a computer
system." Those convicted of this crime will be fined not exceeding 100,000
rupees and/or incarcerated not to exceed 10 years.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If such an act impairs or compromises the function of a
computer system, including disruption or excision of data delivery, Those
convicted of this crime will be fined not exceeding 200,000 rupees and/or
incarcerated not exceeding 20 years. It is irrelevant if the breacher's intent
was to harm the system or disrupt the flow of data. (Part II, Section 5.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What is "Unauthorized Modification of Computer Material",
or "Damaging or Denying Access to Computer System"?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This occurs when anyone purposefully acts to cause an "unauthorized
modification of data held in any computer system." Those convicted of this
crime will be fined not exceeding 100,000 rupees and/or incarcerated not
exceeding 10 years.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If such an act suppresses the system or modifies data, those
convicted of this crime will be fined not exceeding 200,000 rupees and/or
incarcerated not exceeding 20 years.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A "modification" is illegal if the person doing so
"is not himself entitled to determine whether the modification should be
made;" and has done so beyond the scope of authority, or without
permission. It is irrelevant if the damage or modification is temporary or
permanent. (Part II, Section 6.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Damaging or Denying Access to Computer System" is
when any person who, without consent or authority, causes "degradation, failure,
interruption or obstruction of the operation of a computer system; or denial of
access to, or impairment of any program or data storage," those convicted
of this crime will be fined not exceeding 200,000 rupees and/or incarcerated
not exceeding 20 years. (Part II, Section 7.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What is "Unlawful Possession of Devices and Data" or
"Electronic Fraud"?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This occurs when anyone "manufactures, sells, procures
for use, imports, distributes or otherwise makes available, a computer system
or any other device, designed or adapted primarily for the purpose of
committing any offence" under this Act. Also, to have such a computer
program in possession, is likewise a crime, unless with excuse or justification.
Those convicted of this crime will be fined not exceeding 50,000 rupees and/or
incarcerated not exceeding 5 years. (Part II, Section 9.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Electronic Fraud" occurs when anyone "fraudulently
causes loss of property" to another by "any input, alteration, deletion
or suppression of data;" or interfering with a computer system, with
intent to commit this crime. Those convicted of this crime will be fined not
exceeding 200,000 rupees and/or incarcerated not exceeding 20 years. (Part II, Section
1)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">MOROCCAN COPYRIGHT LAW</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kelly O'Connell, Miami
Attorney<span style=""> </span>Email</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morocco
has a rich French legal history, which included European intellectual property
law. The French law was set aside to make way for the global economy
represented by World Intellectual Property Organization, which Morocco assented
to the standards of, first in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property, or TRIPS Agreement; and then, in the Law No. 2-00 on
Copyright and Related Rights of February 15, 2000. That Moroccan law is still
influenced by the old dahirs (laws).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To better understand Moroccan Copyright law, these questions
will be addressed: What are Copyright Protected Works, What are Their
Conditions? What Are Some Unusual Aspects of Moroccan Copyright Law? How Does
Copyright Ownership Work? What are the Formalities and Documentation for
Moroccan Copyright? Does the Law Treat as Special Moroccan National Folkways?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">History of Moroccan Copyright Law:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morocco,
like the rest of the Muslim world, did not have a strong history of protecting
Intellectual Property (IP) rights. In fact, until the 20th century, the concept
was foreign to the law of this country. Morocco did have better IP rights
than neighbors since it accessed French laws on the topic, resulting in the
dahirs of 1916 and 1970, although application of these standards was hardly
uniform.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morocco decided to set aside the old French model and strive
for a global model after it chose to attempt to become a member of the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This represented a bold, non-typical
deviation from the colonial model when they rejected the regional model to
pursue membership in 1993 (Morocco
also attempted to become an early member of the European Union, but were
rejected out of hand for not technically being a European state). The
Government was given guidelines to follow, such as ratifying the Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, or TRIPS Agreement. This
transformed the intellectual property thinking in the state as Morocco
struggled to bring their legislation and regulations in agreement with international
standards and procedures.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morocco,
was classed a "developing country" and signed the TRIPS Agreement, and was
given a deadline of the year 2000 to redraft its IP legislation to meet WIPO
standards. This explains why the new IP law was passed when it was, yielding
Morocco Law No. 2-00 on Copyright and Related Rights of February 15, 2000 was
signed into effect.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What are Copyright Protected Works, What are Their
Conditions?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Protected work" in the Moroccan Copyright Law of 2000 are
too numerous to list, but Morocco
accepts the Berne Convention, which does have a long, but incomplete listing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Protected works presume several characteristics. First, the
work being protected must be an "original", which is not a well-developed
definition in the Moroccan Copyright Law of 2000. The old 1970 dahir and French
law in general define an original as "when its characteristic features and its
form, or its form alone, make possible the identification of its author." The
new law refers to "originality" as "works that are original intellectual
creations in the literary and artistic field." The test for originality, then, will
be one of a common sense persuasion through examples and proofs.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Second, the work cannot be simply an idea, but an original
idea that has been worked-up into some sort of model. Third, there must be an
author. This means, according to the law in Article 47, is the person who is
shown, via "display on each of the copies the name, pseudonym or mark of the
author." Therefore, a model work with a name on it, were it unique, would
translate to authorship, and all rights accrued therein, as explained in
Article 38. An anonymous, pseudonimical or unknown work is "authored" by the
publisher of such.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What Are Some Unusual Aspects of Moroccan Copyright Law?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While not completely unique, Moroccan copyright law follows
the French, as opposed to U.S.
standard, and does not require copyrighted articles be fixed on material
support for copyright. This is undoubtedly to help preserve Moroccan folksongs
as IP.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also, the 2000 Copyright law does not recognize
"compilations", again unlike its U.S. counterpart. This has created
an interesting situation where computer databases are not treated typically
within the 2000 law, but case law (Coprosa decision) and legislation (1985 law)
developed to grant databanks original protection, and to help with this void, given
as a 'right of extraction and reuse', although the protection has not gone
beyond 15 years. Databases are classed derivative works, in Article 5(b), but
with no details as to scope and term of the protection.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How Does Copyright Ownership Work?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In Article 1, paragraph (1), the new law states an author of
a work is "the natural person who created the work," and "He or she is the
first owner of the moral and economic right in the work," according to Article 31.
Proof is that "his or her name appears visibly on the work," according to
Article 38. Yet this name, according to Article 1, paragraph (1), might not be
the real author or person who commissioned it. The law only applies to "real
persons," not legal entities -- although the case law disagrees with this point
-- and protection lasts a lifetime plus fifty years, according to (Article 26).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What are the Formalities and Documentation for Moroccan
Copyright?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Formalities:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For Copyright registration formalities, and unlike U.S. copyright,
the Moroccan Copyright Law of 2000 and the decree of 8 March 1965 do not gave a
particular manner of registering copyright or an stipulation to deposit of
works. While there is a stipulation in the dahir of 7 October 1932 that says
four copies of any work produced in number and put in circulation on Moroccan
territory26 must be deposited with the General Library and Archives (BGA) in
Rabat. Strangely, this rule has no relation to copyright, since this is
registered nowhere else. The Moroccan Copyright Office relies upon a procedure
of declaration and the admissibility of such on the Report of the Authentification
Commission to then accept them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Documentation:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Again, for Moroccan texts, there is no documentary evidence
needed to attest to authorship of a work, or any body set up for such a purpose.
But the dahir of 7 October 1932 stipulates that on legal deposit, when a work
is put into circulation in Morocco,
four copies shall be handed over to the BGA, and a formal document is then
issued in return. The article gives the name and status of the author referring
to 'claims', not unlike copyright forms of the American and Canadian Copyright
Offices. But Article 12 of the dahir of 7 October 1932 does not create
copyright, nor constitute any kind of certificate of ownership, or a defensible
certificate of entitlement regarding such rights.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Does the Law Treat as Special Moroccan National Folkways?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yes. Morocco
has an extremely rich cultural heritage, expressed in dance, song, and art. The
old dahirs protected these works, naming indigenous art and invention as, "folklore",
being "unpublished works where the identity of the author is unknown but where
there is every ground to presume that he is or was a Moroccan national,"
according to dahir 29 of the 1970 code. Article 7, "Protection of Expressions
of Folklore" makes the fixing of folklore works under approval of the Moroccan
Copyright Bureau.</p>