The heirs of the late Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani have decided to take legal action against Dubai TV for allegedly promoting and airing a biographical series about their father during Ramadan without their consent.
"We want to protect our father's intellectual property rights and preserve his fame from being tarnished," Zaynab Qabbani, the poet's daughter, told Gulf News yesterday.
Zaynab and her brother Omar say the TV station and the crew behind the series have not obtained their permission to air the programme.
"We are taking legal action in Syria and Dubai because we want to preserve our father's poems and writing," she said.
"The two major infringements are broadcasting personal details and experiences without our consent and actual copyright infringement because the narrator of the biography is reading one of my dad's books," Omar added.
Omar said they came to know about the series earlier this year through Syrian newspapers and friends.
"The proper thing to do is at least obtain the consent of Nizar Qabbani's heirs," he said.
"The writer could have at least asked for our cooperation," Zaynab added.
Salim Al Sha'ali, of the Al Sha'ali Law Firm, is handling the family's case.
Legal order
He told Gulf News: "The intellectual property rights of Nizar Qabbani's heirs have been violated.
"The channel representatives told us they had bought the series from a production company which had obtained it from the writer. However, according to the law's provisions, the late poet's copyrights have been infringed.
"Our aim is to obtain a legal order and stop it broadcasting the series because it offends the poet's family."
He denied his clients were taking action for any financial gain.
"We hope we can obtain a legal order to stop the show from being aired because it's upsetting us and millions of Nizar Qabbani's followers," Zaynab said.
The first programme was aired on Tuesday.
