In a positive step for owners and exclusive licensor of media
content and copyrights in Egypt, the Economic Court of First
Instance in Cairo has issued one of the highest compensatory awards
made in the Middle East region in respect of non-payment of royalty
fees and the imposing of liquidated damages.
The Claimant (the Licensor), a major broadcasting company,
entered into various licence agreements with an Egyptian
broadcasting channel (the "Licensee") for the
broadcasting of some of the Claimant's exclusive content
comprising of TV titles and series (the
"Content").
After a few years of contract performance, the Licensee
defaulted in payment of its royalty obligations stipulated in the
licence agreement and subsequently the Claimant filed a suit before
the Economic Court of First Instance in Cairo ("the
Court") demanding (i) recovery of the outstanding amounts due
as royalties (estimated at around USD 4 million); and (ii) payment
of liquidated damages worth
