Copyright Misuse under American and Iranian Law

Copyright misuse is an issue the ignorance of which and the absence of a law capable to deal with it can result in the vast misuses in the field of intellectual property in the future. The laws and regulations relating to intellectual property have not been paid attention appropriately in Iran. As an example, a reference can be made to the absence of any law as regards copyright misuse. Copyright misuse here means claiming copyright with respect to works that have entered the public domain. This article deals with the concept of copyright misuse, its examples, disadvantages of such a misuse, the ways for countering this phenomenon including imposing civil and criminal liability on  and prosecuting the misuser by private and public individuals and additionally administrative measures to combat it. Consequently, the article concludes that the existing laws are not sufficient for addressing the problems resulting from such a phenomenon and the enactment of a new and comprehensive law in this respect or amendment of the existing laws being able to answer the problems raised from copyright misuse is necessary.