CAIRO: Advertising mogul Tarek Nour agreed to drop a lawsuit against Tamer Azab, after the latter issued a formal apology to him and his company.
“I have issued an apology to Tarek Nour and his company for the events that have taken place, and the determent that it has caused, that was not my intention, Azab told Daily News Egypt.
The 22-year-old student at Misr University for Science and Technology (MUST) was arrested on Oct. 25 for creating a Facebook group accusing Nour of plagiarizing other commercials in promos for his TV channel Al-Qahera Wal Nas (Cairo Centric).
On the group, “Stolen Promos, Azab claims that the promos for Cairo Centric were exact Arabic replicas of other international commercials, adding hyperlinks to the copied commercials.
Azab met with Nour last week and explained the reasons for which he created the Facebook group and they discussed the consequences it had on both parties. Vice President of Tarek Nour Communications, Karim Nour, as well as a mediator, attended the meeting.
“I have learned a lot about creative content and copyright infringement that I did not know before.the difference between public domain and copyright infringement was explained to me and now I see how the content in question does not constitute theft and more importantly I see that the intention of the channel fillers was not for Al-Qahera Wal Nas to claim as their own, but rather to bring people s attention to content that would have not otherwise been seen in the Arab World, explained Azab.
Azab apologized for a number of issues, including “accusing [Nour] of plagiarism and intellectual copyrights infringement, the insolence that took place on the [Facebook] group and insulting you personally and lastly, “my reaction to the whole incident.
Azab stayed in police custody for three days after the prosecution office had issued his release order. He was kept at Omraneyya police station, reportedly notorious for the mistreatment of detainees.
After the Facebook group gained media attention, Nour published ads in newspapers admitting that the promos were exact replicas of other commercials, boasting about how the Egyptian version is better.
In another ad, he announced a competition for viewers to spot one difference between the original clip and his own promos.
The lawsuit Nour had filed against Azab has changed from defamation and libel to “disturbing others after a police investigation into the Facebook group “Stolen Promos found no evidence of the prior accusations.
