What is the ruling on selling books protected by copyright to foreign authors, and what is the ruling on the money earned from that?
Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 2026
Books whose authors have stipulated the protection of their copyrights must not be infringed upon without their permission. Trade names, trademarks, copyrights, inventions, or innovations are private rights of their owners, recognized as legitimate by Islamic law, and must not be infringed upon.
Whoever infringes upon these rights, copies protected books, and sells them, if they are able to estimate the right of the book's owner, they must pay it to them. If they are unable to do so, they should give it in charity, even if the owner is a non-believer.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/124849
Where this answer came from
- Source platform
- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 124849
- Added here
- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy