Maha El-Soghair: “What Happened Was by Mistake” Maha El-Soghair: “I Did Not Intend to Display or Claim Them as My Own”

Egyptian media personality Maha El-Soghair underwent investigation in Case No. 23 of 2025 at the 6th of October Economic Misdemeanor Court, related to the violation of intellectual property rights, after she displayed a collection of international artworks and attributed them to herself on one of her television programs.

During the investigation, Maha El-Soghair denied the accusations, asserting that the incident was accidental. She explained that she had provided the program’s production team with a USB drive containing only her own artworks. She revealed that she had no intention of displaying any of the other artworks stored on the drive or claiming them as her own, stating: “I handed the production team a USB with my works, and the images of the paintings were on it by mistake. I did not intend to display them on the program or claim them as mine.”

Intellectual Property Protection Agency Report Reveals Facts

The report from the Egyptian Intellectual Property Protection Agency confirmed that the six paintings shown on the program actually belong to four living international artists: Danish artist Lisa Lash Nelson, Italian artist Pier Tofoliti, artist Caroline Wendelin, and French artist Siati. The report highlighted that these works are legally protected under the Berne and TRIPS international agreements, and that displaying them and attributing them to someone else on widely broadcast media constitutes a violation of the artists’ moral and intellectual rights.

Public Prosecution Refers Case to Economic Court

Based on the provisions of Intellectual Property Protection Law No. 82 of 2002, the Public Prosecution determined that Maha El-Soghair acted with criminal intent and ordered her referral to trial before the Primary Economic Court in a session scheduled for November 22. She has been released pending the case proceedings.