Egyptian Culture Minister Gehan Zaki Resigns Following Final Intellectual Property Court Ruling

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced on Tuesday that he had accepted the resignation of Culture Minister Gehan Zaki. This development came one day after the Court of Cassation issued a final, unappealable ruling upholding her conviction for intellectual property infringement.

The Court of Cassation also ordered the withdrawal of Zaki’s book, titled “Coco Chanel and Qout Al-Qulub,” from the market. Additionally, the court mandated that she pay 100,000 Egyptian pounds (approximately $2,000) in compensation to Sohair Abd El Hamid, a journalist at Al-Ahram and the author of the original work.

In a statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday, the Cabinet explained that Zaki had submitted her resignation "to spare the government embarrassment over this personal case." The statement further noted that Zaki intends to continue pursuing all available legal procedures, including filing a petition for reconsideration of the rulings as permitted by law. It emphasized that exercising legal rights does not conflict with respecting judicial rulings.

The case had previously sparked widespread debate when Zaki was appointed culture minister in February, succeeding Ahmed Hanno as part of a cabinet reshuffle in Prime Minister Madbouly’s second government. This appointment occurred seven months after the Cairo Economic Court issued its initial ruling against her in July 2025.

The lower court’s written reasoning stated that Zaki had "exceeded the legal limits of quotation" as defined by the Intellectual Property Protection Law. It found that her actions caused Abd El Hamid both moral harm, due to infringement of her intellectual effort, and material damages, including litigation costs and lost opportunities to profit from her original book, which retails for 130 Egyptian pounds (about $2.60) per copy.

Zaki appealed the ruling twice, arguing that the Intellectual Property Protection Law exempts analytical studies and excerpts used for criticism, discussion, or reporting. She maintained that her book fell within those exceptions.

However, the Court of Cassation rejected both appeals. In its ruling on Monday, the court upheld the order requiring Zaki to pay 100,000 Egyptian pounds to Abd El Hamid as compensation for the material and moral damages resulting from the infringement of intellectual property rights and the unjustified quotation from one of her works.