Deal sheet
- Status
- TWO EGYPTIAN COMPANIES HAVE READ THE SAME COURT RULINGS IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS SINCE AT LEAST 2020, AND NEITHER HAS PRODUCED A COURT DOCUMENT THAT SETTLES WHICH READING IS RIGHT.
THE PARTIES. Sawt Al-Qahera for Audio and Visual Recordings (also transliterated Cairo Voice Company) is an Egyptian state-owned company. Multiple Egyptian outlets describe it as affiliated with the National Media Authority (Maspero); in January 2024 the Authority's head, Hussein Zein, publicly endorsed its ownership claim. Starz / Stars for Artistic Production is owned by Egyptian producer Mohsen Gaber, who separately founded the production company Alam El Phan in 1973 and launched the Mazzika TV channel in 2003, the channel that gives Mazzika Group its name. Gaber has at times spoken for Mazzika in this dispute, and Mazzika Group's own Wikipedia entry claims the company acquired Umm Kulthum's catalogue; this record treats Mazzika, Alam El Phan and Starz as entities under Gaber's control rather than as proven to be a single legal entity, because no source checked by this desk states a single corporate structure uniting them.
THE DISPUTED LICENCE. On 17 October 2010, Starz and Sawt Al-Qahera signed a contract under which Starz granted Sawt Al-Qahera the right to exploit Umm Kulthum recordings (Al-Watan/El Watan News, 16 June 2020, reporting both companies' own account of the contract). Both sides agree this contract exists. They disagree about what it means for ownership of the underlying recordings.
THE FIRST RULINGS. Egyptian press coverage, principally El Watan News's timeline published 16 June 2020, describes a Sawt Al-Qahera lawsuit against Starz-side sales dating back to 2008; a change of Sawt Al-Qahera's leadership in 2015 (Mohamed El-Amry became chairman and moved to halt sales); and a 2017 Cairo Economic Court ruling in Sawt Al-Qahera's favour in two cases, numbered 1957/2017 and 2482/2017 per that report. Starz appealed.
THE JUNE 2020 APPEAL RULING, READ TWO WAYS. On 16 June 2020 (El Watan News's report date; Sky News Arabia separately reported the ruling as issued "Monday," on or about 15 June 2020), the Cairo Economic Court of Appeal rejected Starz's appeal, numbered 385, and upheld the first-instance ruling. Sawt Al-Qahera's legal adviser, Hossam Lotfy, and former chairman El-Amry both told El Watan News the ruling was final, "enforceable and not subject to challenge," and settled that Sawt Al-Qahera alone holds the rights. Mohsen Gaber, in his own name, disputes that reading of the same document. Per Sky News Arabia (17 June 2020) and El Watan News (28 September 2020), Gaber says the court did not rule that Sawt Al-Qahera owns the recordings; he says it dismissed Starz's particular claim only because Starz itself had granted Sawt Al-Qahera exploitation rights under the 2010 contract, which on his reading leaves Starz as owner and Sawt Al-Qahera as a licensee, not an owner. Speaking for Mazzika in that same El Watan News report, Gaber called Sawt Al-Qahera's reading "not true" and said Mazzika would "respond with facts."
A SEPARATE RULING, ON GABER'S ACCOUNT ONLY. Gaber told the entertainment trade site Filfan, in a statement Filfan published 29 September 2020, that a separate Starz suit against Sawt Al-Qahera, over the 2010 contract's terms, had been decided by the Cairo Economic Court on 31 August 2020: the court terminated the 2010 contract for Sawt Al-Qahera's breach and ordered Sawt Al-Qahera to pay Starz EGP 1,500,000 in damages. This desk could not locate a court document or a report from Sawt Al-Qahera's side confirming this specific ruling. It is recorded here as Gaber's own account, not as an independently verified fact.
THE ADMINISTRATIVE FOLLOW-THROUGH. On 8 March 2021, Egypt's Central Administration for Censorship of Artistic Works, under the Ministry of Culture, wrote to Sawt Al-Qahera confirming that departments should not issue disposition certificates or licences for Umm Kulthum recordings without Sawt Al-Qahera's approval, citing Ministerial Decision No. 334 of 2005 (El Watan News, 19 March 2021, which obtained and quoted the letter). Sawt Al-Qahera's chair, Nadia Mabrouk, told the same outlet: "Any dealing with Umm Kulthum's songs is only done through Sawt Al-Qahera." In November 2021, Sawt Al-Qahera's legal adviser Hossam Lotfy repeated the company's ownership claim on the talk programme "Hadith Al-Qahera," citing a power of attorney registered with Egypt's Real Estate Registry from Umm Kulthum's heirs and an unspecified court ruling (Sada El-Balad, 16 November 2021). That report carried no response from Starz or Gaber.
THE 2024 STATEMENT THAT COMPLICATES A CLEAN WINNER. On 10 January 2024, Mabrouk gave a television interview in which she described a split rather than a sole owner. Per Youm7's report of that interview: a contract gives Sawt Al-Qahera ownership of Umm Kulthum's "heritage" and allocates a 30 per cent share to her heirs collectively, divided among them by their individual legal shares of inheritance. Mabrouk said heirs holding a combined 80 per cent of that 30 per cent share have since sold their rights to Mohsen Gaber, leaving the remainder with heirs still aligned with Sawt Al-Qahera. Her own words, as quoted by Youm7: "Mohsen Gaber has a right no one denies," limited to what he bought. The article does not spell out what percentage of the whole catalogue 80 per cent of 30 per cent represents, and this record does not calculate or assert a figure the source itself did not state plainly.
WHAT THIS MEANS, READ AGAINST THE EARLIER RULINGS. Mabrouk's January 2024 account is not framed as a new court judgment: it describes heirs selling an inheritance share to Gaber, which is a private transaction between heirs and a buyer, not a reversal of the 2017-2020 court rulings on the Starz/Sawt Al-Qahera licensing contract. The two tracks, litigation between the companies and private sales by individual heirs, are not shown by any source to be the same proceeding, and this record treats them as distinct even though both bear on who can authorise use of the same catalogue.
A SEPARATE DISPUTE OVER VOICE AND IMAGE, NOT MASTERS. In May 2023, composer Amr Mostafa released an AI-generated recreation of Umm Kulthum's voice. Her family, represented by lawyer Yasser Kantoush, filed a complaint with Egypt's prosecutor general; granddaughter Gihan El Desouky spoke publicly about it; Mohsen Gaber separately and publicly criticised the release, calling it "playing with fire," on a televised phone-in (The National, 25 May 2023). The complaint was withdrawn after Mostafa met the family's lawyer and agreed not to use her voice, name or likeness without the family's express permission. This is a dispute over personality and image rights held by living heirs, not over master-recording ownership, and this record does not conflate the two.
A CLAIM THIS DESK CHECKED AND COULD NOT SUPPORT. Mazzika Group's own English Wikipedia entry states that, after EMI's 2013 break-up, Mazzika "acquired the entire catalogs of Alam El Phan, Soutelphan, Umm Kulthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, and Mohammed Abdel Wahab." That sentence carries a citation to a 21 August 2015 Shorouk News article whose actual subject is rare Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez recordings surfacing on YouTube; the cited article does not describe an acquisition. This desk found no other source for an outright Mazzika acquisition of the Umm Kulthum catalogue, and the entire litigation record above describes Starz, not Mazzika, as the Gaber-side litigant. The Wikipedia claim is reported here as an unsupported claim in circulation about a company this site covers, not as an established fact.
- Type
- Catalogue Sale, Settlement
- Parties
- Mazzika Group, Stars for Artistic Production, Sawt Al-Qahera (Cairo Voice Company)
- Amount
- EGP NO PURCHASE PRICE IS DISCLOSED ANYWHERE IN THIS RECORD. The only figure in any source checked is a damages award, not a price: Mohsen Gaber told Filfan on 29 September 2020 that the Cairo Economic Court ordered Sawt Al-Qahera to pay Starz for Artistic Production EGP 1,500,000 for breaching the 17 October 2010 licensing contract. That figure comes from Gaber's own statement only; this desk found no independent confirmation of it, and no source states what, if anything, Mohsen Gaber paid the Umm Kulthum heirs who sold him their combined 80 per cent of a 30 per cent inheritance share, per Sawt Al-Qahera chair Nadia Mabrouk's account on 10 January 2024.
- Rights covered
- EXPLOITATION RIGHTS TO RECORDED MASTERS ONLY. This dispute concerns who may licence commercial use, including digital use, of Umm Kulthum's recorded masters. It does not establish or dispute ownership of the compositions or lyrics beneath those recordings, which multiple sources attribute separately to songwriters' estates and an Egyptian collecting society for performance and mechanical rights; this record does not verify that society's current repertory.
- Territory
- Egypt. No source reviewed states a territory beyond Egypt for either side's exploitation rights, though several describe digital exploitation, which is not geographically bounded by its nature.
- Announced
- 2020-06-16
- Primary document
- Trade press
- Sources
- El Watan News (elwatannews.com), "Full details of the story of Umm Kulthum's recordings returning to Sawt Al-Qahera," 16 June 2020. Fetched and read in full by this desk on 2 November 2026. Egyptian national trade/news outlet. Source for the 2008-2020 timeline, the case and appeal numbers, and the list of Gaber-controlled companies named in the heirs' contract chain. · El Watan News, 28 September 2020. Appeal no. 385 ruling and Gaber's disputed reading, speaking for Mazzika. · Sky News Arabia, 17 June 2020. Independent account of the June 2020 ruling and both sides' positions. · Filfan, 29 September 2020. Mohsen Gaber's direct statement, including his account of a 31 August 2020 ruling and EGP 1,500,000 damages award. · El Watan News, 19 March 2021. Ministry of Culture censorship-authority letter; direct quote from Nadia Mabrouk. · Sada El-Balad, 16 November 2021. Hossam Lotfy interview citing heirs' power of attorney. · Youm7, 10 January 2024. Nadia Mabrouk's statement of the 30%/80% heirs' split and the Gaber sale. · The National, 25 May 2023. Separate AI voice/image dispute. · The New Arab, 30 September 2020. Gaber's direct quote on ownership. · English Wikipedia, retrieved 2 November 2026. Unsupported acquisition claim and its mis-matched citation. · Arabic Wikipedia, retrieved 2 November 2026. Alam El Phan founding and ownership.
Read this before citing: ESTABLISHED FROM DOCUMENTS THIS DESK FETCHED AND READ IN FULL ON 2 NOVEMBER 2026:
1. El Watan News (elwatannews.com), "التفاصيل الكاملة لقصة عودة تسجيلات أم كلثوم لصوت القاهرة" ("Full details of the story of Umm Kulthum's recordings returning to Sawt Al-Qahera"), 16 June 2020. Trade/national press. Source for the 2008-2020 timeline, case numbers 1957/2017 and 2482/2017, appeal no. 385, and the companies named in the heirs' contract chain (Alam Al-Fann, Mazzika, Stars for Artistic Production, Digital Sound).
2. El Watan News, "القضاء يحسم الصراع على تراث أم كلثوم لصالح 'صوت القاهرة'.. و'مزيكا': سنرد بالحقائق," 28 September 2020. Reports the appeal-385 ruling and Gaber's disputed reading of it, speaking for Mazzika.
3. Sky News Arabia, "صراع على كوكب الشرق.. من يمتلك حقوق صوت أم كلثوم؟," 17 June 2020. Independent regional broadcaster's account of the same June 2020 ruling and both sides' positions.
4. Filfan, "محسن جابر: أغاني أم كلثوم ملكي بالقانون," published 29 September 2020. Direct statement from Mohsen Gaber in his own name. Source for his account of a 31 August 2020 ruling awarding Starz EGP 1,500,000 in damages, a claim this desk could not corroborate elsewhere.
5. El Watan News, "مستند.. 'الثقافة' تمنح 'صوت القاهرة' حق ملكية أغاني أم كلثوم," 19 March 2021. Reproduces and quotes a Ministry of Culture censorship-authority letter and a direct quote from Sawt Al-Qahera chair Nadia Mabrouk.
6. Sada El-Balad, interview on "Hadith Al-Qahera" with Sawt Al-Qahera legal adviser Hossam Lotfy, 16 November 2021. Direct statement from a named party, citing a Real Estate Registry power of attorney from Umm Kulthum's heirs.
7. Youm7, report of Nadia Mabrouk's television interview, 10 January 2024. Direct statement from a named party. Source for the 30 per cent heirs' share, the 80 per cent of it sold to Mohsen Gaber, and the quote "Mohsen Gaber has a right no one denies."
8. The National, "Egyptian composer ends dispute with Umm Kulthum's family over AI rendition of her voice," 25 May 2023. Trade/national press. Source for the separate AI voice/image dispute and Gaber's public criticism of it.
9. The New Arab, "Ownership rights to Umm Kulthum's music sparks controversy," 30 September 2020. Source for Gaber's direct quote "The songs of Umm Kulthum in the law are my property."
10. English Wikipedia, "Mazzika" article, retrieved 2 November 2026. Checked specifically for its sourcing of the catalogue-acquisition sentence; the citation given (Shorouk News, 21 August 2015) does not support the acquisition claim it is attached to.
11. Arabic Wikipedia, "عالم الفن (شركة)" article, retrieved 2 November 2026. Source for Alam El Phan's founding by Mohsen Gaber in 1973 and its infobox listing of Mazzika as a subsidiary.
CONTRADICTIONS LEFT STANDING, NOT RESOLVED: (a) Sawt Al-Qahera's side calls the June 2020 appeal ruling final proof of its sole ownership; Gaber calls the identical ruling proof that Starz owns the rights and Sawt Al-Qahera holds only a licence. Both characterisations are reported from named, quoted representatives of each side, and this desk located no published text of the ruling itself to adjudicate between them. (b) Gaber's account of a 31 August 2020 ruling in Starz's favour, awarding it EGP 1,500,000, appears in no source other than his own statement. (c) Mazzika Group's own Wikipedia page claims the company acquired the Umm Kulthum catalogue outright; the entire documented litigation describes Starz, a company this desk could not confirm is the same legal entity as Mazzika, as the party actually suing and being sued over it.
NOT ESTABLISHED, AND NOT GUESSED AT IN THIS RECORD:
(1) The text of any of the court rulings described above. This desk searched for a published version of the 2017 first-instance judgments, the June 2020 appeal ruling, and the alleged 31 August 2020 ruling, and found none; all descriptions of their content come from the litigants or their representatives, quoted in press coverage.
(2) Any purchase price or date for the heirs' sale of their combined 80 per cent (of a 30 per cent share) to Mohsen Gaber. Nadia Mabrouk's January 2024 statement describes the sale but gives no figure.
(3) What percentage of the full Umm Kulthum catalogue the heirs' 30 per cent share, or Gaber's purchased 80 per cent of it, actually represents in rights terms. No source states this as a fraction of the whole, and this record does not compute one.
(4) Whether Starz, Alam El Phan and Mazzika Group are the same legal entity, affiliated entities, or merely commonly controlled by Mohsen Gaber. No source states a corporate structure.
(5) Any corporate registration record for Starz, Sawt Al-Qahera, or Alam El Phan. Egypt operates no public company search reachable from this desk.
(6) The current legal status of the dispute as of November 2026. The most recent dated statement located is Nadia Mabrouk's 10 January 2024 interview; this desk found no later court filing, ruling, or joint statement from either side.
(7) Publishing/composition rights to Umm Kulthum's repertoire, which this record does not address. Multiple sources mention the Egyptian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers as a separate rights body for performance and mechanical rights, but this desk did not verify its current repertory for her compositions.
