Council of Ministers Approves on Copyright Draft Law
01-Jul-2003
Following the endorsement of the Advisory Council, the Council of Ministers has approved the Copyright draft law, during its session that was chaired by HRH Prince Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz.
The new draft law protects any innovative original work in the literary, artistic or scientific domain, regardless of the type, significance, or manner of expression. Said works include books, lectures, plastic arts, architectural works, computer software and applications. The law also protects derivative works such as translation, summaries and encyclopedias.
The draft law clarifies that works such as ideas, procedures, judicial rulings, and mathematical concepts are excluded from protection. The exclusion covers media reports and news of current local and international events.
The draft law defines the author as any person who publishes the work whether his name is mentioned on the work, or in any other way that attributes works to their authors, unless otherwise indicated.
The draft law indicates that cultural heritage (folklore) is considered a publicly owned property, and the Ministry of Culture and Information shall exercise the copyright right thereto. Thus, the importation of folklore or distribution of the works or their translation is prohibited.
The draft law states the moral and financial rights of the copyright holder as well as the methods of assignment of copyright. However, the published author may not prevent third parties from undertaking certain acts such as reproducing a copy for personal use. Further, the author may not prevent the use of his work for educational purposes such as the allocation of short paragraphs and quotations in research papers. The law does state however that the original author and his work must be cited as the source of such extractions.
The draft law specifies the infringement acts on the rights protected by the law. The law also states different penalties for copyright infringement that include closure of infringing facility, and/or imprisonment.
The draft law shall be effective six months after its publication date in the Official Gazette.
AGIP / KSA