Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) would like to inform its clients that the Saudi Minister of Culture and Information, Dr. Fouad bin Abdul-Salam Al-Farsi, signed a decision, May 29, 2004 approving the issuance of the Implementing Regulations of the Saudi Copyright Law.
The copyright law was issued as per the Royal Decree No. M/41 dated August 30, 2003 and published in the Official Gazette No. 3959 dated September 19, 2003.
The law protects any innovative original works in the literary, artistic or scientific domain, regardless of their type, significance, or means of expression. The aforesaid works include books, lectures, plastic arts, architectural works, computer programs and many others. Protection of derivative works such as translation, encyclopedias, databases and folkloric works and expression is also available as per the Law.
The copyright law incorporates stringent penalties to be imposed on IP infringers. These penalties include financial fines reaching up to 500,000 Saudi Riyals, closing the violating establishment, confiscation of all copies of the work, and imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months.
It is worth noting that the Implementing Regulations of the Saudi Copyright Law were published in the Official Gazette (Um-Al-Qura) Issue No. 3995, Year 81 dated June 4, 2004.
The aforesaid regulations shall come into force August 2, 2004.