Copyright Law
Royal Decree No. M/41 2 Rajab, 1424
Article 1: Definitions
The following terms, wherever used in this Law, shall have the meanings following them, unless the context requires otherwise.
Work: Any literary, scientific or artistic work.
Joint Work: A work composed by two or more natural or corporate persons whether the contribution of each is separable or not.
Collective Work: The work collectively composed by a group at the instruction of a person, natural or corporate, who undertakes its publication under his name or administration, where the work of the contributors is integrated in the general objective sought by that natural or corporate person, so that no contribution of any of the participants may be separated or singled out.
Audio Work: Any audio fixation of a specific performance or sound, regardless of the means of fixation.
Audio-Visual Work: Any work produced for simultaneous audio and visual use, consisting of a series of related images, accompanied by sound and recorded on an appropriate means and shown by suitable devices.
Derivative Work: Work based on a pre-existing work.
Author: The person who creates a work.
Performers: The persons who act, recite, sing or play roles or participate in performing by any other means in literary or artistic works.
Publication: Making copies of a work to meet public need.
Copying: Producing a copy or more of one of the literary, artistic or scientific works on a material means, including any sound or visual recording.
Folklore: Shall mean all literary, artistic or scientific works which are assumed to have been created on Saudi territory and transmitted from one generation to the next and constitute part of the traditional Saudi cultural and artistic heritage.
Broadcasting: Transmission of a work, performance or an audio or visual recording to the public, using wires or wireless methods or any other means of transmission, to be received by the public, including transmission via satellite.
Committee: The competent Committee formed to review violations resulting from the implementation of the provisions of this Law.
Ministry: The Ministry of Culture and Information.
Minister: The Minister of Culture and Information.
Implementing Regulations: The implementing regulations of this Law.
Chapter One Protected Works
Article 2: Original Works
This Law shall protect the works created in the fields of literature, art and sciences, irrespective of their type, means of expression, importance or purpose of authorship, such as:
- (1)Written materials like books, booklets and others.
- (2)Works which are verbally delivered like lectures, speeches, poetry, songs and the like.
- (3)Dramatic works, plays, shows and similar presentations which involve motion, sound or both.
- (4)Works which are especially prepared for broadcasting or are presented through broadcasting.
- (5)Drawings, works of plastic arts, architecture, decorative art and artistic embroidery and the like.
- (6)Sound and audio-visual works.
- (7)Applied art works, whether handcrafted or manufactured.
- (8)Photographic works and the like.
- (9)Illustrations, geographical maps, designs, plans, sketches and sculptured works related to-geography, topography, architecture and science.
- (10)Three-dimensional works of geography, topography, architecture or science.
- (11)Computer programs.
- (12)Protection shall include the title of a work, if it is of creative nature, and not a common expression indicating the subject matter of the work.
Article 3: Derivative works
This Law shall also protect:
- (1)Works of translation.
- (2)Works of abridgement, modification, illustration, editing or any other forms of alteration.
- (3)Encyclopedias and anthologies which are deemed creative with respect to the selection of their content or arrangement, whether they are literary, artistic or scientific works.
- (4)Compilations of folkloric works and expressions and selections therefrom, if such
- compilations are creative as to selection or arrangement of their contents.
- (5)Databases, whether they are mechanically readable or can be read in any other manner, if
- they are creative as to selection or arrangement of their contents.
Copyright protection enjoyed by the authors of the works mentioned in the above paragraphs shall in no way jeopardize the protection enjoyed by the authors of the original works.
Article 4: Works excluded from protection:
Protection prescribed by this Law shall not cover the following:
- (1)Laws and Judicial judgments, decisions of administrative bodies, international agreements and all official documents, as well as the official translations thereof, subject to the provisions concerning the circulation of these documents.
- (2)What is published in newspapers, magazines and periodicals, or broadcasted in daily news or news-like events.
- (3)Ideas, procedures, work methods, concepts of mathematical sciences, axioms and abstract facts.
Chapter Two Owners of Rights
Article 5: Authors
- (1)An author is any person who publishes a work attributed to himself by mentioning his name on the work or by any other means used to attribute works to their authors, unless there is evidence to the contrary.
- (2)The publisher whose name appears on the work shall be the representative of the author, if the work is published under a pseudonym or anonymously.
- (3)The authors of the audio work and the audio-visual work shall be the persons who participated in the creation of this work, such as:
- (1)Folklore shall be the property of the state, and the Ministry shall exercise the copyright pertaining thereto.
- (2)The import or distribution of copies of folklore works, copies of their translations or others which are produced outside the Kingdom without a license from the Ministry shall be prohibited.
Chapter Three Rights
Article 8: Moral Rights
- (1)The author shall have the right to exercise any of the following:
- o(a)Attributing the work to himself or publishing it under a pseudonym or anonymously.
- o(b)Objecting to any infringement on his work and preventing any deletion, change,
- addition, distortion, corruption or any other form of tampering with the work itself.
- o(c)Making any amendment to or deletion from his work, at his discretion.
- o(d)Withdrawing his work from circulation.
- (2)The moral rights provided for in paragraph (1) of this article are permanent rights of the author and are not subject to waiver or lapse by prescription.
- (3)The moral rights shall be retained by their owner and shall not be forfeited by granting the right of exploiting the work in any manner.
- (4)Moral rights provided for in this Law shall pass to the Ministry upon the death of the owner who has no heirs.
Article 9: Financial Rights First:
First:
The author, or whoever he delegates, shall have the right to exercise all or any of the following, as per the nature of the work:
(0) Printing and publishing the work in a reading format; recording it on audio or visual tapes, compact disks or electronic memory or any other means of dissemination.
(0) Translation of the work into other languages, quoting or altering it and the redistribution of the sound or visual material.
(0) Communicating the work to the public via any possible means, such as displaying, acting, broadcasting or data transmission networks.
(0) All forms of material exploitation of the work in general, including permissible commercial rental.
Second:
The authors of artistic and literary works, their performers, composers and producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations shall enjoy their financial rights, as prescribed by the implementing regulations.
Article 10: Compensation upon Withdrawal of the Work:
The author shall refrain from performing such deeds that may prejudice exploitation of the authorized right of third parties. Nevertheless, the author may withdraw his work from circulation, amend, delete from or add to it, upon agreement with the party authorized to exercise said right. Should there be no agreement, the author shall be obligated to compensate the said person according to the decision of the Committee.
Article 11: Assignment of Copyright
(1) Copyrights provided for in this Law shall be transferable, in whole or in part, either through inheritance or by lawful disposal, which shall be recorded in writing and shall limit the scope of the transferred right in terms of both time and place.
(2) The rights provided for in this Law shall be passed to the author’s heirs, with the exception of performing any amendment to or deletion from the work.
(3) If the author instructed in his will that the publication of his work be barred or if he specified a date for such publication, his will shall be carried out within its limits.
(4) If the work is produced by an individual and its author dies, or it is a joint work and one of the authors dies with no heirs, his share shall be passed to those entitled to it according to the provisions of the Islamic Shari’ah.
Article 12: Assignment of Future Production
An author’s assignment of all his future intellectual production is deemed null and void.
Article 13: Arrangement of Contractual Relations
(1) The rights’ owners shall make arrangements for their relations and their rights with the establishments of production, printing, publishing and distribution, broadcasting organizations and other entities licensed to perform their activities, pursuant to certified contracts that specify all rights and obligations of the parties concerned.
(2) Establishments of production, printing, publishing and distribution as well as broadcasting organizations and others shall not engage in any activity related to copyright except after concluding a contract with the copyright’s owners or their attorney-in-fact, where the rights and obligations of each party shall be specified.
Article 14: Continuity of Contracts
The author’s heirs are obligated to abide by the contracts concluded by their testator during his lifetime, including the rights and obligations of third parties.
Chapter Four Lawful Use
Article 15: Exceptions
The following uses of the copyrighted work, in its original language or in translation, are lawful without obtaining the permission of the copyright owner. These forms of use are:
- (1)Copying the work for personal use, excluding computer software, audio and audio-visual works.
- (2)Quoting passages from the work in another work, provided that such quotation be consistent with the conventional practice and within the limits justified by the intended objective, and provided that the source and name of author shall be mentioned in the work where the quotation is cited. This shall also apply to journalistic summaries abstracted from newspapers and periodicals.
- (3)Using the work by way of clarification for educational purposes, within the limits justified by the intended objective, or making a copy or two for public libraries or non-commercial documentation centers on the following conditions:
- Shall not be commercial or for profit.
- Copying shall be restricted to the requirements of activities.
- Shall not impair the material benefit of the work.
- The work is out of print or is lost or damaged.
- (4)Citing or copying articles published in newspapers or periodicals dealing with current subjects or broadcast works of similar nature, provided that the source and name of the author, if known, are clearly given.
- (5)Copying any broadcast work that may be viewed or listened to during presentation of current events by means of still or motion pictures, provided that copying remains within the intended objective with the source clearly given.
- (6)Copying public speeches, lectures, judicial proceedings or any other similar works made in public, if such copying is made by the media, provided that the name of the author is clearly mentioned. The author shall retain the right to publish such works in the manner he sees fit.
- (7)Production of temporary recordings by broadcasting organizations and through their own means –without impairing the author’s copyright – in one copy or more for any protected work, for which they are licensed to broadcast and show, provided that all the copies be destroyed within a period not exceeding one year from the date of their preparation, or a longer period agreed to by the author. A copy of this recording may be kept with official archives, if the recording is a unique documentary work.
- (8)Music playing, acting, performing or showing any work, after publication, by government troupes or public corporate entities or school theatre, as long as such playing, performance or acting does not lead to direct or indirect financial gains.
- (9)Copying short quotations from published works, drawings, pictures, designs or maps in school books prepared for educational curricula or in books of history, literature and art, provided that copying is within the limits of necessity and that the title of the work and the name of the author are mentioned.
- (10)Taking new photographs of any previously photographed object or work and publishing these pictures, even if the new pictures have been taken from the same vantage point and under the same circumstances of said pictures.
- (11)Citing parts of scientific articles and works by research institutions for their internal use or to fulfil the requirements of those who are conducting studies and research, provided that the source be mentioned.
- (12)Making one reserve copy of computer programs for the persons possessing the original copy for the purpose of protecting the original, while keeping the original with the user, to show upon request.
The implementing regulations shall detail the circumstances required for these exceptions to apply.
Article 16: Mandatory Licenses
(1) The Minister may grant a publication license for the work after the lapse of a period to be specified by the implementing regulations for each case, if he sees that publication of this work serves public interest, in the following cases:
- If no copies of the published work in its original language are made available in the Kingdom by the copyright owner to satisfy the general needs of the public or school or university education, at a price comparable to the price of similar works in the Kingdom, upon the author’s declining to make available copies of that work.
- If all editions of the original work or its Arabic translation are out of print, with the copyright owner’s failure to make it available upon request.
- If no translation has been published for this work by the owner of the translation copyright or with his permission, provided that the purpose is to make use of this translation in educational curricula.
- If the heirs of the Saudi author or his successors decline to exercise the rights passed to them pursuant to Article (11) of this Law, within one year of the date of the request, if they have no valid excuse.
(2) The license shall terminate upon publication of the work or the translation by the copyright owner, or with his authorization.
(3) The Minister may specify the remuneration to be paid by the licensee to the copyright owners for every license issued, and they shall have the right to appeal his decision to the Board of Grievances.
The implementing regulations shall determine the procedures and conditions required for the application of the mandatory license.
Article 17: Prohibited Use of Certain Works
(1) Whoever produces pictures shall not publish, display or distribute the originals or copies thereof without permission of the individuals pictured or their heirs. This provision shall not apply if the pictures were published on the occasion of public events, if they are pictures of officials or public figures, or if publication is permitted by public authorities in the service of public interest. The person represented in the picture may give permission for its publication in newspapers, magazines and the like, even without the permission of photographer. Such provisions shall apply to the picture, regardless of the way the picture has been produced.
(2) Only the author shall have the right to publish his letters. However, this right shall not be exercised without the permission of the addressee, if publication may harm him.
Chapter Five
Scope and Duration of Protection
Article 18: Scope of Protection
Provisions of this Law shall cover the following:
First:
(1) Works of Saudi and Non-Saudi authors published, produced, performed or displayed for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
(2) Works of Saudi authors published, produced, performed or displayed for the first time outside the Kingdom.
Second:
Works of broadcasting organizations and of producers of sound recordings and performers.
Third:
Works copyrighted pursuant to international agreements or treaties for protection of copyright to which the Kingdom is a party.
Article 19: Duration of Protection
First:
(1) The period of copyright for the author of a work shall be for the duration of his life and for a period of fifty years following his death.
(2) The period of copyright for joint works shall be computed from the date of the death of the last surviving author.
(3) Protection period for works where the author is a corporate entity, or if his name is unknown, shall be fifty years from the date of the first publication of the work. If the name of the author becomes known before the end of the fifty years, the duration of protection shall be the period specified in paragraph (1) of this article.
(4) If the work consists of several parts or volumes, published separately or over a period of time, each part or volume shall be considered an independent work for the purposes of the computation of its protection period.
(5) Protection period for sound works, audio-visual works, films, collective works and computer programs is fifty years from the date of the first show or publication of the work, regardless of republication.
(6) Protection period for applied art (handcrafted or manufactured) and photographs shall be twenty five years of the date of publication. Computation of the period starts in this case on the date of the first publication of the work, regardless of republication.
Second:
(1) Protection period for broadcasting organizations shall be twenty years from the date of the first transmission of programs or broadcast materials.
(2) Protection period for the producers of sound recordings and performers shall be fifty years from the date of performance or its first recording, as the case may be.
Article 20: Validity of Protection to the Works Antecedent to the Law
Literary, artistic and scientific works, acoustic recordings and broadcasting programs published before the date this Law is effective, pursuant to the periods specified in Article (19) of this Law, shall be protected, provided that the protection period under the previous Law has not expired and that protection was not terminated in the countries of origin which are parties with the Kingdom to international agreements or treaties for the protection of copyright.
Chapter Six
Provisions of Infringements and Penalties
Article 21: Infringements
The following acts shall be deemed infringements on the rights protected by the Law:
(1) Publishing a work not owned by the publisher, publishing it under the pretense of its ownership or without obtaining a written authorization or a contract with the author of the work, his heirs or their representatives.
(2) Amendment of the contents of a work, its nature, subject or title without the knowledge of the author and his prior written consent thereof, whether the amendment is made by the publisher, the producer, distributor or anyone else.
(3) Reprinting the work by the producer, the publisher or the printer without obtaining prior written consent of the copyright owner, or having the documents authorizing the reprint.
(4) Removal of any written or electronic information that may lead to forfeiting the owner’s copyrights.
(5) Removing and cracking any protective electronic code that guarantees the use of the original copies of the work, such as coding or data recorded by the use of laser or other means.
(6) Commercial use of intellectual works through deception, which is not permitted by the owners of the copyright, such as using copied software or receiving coded broadcasting programs through illegal means.
(7) Manufacturing or importing tools –for the purpose of sale or rental- of any means which facilitate receiving or exploiting works through means other than those determined by owner of the rights.
(8) Copying or photographing parts of a book or a collection of books or parts of any work, with or without compensation, without obtaining the written consent of the copyright owners and the competent authorities of the Ministry, with the exception of cases of lawful copying specified in Article (15) of this Law.
- (9)Import of counterfeit, imitated or copied works.
- (10)Keeping non-original works at the commercial establishment, its warehouse or any
other facility owned by it, whether directly or indirectly and under any precense.
(11) Infringement on any of the protected rights specified in this Law or violation of any of its provisions.
Article 22: Penalties
First:
Any person who violates a provision of this Law shall be subject to one or more of the following penalties:
- (1)Warning.
- (2)A fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand riyals.
- (3)Closing the violating establishment or the one which participated in the violation of the copyright, for a period not exceeding two months. (4) Confiscation of all copies of the work along with the materials used or intended for use in the infringement on the copyrights. (5) Imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months.
Second:
Upon repetition of the infringement on the same work or any other work, the maximum limit of penalty, fine and closure may be doubled.
Third:
If the Committee sees that the violation entails imprisonment or a fine exceeding one hundred thousand riyals or cancellation of the license, the case shall be submitted to the Minister for referral to the Board of Grievances.
Fourth:
The Committee may decide on financial compensation for the benefit of the owner whose right has been infringed upon and who files the complaint. Compensation shall be consistent with the size of infringement and the damage incurred.
Fifth:
The Committee may include in its decision the punishment of defamation against the person who commits the infringement. Publication of such shall be at his expense and by the method the Committee deems appropriate.
Sixth:
The Committee may include in its decision suspension of participation of the infringing establishment in the activities, occasions or exhibitions, if the infringement was discovered during a commercial event, provided that the period of suspension shall not exceed two years.
Seventh:
The Committee may issue an injunction against the printing of the work infringed upon, its production, publication or distribution, in addition to protective impounding of the copies, materials and pictures made from it. It may take any temporary measure it finds necessary to protect the copyright till a final decision is reached regarding the complaint or grievance.
The implementing regulations shall specify the protective impounding procedures.
Article 23: Grievance
Anyone against whom a decision was made by the Committee shall have the right to file a grievance with the Board of Grievances within sixty days from the date of notification of the decision.
Article 24: Investigation of Violations
The officers concerned at the Ministry shall investigate the violation and visit media and commercial facilities, warehouses and public institutions and private establishments that use intellectual works in their activities and investigate them. They shall have the power of judicial investigation and protection of evidentiary proofs.
The implementing regulations shall specify the rules and procedures which these employees shall adhere to.
Article 25: Violation Review Committee
(1) A Committee to review the violation shall be formed by the Minister's decision, with a minimum of three members, provided that one of them is a legal advisor and the other a Shari’ah advisor.
(2) Decisions of the Committee shall be made by majority vote, which shall be endorsed by the Minister.
Chapter Seven General Provisions
Article 26: Issuance of implementing regulations
The implementing regulations of this Law shall be issued by the Minister, within six months, and it shall be published in the Official Gazette.
Article 27: Super ceding other laws
This Law shall super cede the Copyright Law issued by the Royal decree No. M/11, dated 19/05/1410 H.
Article 28: Validity of this Law
This Law shall be published in the Official Gazette, and it shall be effective six months after the date of its publication.
Implementing Regulations of Copyright Law
Issued by
The Minister of Culture and Information's decision no. (1688/1) dated 10/04/1425H (29 May 2004)
and amended by His Excellency's decision no. (1640) dated 15/05/1426H (22 June 2005)
Unofficial Translation
Article 1: Definitions
The following words and phrases, whenever mentioned in the articles of these Regulations, shall have the meanings stated next to them:
(1) Proprietary right of the author: Aggregate material and immaterial interests vested in the person to his work.
(2) Author: Every person who innovates by his own effort, any of the literary, artistic or scientific works such as the man of letters, the poet, the painter or the musician or any other artist, according to the form of expression.
(3) Innovation: The personal style displayed by the author in his work, which makes the work distinctive and novel and presents the work through the elements of the concept displayed or the method employed to present the concept.
(4) Infringement of copyright: Any use of the work unauthorized by the copyright owner and conflicting with the instructions of usage determined by the copyright owner, or committing one or more of the violations provided for in the Law and these Regulations.
(5) Work: It is the literary, scientific or artistic production irrespective of its type, importance, form of expression or purpose.
(6) Literary works: Works which are expressed in words whatever their content may be, whether written or oral.
(7) Artistic works: Works which appeal to the sense of beauty of the public, such as painting, coloring, movement, sound, picture, viewing or music.
(8) Performers: Actors, players of musical instruments, singers, dancers, reciters and others who perform an artistic activity of other literary or artistic works in one way or another.
(9) Publication: Transmittance or communication of the work directly or indirectly to the public or making copies or photo copies of it or of any part of it which may be read, viewed, listened to or performed.
(10) Producer: A natural or corporate person who undertakes to transform the artistic, audio or audio-visual work into a material means for displaying it to the public under its financial responsibility.
(11) The Law: Copyright Law.
(12) Regulations: The implementing regulations of the Copyright Law.
(13) General Department of Copyright: The competent department in the Ministry which exercises the powers granted to the Ministry by the provisions of the Law and these Regulations, including the technical and administrative tasks necessary for implementing their provisions.
(14) Ministry: Ministry of Culture and Information. (15) Minister: Minister of Culture and Information.
Chapter One
Protected Works and the Rights of Public Performance
Article 2: protected Works
A- The Following shall be among the protected works:
- (1)Dramatic works or musicals.
- (2)Choreographic and mime works.
- (3)Musical compositions with or without words.
- (4)Cinematographic works or works expressed by a process analogous to cinematography.
- (5)Sculpture, engraving and lithography.
- (6)Photographic works or works expressed by a process analogous to photography.
7- News Reports. Daily News Facts are excluded of this protection.
Article 3: Folklore
- (1)The Saudi Folklore shall be a public property of the state and no one may develop or amend it except with the prior approval of the Ministry.
- (2)Any expression that reflects the traditional heritage which started or continued in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shall be deemed part of Saudi Folklore, specially the following expressions:
- o(a)Folk expressions, such as folk tales, riddles, puzzles, folk poems and other similar traditional expressions.
- o(b)Musical expressions, such as chants, songs, folk songs whether recited or accompanied by music.
- o(c)Expressions by movement, such as folk dances, artistic formations and those performed in festivals.
- (d)Plastic expressions, such as drawings by lines, colors, engraving and sculpture, pottery, products made from wood and iron and the like, or what is added to them of different figurations such as inscription and drawing, handcrafted bags, needle works, carpets and clothes and the like.
(3) Import of copies of Saudi Folklore works, copies of their translations or others, which are produced outside the Kingdom shall be prohibited except with the prior approval of the Ministry,
Article 4: Provisions Governing Circulation of Documents
Authors shall observe the provisions governing circulation of official documents issued in the Kingdom and shall obtain official approvals for their publication or translation, including the provisions of laws, regulations, judicial judgments and decisions of administrative agencies.
Article 5: Rights of Acting and Public Performance
Authors of dramatic works, musicals and musical works or their representatives shall have the right to authorize the following:
(1) Acting their works or performing them publicly by all methods or means.
(2) Fixation or transmission of acting and performance of their works to the public by all means.
(3) Translation of their works.
Article 6: Right of Tracing
Authors of original plastic art and of original musical manuscripts shall have the right to share by a percentage in the returns of any sale transaction of these works, even if they have assigned the ownership of the original copy of their works. This shall not apply to works of architecture nor to works of applied art.
Article 7: Protection of Performers, Producers of Sound Recordings, and Broadcasting Organizations
First: Performers and Producers of Sound Recordings
Performers and producers of sound recordings shall enjoy the exclusive right to authorize the following:
(1) Public performance of their works, including public recitation by all means
or methods.
(2) Transmission and performance of their works to the public
- (3)Fixation of their performance in material form.
- (4)Permission to transmit all or part of their works through the Internet.
- (5)Permission of audio fixation of their musical work and circulation thereof in specific countries. All copies imported from countries with an exclusive license, or manufactured without permission from the author, shall be deemed in violation of copyrights and shall be subject to confiscation.
- (6)Permission to distribute and rent their original works.
- (7)Producers of sound recordings shall have the right to authorize or prohibit direct or indirect reproduction of their sound recordings.
(1) Second: Broadcasting Organizations
Broadcasting organizations shall have the right to prohibit any of the following
acts if undertaken without their authorization:
- (1)Fixation and reproduction of broadcasts.
- (2)Retransmission by wireless means and communication of materials to the public.
- (3)Determining the means of direct broadcast and reception or through receivers or by cable.
- (4)Transmission to the public of radio broadcast in public places or through internal wire broadcasts of closed compounds.
Article 8: Claiming Rights
- (1)A co-author of any work may individually request taking precautionary measures whenever there is an infringement of copyright and may individually claim his share of the compensation for harm incurred by him.
- (2)A co-author may object to any development or modification desired by most partners in the work.
Article 9: Rental Rights
Copyright owners may rent them in the Kingdom in coordination with the Ministry, upon obtaining its prior approval and its taking the necessary precautions, such as:
- (1)Ensuring that there is nothing to prevent renting them.
- (2)Submitting a list of works to be rented, including an indication of types of rentals for approval.
- (3)Determining the probable problems and infringements which may result from renting to consider the possibility of avoiding them.
- (4)The beneficiary’s explaining to the targeted public the rental mechanism.
- (5)Advertising, at the expense of the copyright owners, the necessary instructions to the targeted public.
- (6)Fixing an effective date for the renting.
Article 10: Protection of Data Bases
The original data bases shall be protected by reason of the selection and arrangement of their contents as intellectual creations. This protection shall not extend to the data or the materials themselves.
Chapter Two
Violations and Procedures of Detection
Section One
Violations and Liability for Copyright Infringement
Article 11: Infringement Liability
First: Any person who obtains an original copy of any intellectual work and exploits it by means of renting, adaptation or permitting others to copy or reproduce it or any other acts which affect or obstruct the author from exercising his rights shall be deemed to have infringed the Copyright.
Second: Firms shall be deemed liable for any violations committed by an employee against any intellectual work if their knowledge or negligence is established, such as keeping forged or copied computer programs, audio or visual tapes, or conducting maintenance on an electronic equipment loaded with forged programs, decoded or similar works.
Third: Anyone who reproduces, sells, imports, exports, transports, publishes or rents protected works with knowledge of the violation shall be deemed to be committing an infringement of copyright and in violation of the provisions of the Law and these Regulations.
Article 12: Infringement of Literary Works
First: It shall be deemed within the scope of personal use any use of intellectual works for personal use only, such as reproducing the work for preserving the original copy, for writing on the reproduced copy, for translating some paragraphs or writing comments expressing opinion. Any use beyond these purposes shall not be deemed personal use.
Second: Any use beyond the scope of personal use shall be deemed an infringement, such as the following:
(1) Using and reproducing the work or exploiting it to perform job duties.
(2) Using the work for commercial or profit-making purposes.
(3) Using the work in ways not authorized by the author.
- (4)Renting, reproducing or authorizing others to reproduce or adapt the work under the pretext of owning an original copy.
- (5)Any act that hinders the author from exercising his moral or financial right.
Third: As understood from Article 9, second, of this Law, include the right of reproduction in any manner or form such as digital reproduction.
Fourth: Reproducing the work to make copies available for commercial exploitation or for selling them to students, to educational institutions or to others is deemed an infringement of copyright.
Fifth: An employer’s ownership of the original copy of the work does not grant him the right to reproduce and distribute it among his employees, under the pretext of personal use.
Article 13: Infringement of Audio, Visual and Broadcasting Works
Any use beyond that specified by the owner of audio, visual and broadcasting works shall be deemed an infringement of copyright, such as the following:
- (1)Communicating the work to the public without obtaining a prior license from the owners of the copyright, such as use of radio, music, video or satellite transmission in shops, restaurants, hotels, clubs, hospitals and other similar places where there are frequent visitors or gatherings.
- (2)Breaking of protective barriers for presenting broadcasting materials through illegal means.
- (3)Reproduction of broadcast materials for presentation, rental or sale.
- (4)Addition or removal of electronic chips of display equipment for making it exceed its manufactured limits to infringe the rights of others.
Article 14: Infringement of Rights of Performance
(1) It shall be an infringement of performance rights if the work is performed in school theaters or the like unless the performer of the work obtains the prior approval of the owners. It shall be deemed lawful use in accordance with Article (15), Paragraph (8) of the Law if the performance of the work is in the classroom for education.
(2) It shall be deemed an infringement of copyright any reproduction of the work during its performance, such as photographing or recording it for exploitation or presentation to the public without the approval of the owners of the right.
Article 15: Decoding of Electronic Equipment
It shall be an infringement of copyright any act resulting in removal of the original precautionary information from the electronic equipment produced by the manufacturer, and any person who facilitates this is deemed to be committing an act of infringement, such as:
- (1)Removing or adding electronic or non-electronic devices of display and receiving equipment for exceeding the limits designed by the manufacturer.
- (2)Canceling the original program that operates the display and receiving equipment and loading them with forged programs for exceeding the limits and capabilities for which the equipment is designed.
Article 16: Infringement of Computer Programs
First: Considered as literary works, computer programs and games shall enjoy protection whether in the source code or in the object code.
Second: It shall be deemed an infringement of copyright any use of the programs different from that specified by the owner of the right, such as:
- (1)Reproduction of software and game programs.
- (2)Renting the software or game programs or licensing their collective use in the absence of documents authorizing the renting person to exercise this right upon obtaining the approval of the Ministry.
- (3)Loading the local networks or the equipment with reproduced software.
Article 17: Liability of Maintenance Centers
Workshops that provide maintenance service for display and receiving electronic equipment are deemed liable for and in infringement of copyright if detected to have in their possession decoded equipment or equipment loaded with forged programs, or to use forged programs in maintenance works.
Section Two
Procedures of Detection and Investigation of Violations
Article 18: Detection of Violations
Detection of violations of provisions of the Law and the Regulations shall be carried out in any of the following cases:
(1) Pursuant to a complaint or written notice filed by owners of the right or their representatives.
(2) Routine or sudden field visits by the inspectors of the Ministry to public firms and shops that use in their activities any of the intellectual works.
Article 19: Procedures of Detection and Inspection
When performing detection and inspection, detecting officers shall follow these procedures:
- (1)Entering sites of firms which produce, display, distribute, sell, use or provide maintenance services to any of the protected works, including annexes and affiliates of those sites.
- (2)Seizure of copies of works and equipment strongly believed to be subject of infringement and of the relevant documents, when necessary, and recording such in the detection record.
- (3)Prompt questioning of the violator and those working in the firm, if considered fit, after confronting them with the violation of which they are accused. In all cases, the violator shall be permitted to submit his defenses in writing or record them , and enclose the same along with the documents submitted with the detection record, after recording the violator’s name, nationality, capacity and identification number as well as other evidentiary information.
- (4)Notifying the accused of the violation of his obligation to appear before the competent authority within a period not exceeding three days, along with documents relevant to the matter detected.
- (5)In case the person accused of the violation or his representative does not appear within three working days from the date of the violation detection, he shall be summoned again to appear before the competent investigating officer within a period not exceeding five days. In case he fails to appear, the matter shall be reported to the police to summon him to complete the procedures of investigation, or the store shall be closed until he responds.
Article 20: Detection Tasks
First: The officials of the General Department of Copyright in Riyadh and its branches in the Kingdom’s provinces or the departments and offices of printed materials in provinces where there are no branches for the Department shall be responsible for the task of detecting violations and securing the evidence proving the existence of an infringement of copyright, such as equipment, works or commodities.
Second: A record for detecting the violation shall be drafted and signed by the drafter, and it shall contain the following information:
- (1)Name, address of the store and identification of its owner.
- (2)Place where the violation was detected and time by hour, day and month.
- (3)Names of workers in the site when the violation was detected.
- (4)Title, nature of the work subject of the violation, number and specification of
- copies detected.
- (5)Type, facts, reasons and circumstances of the violation.
Article 21: Analysis of Evidence
The General Department of Copyright or the competent branch shall, immediately upon receiving the evidence, take the following procedures:
- (1)Conducting an external examination and inspection of equipment or works detected regarding their external condition and number.
- (2)Inspecting and analyzing the content of evidence detected in order to ensure whether or not they contain evidence of copyright infringement and preparing a written inspection report indicating the condition of the materials detected.
- (3)The complainant (plaintiff) may be permitted to conduct a brief inspection of the equipment with the participation of the analyst in the Department in order to prove the complaint, if the analysis proves the absence of infringement. (4) The analyst shall submit his recommendation and report on the complaint to the Department, showing the extent in which, the complaint is proved or not.
Article 22: Report of Evidence Analysis
The competent department which detected the works whose copyright is proved to be infringed shall prepare a report containing the following detailed information:
- (1)Detailed description of the work.
- (2)Number of copies of the works detected and their sale price for the public at
- the time of detection.
- (3)Violations and infringements in the work.
- (4)Method and form of infringement and whether committed inside or outside
- the Kingdom.
- (5)Method of detecting the violation, whether pursuant to a complaint, a tip or a field visit.
- (6)Method and form of displaying the violating works to the public.
- (7)Any information or other technical facts about the work and the method of
- infringement, to confront the violator therewith.
Article 23: Investigation of Violations
- (1)In case of violations in the works or detected equipment, the competent
- investigating officer shall initiate a record to enter the statements of the person or persons accused of the violation or whoever acts on their behalf and their defenses, in relation to the information recorded in the report by the analyst, and to the complaint made against them.
- (2)The investigation record shall contain the following data: (a) Hour, day, date and place of the investigation. (b) Name of the investigating officer and his capacity. (c) Name of the person accused of the violation, his
- identification number and contact addresses. (d)Confronting him with the violations of which he is specifically accused.
(e) Complete answers of the person accused of the violation to the questions addressed to him, including his defenses and the statements of witnesses, if any.
- (3)The violator shall be questioned about the time period in which he infringed on the work and the financial returns he has realized.
- (4)The investigator may, if necessary, summon anyone whose testimony he deems indispensable regarding the violation, and enter the same in the record.
- (5)The General Department of Copyright may seek the assistance of experts to reveal violations in accordance with the administrative procedures governing this.
- (6)The persons testifying shall sign at the end of every answer they give, and each page of the record shall be signed by the investigator and those who have been interrogated, in addition to the witnesses. The pages shall be drafted in a consecutive serial order without cancellation or amendment.
- (7)The investigator shall conclude the investigation record with the results he has reached, attaching therewith the documents, evidences and proofs submitted, along with the time of its completion.
- (8)Departments and branches of the General Department of Copyright and printed material offices in the provinces where there are no branches for the General Department of Copyright shall refer the record of investigation along with all documents relevant to the infringement to the General Director of the Department.
- (9)The General Department shall review all procedures and investigations, determine the violations committed, the articles governing these violations in the Law and these Regulations, and the views of the Department.
- o(10)The information related to the case shall be entered in a special register in order to make entries thereof.
- o(11)The General Department of Copyright shall refer the cases and violations along with all relevant documents to the violation review committee for consideration.
Article 24: The Right to Claim Compensation
The copyright owner or his representative is entitled to claim compensation for damages incurred as the result of the infringement of any of his rights protected by law and shall submit a written memorandum to the competent department, if he desires, in which he explains in detail the damages incurred as a result of this infringement and how they occurred, as well as the estimated amount of compensation claimed by him and the basis for such estimation. In all cases, he shall present the evidence and documents supporting his statements. The officer investigating the violation shall cross-examine him regarding such evidence and documents and check the gravity of the violation and inform the defendant of what is brought against him and grant him the ability to present his views and answers in this respect, and then refer the claim to the violation review committee for decision.
Article 25: Procedures and Rules of the Violation Review Committee
The committee shall exercise its jurisdiction in reviewing all violations of the provisions of the Law and these Regulations and shall determine the punishments according to what is stipulated in Article (22) of the Law in proportion to the gravity of infringement and the number of violations recorded with the committee against the violating party, and compensate owners of copyrights for the damage incurred by them, subject to the following:
- (1)A copyright owner, who has legitimate reasons to suspect that works infringing his rights are intended for importation or exportation, may submit a written request to the committee to stop and seize works imported or intended for importation or exportation, upon reaching the borders.
- (2)The committee may request the plaintiff to submit a financial guarantee sufficient to protect the defendant and prevent abuse of rights.
- (3)The plaintiff shall submit to the committee, within a period not exceeding ten (10) working days, the complaint and the supporting evidence that determine the infringements he has incurred, provided that the period of seizure does not exceed thirty-one (31) days, after which amendment, cancellation or confirmation of such measures shall be considered.
- (4)The committee may decide that the plaintiff pay to the importer or exporter an appropriate compensation for damages incurred by them as a result of wrongful seizure of works.
- (5)The committee may grant the owner of the right (the plaintiff) sufficient opportunity to inspect the works in order to prove his allegations.
- (6)The importer is entitled to an equal opportunity to inspect any of these commodities.
- (7)The committee, in case the infringement is proved, is authorized to notify the owner of the right of the names and addresses of the sender and addressee of the works as well as their quantities.
Article 29: Precautionary Protective Seizure
The Ministry’s office at the point of entry at the border may stop the procedure for release of works upon having prima facie evidence proving existence of copyright infringement, after coordination with the customs department at the point of entry. The office shall immediately notify the General Department of Copyright to take the necessary measures, in coordination with the committee.
Chapter Three General Provisions
Article 30: Mandatory Licenses
The provisions regulating the procedures of issuing mandatory licenses shall apply to works published for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and licenses shall not be granted before the expiration of three years from the publication date of the edition in question, in accordance with the following procedures:
- (1)The Ministry shall ensure that copies of the works in printed form or reproduced in any similar form are not displayed for sale in the Kingdom by the copyright owner or whoever acts on his behalf, or pursuant to permission from him, in response to the purposes referred to in Article (16) of the Law, unless such copies are displayed for sale within a continuous period of not less than six months.
- (2)The applicant shall submit proof that he has requested a license from the copyright owner but failed to obtain it, or that he was unable to find him after exerting necessary efforts.
- (3)He shall submit proof that he has made such a request to the publisher whose name appears on the work but has not received a response from him.
- (4)No license shall be granted unless it is proved that the author is unknown or impossible to contact, and the license applicant submits the data proving such and submits the necessary guarantees to fulfill the rights of the copyright owner once he applies to claim his right, and the Ministry accepts these guarantees.
- (5)The license shall not be granted before the expiration of a period not less than six months from the applicant’s attempts [to obtain a license] from the author or the publisher.
- (6)No license shall be granted if the author or the publisher reprints his work during the six-month period.
- (7)No permission shall be granted if the author has withdrawn from circulation all copies of the edition subject of the application.
- (8)The permission shall not be granted if it is for pure commercial purposes.
Article 31: Public Property
First: All unprotected works by Saudi authors or whose period of protection has expired in accordance with the provisions of the Law and these Regulations shall become public property, and the Ministry shall act as the copyright owner thereon.
Second: Copyrights in this law applies to all foreign works which, as of the date of entry into force of this law, have not yet fallen into the public domain in the country of origin through the expiry of term of protection.
Article 32: Nature of Protection
- (1)All intellectual works of whatever type whether literary, scientific or artistic shall enjoy protection under the Law and these Regulations if they are permitted for circulation in the Kingdom.
- (2)Foreign intellectual works shall enjoy protection in accordance with the principles of international agreements relating to copyright to which the Kingdom is a party, based on the principle of national treatment.
- (3)The scope of protection as stated in Article 18 of the Law related to international agreements of copyrights is extended to related rights stated in this article.
Article 33: Calculation of Protection Period
- (1)Musical and cinematographic works shall enjoy protection for fifty years effective from the first production of the work, and the period shall be calculated from the end of the Gregorian year in which it was produced.
- (2)Computer programs shall enjoy protection as literary works for a period not less than fifty years from the date of first production if the author is a corporate person or is anonymous.
- (3)Protection period of computer programs where the author is a natural person shall be in accordance with the protection specified for other literary works.
- The chairman of the committee shall supervise its technical and administrative work, and shall determine the dates of sessions to review the cases brought before the committee in coordination with the members.
- (2)The committee may convene its meetings if attended by not less than two thirds of the members, provided that the legal and Shari’ah counselors are present.
- (3)The committee, as necessary, may seek the assistance of experts to obtain their opinions on some of the violations brought before it.
- (4)The committee may summon any party to the violation to hear his statements, the inspector who detected the violation, the information analyst, or the investigator or any other person whose statements the committee deems necessary to hear.
- (5)The Committee may return the violation papers to the investigation authority in order to request additional information, or to complete whatever it deems necessary regarding the investigations.
- (6)Decisions of the committee shall be issued by majority vote and shall be referred by the chairman of the committee to the Minister and said decisions shall not be effective unless approved by the Minister.
- (7)If the committee finds the violation committed grave and punishable with imprisonment or a fine exceeding one hundred thousand riyals, or closing the store permanently and canceling the license, the matter shall be referred to the Minister for his approval to forward this violation to the Board of Grievances for review, and to determine the appropriate punishment against the infringer.
- (8)The committee shall inform the General Department of Copyright of the approved decisions in order to notify the relevant department to carry out the prescribed punishments.
Article 26: Restrictions on the Execution of Punishments
- (1)In case of a grievance regarding the decision issued by the committee before the Board of Grievances, the punishments stated in the decision shall be suspended until a final judgment in relation thereto is rendered by the Board.
- (2)Punishments within the jurisdiction of the Board of Grievances shall be carried out after a final judgment in connection therewith is rendered by the Board.
- (3)When punishments are carried out, the following shall be taken into consideration:
- (a)The competent department shall notify the person against whom the punishment is issued or his representative of the decision issued against him by an official letter stating the number of the decision issued, its date and punishments prescribed therein, and it shall be delivered to him or his representative or the person found in the firm after signing a copy of the letter, showing date of notification, name of the person who delivered the notification, his capacity, signature and identification number.
- (b)In case the violator is notified of the decision by official mail, he shall be considered notified after two weeks from the date of mailing the letter by registered or official mail.
- (c)Upon payment of the fine prescribed in the decision by the violator, the Department shall complete the execution of the other punishments, such as provisional closure, suspension of participation of the firm in occasions or exhibitions, collection of compensation and the like.
- (d)If a judgment is rendered by the Board of Grievances to cancel the license, the Ministry shall notify the government body that issued the license to cancel it, and follow up the execution of the judgment.
- (e)The fine shall be paid to the treasury of the Ministry against an official receipt to be delivered to the Department in charge of execution of the punishment or by a certified check payable to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and delivered to the Department concerned.
- (f)The Department concerned shall refer the check to the competent authority at the Ministry to collect the fine, and a copy of which shall be kept in the file of the firm.
- (g)If the violator fails to pay the fine within fifteen (15) days from the date of the execution of the punishment, the police shall be addressed to compel him to pay, and the Ministry may close his store until he pays the amount.
- (h)The Ministry shall prepare a summary of the content of the judgment rendered against the violator if the decision provides for the punishment of publicizing the conviction in accordance with Article (22), Paragraph (5) of the Law, and shall be published at the expense of the violator in a distinct place in one or two daily newspapers of wide circulation, one of which is published in the area where the head office of the violator is located, according to the gravity of the violation.
Section Three Protective Seizure
Article 27: Provisional Protective Measures
- (1)The committee has the authority to take immediate provisional measures in order to prevent infringement of any copyright, and to prevent imported works that contain infringement of copyright from reaching commercial outlets.
- (2)The committee has the authority to take provisional measures without the knowledge of the other party, if it is likely that a delay would result in harming him or it is likely to damage the evidence.
- (3)The committee may request the plaintiff:
(a) To submit any evidence in his possession affirming that he is the owner of the right.
(b) To submit preliminary evidence proving that his right is being infringed or is about to be infringed.
(c) To submit a financial guarantee sufficient to protect the
defendant and prevent abuse of rights or exercise thereof.
(d)The committee may request the plaintiff to submit any evidence necessary in order to determine the extent of the legitimacy of the lawsuit.
- (4)The committee, after taking the protective seizure measures, may notify the
- affected parties to submit their viewpoint and defenses within a provisional period not exceeding thirty- one (31) days from the date of initiating the protective measures in order to consider whether to amend, cancel or confirm such measures.
(5) The committee may cancel the measures taken in accordance with Paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article pursuant to a request by the defendant, or suspend said measures if the plaintiff does not submit documents required from him within a time period determined by the committee, and not exceeding thirty- one (31) days.
(6) Upon cancellation of provisional measures or expiry of their effectiveness period because of the plaintiff’s negligence, or upon becoming evident later that there was no infringement upon the works or commodities, the committee may, upon request of the defendant, order the plaintiff to pay appropriate compensations for any damage incurred by the defendant as a result of such measures.
Article 28: Measures at Borders
Article 34: Expiration of Protection Period
The author may object to reproduction or sale of his works or making a work derived from his original work upon expiry of financial rights and protection period, in case of damage to his honor and reputation or distortion and alteration of the work.
Article 35: Effectiveness of the Regulations
These Regulations shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall be effective after two months from the date of publication.