RIYADH — The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP), in cooperation with its partners in the public and private sectors, held the third Intellectual Property Respect Council in which key issues were discussed, especially the role of the private sector.

The public sector was represented by the SAIP, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, the General Authority for Audio-Visual Media, the Radio and Television Commission, the Ministry of Sports, the Communications and Information Technology Commission and more than 14 bodies from the private sector representing the audio-visual production sector, satellite broadcasting channels and digital broadcasting platforms.

The Council was opened by the Executive Director of Respect for Intellectual Property Yasser Al-Debassi, who acknowledged the initiative of IP Respect Council and expressed the importance of intellectual property protection as it is an essential component of the national economy.

In addition, specialists from SAIP presented the Council’s objectives, which consist in activating the role of the private sector in improving enforcement processes and increasing communication and transparency between SAIP and the private sector.

The policies related to blocking websites that violate intellectual property regulations were also reviewed, in addition to clarifying and detailing the draft copyright regulation, followed by a presentation of the statistics and work of the Intellectual Property Respect Department concerned with enforcement.

The method of filing a complaint and the requirements to file a complaint too were explained. At the end of the meeting there was an hour dedicated for discussion, where the obstacles facing the private sector and ideas that help in combating piracy and limiting violations in the digital field were reviewed.

The Council held a number of meetings during the last period, addressing a number of issues related to the pharmaceutical sector and the publishing sector.

As part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to protect intellectual property rights in the digital sector, SAIP blocked more than 512 rights-violating websites and electronic applications during 2021, as this comes from its tasks and competencies, which confirm the implementation of sanctions against intellectual property violators. — SPA