Copyright registration in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. Saudi Arabia is considered both a regional and middle power. The Saudi economy is the largest in the Middle East and eighteenth-largest in the world. Saudi Arabia also has one of the world’s youngest populations. Saudi Arabia is also a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council and an active and founding member of the United Nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Arab League, and OPEC. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of copyright registration in Saudi Arabia.
Copyright in Saudi Arabia
Unlike other intellectual property rights such as trademarks, patents, industrial designs, plant varieties, etc., copyright does not need to be registered for protection but will be automatically protected from the time the works are created.
The creation must be visible in a certain material form, like content, quality, form, medium, language, published or unpublished, registered or unregistered.
Accordingly, whether registered or not, the copyright to the work will still be protected. However, the creator should still apply for copyright registration in Saudi Arabia early because early registration will give the author/owner of the work many advantages in the event of a dispute.
When unauthorized use of work occurs around the world, the owner of a work who has made a copyright registration in Saudi Arabia will not have to waste time and complicate matters with proving himself/herself to be the legitimate owner of the work.
Thereby, in order to avoid passivity, the owner of the work should make a copyright registration in Saudi Arabia immediately to protect their rights and interests when there is an infringement.
Copyright registration in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is a member country of The Berne Convention for Copyright since 2004.
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the Berne Convention) is an international agreement governing copyright. The agreement was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886.
As Saudi Arabia is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, any work originating in Saudi Arabia will be given copyright protection in each of the Berne Convention member countries.
In most countries, copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work existed in material form. However, the copyright registration in Saudi Arabia is critical in order for the copyright owner to obtain evidence of copyright.
Evidence of copyright is extremely important even when the works are automatically protected according to copyright law.
When registering, the work will get an application submission date, as well as information about the creation and proof of creative concept and development. This provides unambiguous proof of authorship and ownership that can’t be denied.
Proof of copyright is essential in an age when the publishing, dissemination, and theft of material is extremely easy with the exposure of the Internet.
If copyright registration is not made, copyright owners will lose a big amount of money as well as time needed to resolve issues related to copyright, proving ownership of the original work.
If the copyright owner has already registered for copyright protection to the IP office, they would have a strong legal foundation which would increase their chance of winning against the violating parties.
Documents for copyright registration in Saudi Arabia
To obtain copyright registration in Saudi Arabia, the author of the work needs to prepare the following documents:
- Declaration of copyright registration in Saudi Arabia;
- Two copies of copyrighted work;
- Documents proving the right to apply;
- Written consent of co-authors, if the work has co-authors;
- Written consent of the co-owners, if the copyright is jointly owned;
- Notarized identity card of the author or owner of the work;
- Power of Attorney, if the applicant is an authorized person;
- Notarized copy of the company’s business registration certificate (if the owner is a company).
The copyright law of Saudi Arabia
Saudi copyright law was issued as per Royal Decree No. M/41 dated August 30, 2003. The Saudi copyright protects all of the intellectual works of any type, and the author rights will be protected until a period of 50 years after his/her death.
The law was amended by Decision of the council of ministers No. 536 of 19/10/1439H (July 3, 2018), containing 28 articles amending various elements of Intellectual Property.
You can see a list of Saudi Arabia IP firms here.