June 27, 2020

The State of Qatar confirms that the statement issued by the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property on Tuesday, June 23, includes a series of incorrect allegations about the results of the ruling issued by the WTO dispute settlement committee in its report titled: Saudi Arabia - Procedures related to the protection of property rights Intellectual.

The report of the Dispute Resolution Committee indicated the following:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia cannot invoke the proffered essential security interests to justify the failure to take criminal measures against beoutQ that carried out piracy activities, and that this is due to its decision to cut ties with the State of Qatar.

The Conflict Resolution Committee considered that the Kingdom had taken measures that prevented the beIN channel from obtaining legal advice in Saudi Arabia to protect intellectual property rights.

In its report, the Dispute Resolution Committee indicated that the aforementioned information was sent to the relevant authorities in the Kingdom from 2018, bearing in mind that the Saudi Intellectual Property Authority was not established until 2019.

The Saudi authorities issued a statement confirming their commitment to "play their role" to put an end to piracy of intellectual property rights, but unfortunately, it can be concluded from the statement of Saudi Arabia that it has not yet considered the results and judgment reached by the committee in its report.