RIYADH — Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) has stated that a photograph belongs to its owner, and it is one of the original work protected under the provisions of the Copyright Protection Law, where the owner owns moral and financial rights to this work, and no one has the right to exploit or modify it without a written permission from the right holder, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Friday. The authority affirmed that Article 22 of the Copyright Law provides penalties that may be imposed on anyone who violates the provisions of the regulations and infringes on protected works. The Committee for the Consideration of Copyright Infringements may impose a financial penalty of not more than SR100,000. It may also close the infringing facility or the facility that has contributed to the assault on images for a period not exceeding two months, and to remove infringement and to defamation, in the manner that the committee deems appropriate, at the expense of the aggressor. In the case of repeated infringements of the same or other work, the maximum penalty may be doubled. If the committee considers that the violation requires imprisonment or a fine exceeding SR100,000 or requires a cancellation of the license, it should refer the matter to the Board of Directors of SAIP for transmission to a competent judicial authority. The commission may decide on a financial compensation for the affected person commensurate with the scale of the assault and the damage caused to him. SAIP also called on owners of the infringed pictures to submit their complaints online on [email protected] or through its social media account @SAIPKSA.
