The United States has removed the Kingdom from its intellectual property rights watchdog list because of the progress the country has made in protecting the copyright. Abdullah Bin Ahmad Zainal Alireza, Minister of Commerce and Industry, announced that the American government took the decision to remove the Kingdom's name from the American Intellectual Property Rights Watchlist. Zainal said the statement by the American Foreign Trade Mission confirms that the Kingdom has achieved significant progress toward the protection of intellectual property rights over the last 12 months. He said the Kingdom has been enforcing copyright protection with a number of laws. This had taken place because of Royal directives issued to all government agencies to ensure maximum possible protection of intellectual property rights. Earlier this month, the Saudi Law Training Center in cooperation with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) organized the third symposium on intellectual property laws, which stressed the need for tighter government control on intellectual piracy. The symposium highlighted the efforts of the Ministry of Culture and Information in ensuring intellectual property rights and stressed the importance of coordination between relevant government sectors and the private sector.
