• 1- The words and phrases contained in this Regulation shall have the meanings set forth opposite each of them in Article (One) of the Copyright Law, issued by Royal Decree No. (M/169) dated 14/8/1447 AH, unless the context requires otherwise.

• 2- The following words and phrases - wherever they appear in this Regulation - shall have the meanings set forth opposite each of them:

  • Literary Works: Works expressed in words, regardless of their content or form of expression, whether written or oral.
  • Artistic Works: Works based on aesthetic expression and appeal to artistic sense, regardless of the means of expression, including drawing, coloring, shaping, movement, sound, or image.
  • Related Rights Works: Any performance - related to a literary, artistic, or other work - or sound recording or broadcast, which is subject to the protection granted to related rights, in accordance with the provisions of the Law and the Regulation.
  • Sound Recording Producer: The natural or legal person who initiates and is responsible for fixing sounds - which constitute the performance or other sounds or fixing any representation of sounds - for the first time.
  • Copyright: The moral and financial rights of the author.
  • Infringement of Rights: Any use of the work or any of the rights granted under the Law and the Regulation without a license from the right holder, or beyond the lawful uses prescribed in the Law, or in a manner contrary to the provisions of the Law or the Regulation.
  • Registration: The recording of the work or related rights works with the Authority.
  • Register: A database in which the data of the work or related rights works and the transactions affecting them are documented.

• 1- The provisions of the Law and the Regulation apply to works where one of the authors is Saudi or a resident in the Kingdom.
• 2- Citizens of member states or contracting parties to any international treaty on copyright or related rights to which the Kingdom is a party shall be treated as citizens and residents of the Kingdom.
• 3- Protection includes works of citizens of member states or contracting parties to any international treaty on copyright to which the Kingdom is a party, whether published or unpublished.
• 4- Protection includes works of citizens of non-member states or non-contracting parties to an international treaty on copyright to which the Kingdom is a party if they were first published in the Kingdom or in one of the member states or contracting parties to the treaty, or if published in the Kingdom or in one of the member states or contracting parties to the treaty within thirty (30) days of their first publication in a non-member state or non-contracting party to that treaty.
• 5- Protection includes audiovisual works whose principal place of production or residence is in the Kingdom or in one of the member states or contracting parties to any international treaty to which the Kingdom is a party.
• 6- Protection includes architectural works and artistic works integrated into buildings or structures located in the Kingdom or in one of the member states or contracting parties to any international treaty to which the Kingdom is a party.

The classified works and related rights enjoy the protection stipulated in the Law and this Regulation without the requirement of any formal procedure.

The protection stipulated in the law and regulation is limited to the expression embodied in the work, performance, sound recording, or broadcast, and does not include ideas, procedures, or abstract concepts even if they form the basis of any of the foregoing.

1- Cultural heritage - within the scope of the Law and the Regulation - is considered any expression that originated or continued in the Kingdom reflecting the cultural, artistic, or social identity of the Kingdom, whether verbal, musical, kinetic, or tangible. It particularly includes tales, poems, songs, folk dances, traditional crafts, artistic works, and the like.

2- Expressions of cultural heritage enjoy permanent protection, and it is prohibited to distort, deface, or exploit them in a manner that harms their value or cultural status, without prejudice to the powers of the competent authority to license their use or exploitation in accordance with the provisions of the Law.

• The following works are considered - without limitation - derivative works:

  • 1- Translated works.
  • 2- Summarized, modified, explained, investigated, or otherwise altered works.
  • 3- Encyclopedias and anthologies that are innovative in terms of the selection or arrangement of their contents, whether they are literary, artistic, or scientific works.
  • 4- Collections of works and expressions (folkloric) of cultural heritage, and selections thereof, if these collections are innovative in terms of the selection or arrangement of their contents, without extending protection to the folkloric expressions themselves unless they take a new creative form.
  • 5- Databases, whether in machine-readable form or any other form, which are innovative in terms of the selection or arrangement of their contents.

• The protection enjoyed by the owners of the works mentioned in the above paragraphs does not prejudice the protection enjoyed by the authors of the original works.

• 1- Performing artists shall enjoy the following moral rights:

  • A- Attribution of the performance to them, whether the performance is live or fixed; except in cases where this is not possible.
  • B- Objection to any modification, distortion, or mutilation of the performance or any infringement that may harm their reputation.

• 2- The moral rights stipulated in paragraph (1) of this article are perpetual rights not subject to prescription, non-transferable, non-waivable, and do not lapse by granting the right to exploit the performance in any form of exploitation. The management of these rights shall be transferred to their general successor after their death, unless there is a specific provision or a valid legal disposition stating otherwise.

• 3- The exercising of a performing artist’s right to financial exploitation shall not prejudice their moral rights established under the law and regulation.