RIYADH, 2 September — Eight truckloads of pirated CDs, playstations and video cassettes, films, posters and fake paintings worth millions of riyals in street value were destroyed in a series of synchronized raids carried out yesterday by Ministry of Information inspectors at Al-Hair on the outskirts of Riyadh.
In all, 25,000 pirated items were seized and the street value of 172,000 confiscated CDs alone was estimated at over SR51 million. Releasing the figures at a press conference, Assistant Deputy Minister of Information for Internal Affairs Misfer Saíad Al-Misfer said the pirated materials were confiscated in raids conducted in Batha, Shumaisy and Oleya districts of the capital, where 75 persons were arrested in a single night.
Nine other stores and six apartments were inspected during the raids. Obaidullah M. Al-Obaidullah, director of the Copyright Department at the ministry, was also present during the inspection.
It was also disclosed that inspectors would soon be visiting 6,000 local and international companies operating in the Kingdom to create an awareness on the need to abide by Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regulations and use legal software. Use of pirated software would invite punitive measures.
In a wide-ranging press conference, Al-Misfer revealed that the Shoura Council was currently reviewing existing legislation on intellectual piracy. Revamped legislative measures would sharply increase penalties on IPR violations which now carry a fine of SR10,000 for a first offense, SR20,000 for second offense, including cancellation of license, and permanent closure of the establishment for repeated violations.
“The Shoura Council will vote on the new regulations in a month or so before forwarding them to the Cabinet for approval,” he said. The Ministry of Information has taken up with overseas software companies the question of bringing down the cost of original products so as to discourage software piracy. The companies’ response has been encouraging and some of them have started offering liberal discounts to students and teachers using their programs, he said.
Al-Misfer said the raids, also conducted in Jeddah and Dammam, brought to the fore the role of expatriates in the sale of pirated and counterfeit products in the market.
“The shop owners, who are Saudis, know nothing about what the expats are doing. However, since the business is being conducted in the name of the Saudis, the latter bear responsibility for all these illegal activities,” he said.
“Investigations are under way. Once they are complete, those responsible will be jailed and later deported. In one of the cases, he disclosed, the inspectors came across pirated materials stacked inside a house, although the raided store was found to be empty.
During the last six months the ministry confiscated 625,000 items consisting of CDs, films, video cassettes and computer accessories.
The assistant deputy minister said inspections were also being conducted at gas stations and warehouses located on Riyadh-Makkah, Riyadh-Qassim and Riyadh-Madinah highways as part of a full-scale campaign to nab dealers in counterfeit and pirated products.
Elaborating on Al-Misfer’s remarks, Obaidullah, who is also a member of Saudi IPR’s permanent committee, said imposition of penalties, closure of shops, cancellation of 12 licenses last year and other punitive measures had resulted in a decline in IPR violations.
