Abdulrahman Al-Hazza also pledged to continue the drive against violators of intellectual property rights (IPR).

He expressed happiness that the Kingdom had maintained its position as a strong advocate of intellectual property rights on local and regional levels.

It was no longer on the "priority watch list" or "watch list" of the US Trade Representative (USTR) for IPR violations, he added.

Al-Hazza, however, said the ministry was continuing its fight against such infringements. Stringent measures are in place to curb such practices, he added.

The deputy minister, who gave an overview of the policies and plans of the Ministry of Culture and Information to fight piracy, said the USTR had already acknowledged Riyadh’s progress in the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.

He said the ministry's officials were visiting businesses and hot spots notorious for such IPR violations in the Kingdom on a daily basis.

"The ministry's inspectors have been conducting periodic raids of suspect shops and premises in cooperation with officials of other related government agencies," he added.

The ministry has confiscated more than 350,000 pirated CDs from illegal street vendors as part of a comprehensive anti-piracy crackdown during the last few months.

Al-Hazza said the ministry imposed hefty financial penalties on businesses and people who violate IPR rules.

"Even the shop can be closed permanently, operating licenses revoked and those running the racket can be arrested, depending on the seriousness of the violations," said the minister.

The ministry has also set up a committee to investigate and punish violators found guilty of copyright infringement and piracy.

Similar initiatives are being implemented to uphold copyright laws and establish a fair environment, especially for major IPR-reliant businesses such as Pay TV, motion picture companies and video game publishers.

He said the ministry and other regulatory agencies in the Kingdom were committed to enforcing laws and punishing such offenses. "This is in the interest of the people, the business community and the nation at large," said another ministry official. "We have to do more on this front," he added.

According to a report compiled by Business Software Alliance, over half of software installed on personal computers in Saudi Arabia in 2010 was pirated, representing a commercial value of $304 million.

Another report quoting Majid Qaroub, an intellectual property lawyer, said the Kingdom is losing $2.8 billion annually due to IPR violations. Saudi Arabia is the largest information and communications technology market in the region, and spending on ICT reached $6 billion in 2009 and is projected to grow to $9.8 billion by 2013.

The Kingdom is a member of the Universal Copyright Convention and also the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.