SAIP

Intellectual property refers to intangible creations of the human mind, such as copyrights, patents, and trademarks, which are easily stolen or attributed to someone other than their owner — unlike physical property. Hence, intellectual property law was introduced to protect these rights and ensure their attribution to their owners, encouraging the emergence of talent and codifying its circulation.

The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property is the entity competent in regulating intellectual property domains in the Kingdom — supporting, developing, sponsoring, protecting, and enforcing them, and advancing them in line with global best practices, contributing to enhancing innovation and creativity and supporting the national economy.

IP protection contributes to preserving rights, encouraging innovation and creativity, and enabling rights holders to benefit from their works and investments. Without registered protection, the owner loses the ability to prove their right in disputes and opens the field for competitors to exploit their effort.

Abstract ideas are not protected. Protection applies when an idea is embodied as an innovation, work, mark, or design under the applicable systems. The idea must take a tangible, distinguishable form before any legal protection is granted.

Anything taking a distinctive form of names, words, signatures, letters, symbols, numbers, addresses, seals, drawings, images, engravings, packaging, pictorial elements, shapes, color or combinations of colors, or any mixture thereof, or any sign or set of signs if used or intended for use in distinguishing the goods or services of one establishment from those of others.

Ten years, renewable indefinitely, every ten years at approximately the same filing fees. Failure to renew on time cancels your protection and returns the trademark to the pool available for registration by any competitor.

Application is made to register the trademark under the same commercial registration and number used for the expired trademark, with all documents proving ownership attached. This procedure protects the original owner's rights from losing the priority date.

Yes. If the trademark owner is Saudi, they can print the notary letter from the system and notarize it at a Ministry of Commerce notary, and the licensee submits the application with national ID attached. If the trademark owner is foreign, a license letter authenticated by competent authorities in that country must be submitted, attested by Foreign Affairs and the Saudi embassy.

An idea reached by the inventor, producing a solution to a specific problem in the field of technology. When this idea is embodied in an industrially applicable form and meets the conditions of novelty and inventiveness, it becomes eligible for registration as a patent.

The invention must be new and not previously published, involve an inventive step (not obvious to a specialist in the field), and be industrially applicable. Its exploitation must not violate Islamic Shari'a or harm human, animal, or plant health, or the environment.

Discoveries, scientific theories, and mathematical methods; schemes, rules, and methods of doing business; performing purely mental activities or games; plants, animals, and biological processes for their production (with exception of microorganisms); methods of surgical or therapeutic treatment of the human or animal body and diagnostic methods; and computer programs (protected under copyright instead).

The set of rights enjoyed by the author over their literary, artistic, or scientific creations, whether moral or economic rights. Economic rights include printing, publishing, translation, and material exploitation. Moral rights include attribution of the work to the author, objection to infringement, decision to publish, modification, and withdrawal from circulation.

A set of rights granted to certain persons or entities that help make the work available to the public, namely: the performing artist, the sound recording producer, and broadcasting entities. These rights complement the original author's right and don't compete with it.

Yes. They can file in the name of their parent company abroad through a licensed Saudi agent, then transfer ownership of the rights to their Saudi company later after its establishment. Transfer is a simple procedure that doesn't cancel the original priority date.

Via the official electronic portal saip.gov.sa for all administrative procedures, or via the "Contact Us" page on the same site, or through the official customer service center. Foreign companies needing a local intermediary can contact Motaded Limited to coordinate all procedures.