Copyright Law Implementing Regulations

The provisions regulating the procedures of issuing mandatory licenses shall apply to works published for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and licenses shall not be granted before the expiration of three years from the publication date of the edition in question, in accordance with the following procedures: (1) The Authority shall ensure that copies of the works in printed form or reproduced in any similar form are not displayed for sale in the Kingdom by the copyright owner or whoever acts on his behalf, or pursuant to permission from him, in response to the purposes referred to in Article (16) of the Law, unless such copies are displayed for sale within a continuous period of not less than six months. (2) The applicant shall submit proof that he has requested a license from the copyright owner but failed to obtain it, or that he was unable to find him after exerting necessary efforts. (3) He shall submit proof that he has made such a request to the publisher whose name appears on the work but has not received a response from him. (4) No license shall be granted unless it is proved that the author is unknown or impossible to contact, and the license applicant submits the data proving such and submits the necessary guarantees to fulfill the rights of the copyright owner once he applies to claim his right, and the Authority accepts these guarantees. (5) The license shall not be granted before the expiration of a period not less than six months from the applicant’s attempts [to obtain a license] from the author or the publisher. (6) No license shall be granted if the author or the publisher reprints his work during the six-month period. (7) No permission shall be granted if the author has withdrawn from circulation all copies of the edition subject of the application. (8) The permission shall not be granted if it is for pure commercial purposes.