Saudi Arabia may jail its first DVD pirate in a clampdown by the information ministry that may signals the start of a copyright protection era. The decision is under review at Saudi Arabia’s board of grievances, which is responsible for handing down prison sentences.

Saudi Arabia has long had one of the biggest piracy problems in the Arab world.
Last month, Yousef Mugharbil, the president of Rotana Digital Media Group, was quoted by Abu Dhabi’s The National, saying the company lost a dollar to pirates for every dollar it made, and has had to radically lower its prices in its home market of Saudi Arabia to compete with them.


While its original focus was on the United Arab Emirate, the Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance’s focus has moved to Saudi Arabia because of the market’s size and the scope of its piracy problems. AAA said it has been working for 14 years trying to get an imprisonment judgment in Saudi, because it is a country of 26 million people with 99 per cent piracy when it comes to movie piracy.

The UAE’s first piracy jailing took place a decade ago. Since then, jail for copying and distributing DVDs, as well as illegally copying and selling books, has become the rule, rather than the exception.

In a further sign that the situation may be changing, the office of the US trade representative removed Saudi Arabia from its 301 watchlist, which is designed to identify nations that might be a threat to intellectual property.

Story filed 02.03.10