Qatar: Saudi Arabia published misleading allegations about the outcome of a WTO ruling on the P-Q Piracy channel

The Governmental Communications Office in the State of Qatar confirmed that the report published a few days ago by the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property included false and misleading allegations about the results of a ruling issued by the World Trade Organization dispute resolution committee on the issue of piracy of broadcasting rights owned by "BN Sports".

In a statement issued on Saturday, the bureau said that the statement published by the Saudi commission last Tuesday contained a series of incorrect allegations regarding the report of the dispute resolution committee entitled "Saudi Arabia - Procedures Related to the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights."

The Qatari statement recalled that the ruling published on the World Trade Organization website, which is available to the public, concluded that Saudi Arabia had failed to protect intellectual property rights, and that it should correct its measures to bring them in line with its obligations under the TRIPS Agreement.

Violation of obligations

In its response to the allegations contained in the Saudi report, the Qatari government liaison office listed a number of points, among them that the report of the Conflict Resolution Committee concluded that Saudi Arabia, with the exception of national security, does not justify its violation of its obligations under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) .

He stated that the committee itself concluded that Saudi Arabia's failure to take criminal measures against the pirate channel "BUTQ" does not meet the minimum credibility with regard to the basic security interests it invoked, and therefore, it is not possible to invoke the protection of these interests to justify the failure to take the measures mentioned. .

He also indicated that the report of the Committee affiliated to the World Trade Organization, and if he concluded that the "emergency" condition, which is one of the conditions necessary to invoke the defense of national security according to the TRIPS Agreement, was present, he acknowledged that this was the result of Saudi behavior, especially its decision to cut ties with The State of Qatar, and its repeated false allegations about "terrorism and extremism".

Among the other points mentioned by the Qatari liaison office to refute what was mentioned in the Saudi report, the dispute settlement committee concluded that Saudi allegations against Qatar were not supported, and that no exceptions were found to justify Saudi Arabia's failure to take criminal measures against the pirate channel B Out Q, despite the evidence that Emphasizes its operation by individuals or entities subject to the criminal jurisdiction of the Kingdom, which confirms that Saudi Arabia has acted in a manner contrary to Article 61 of the TRIPS Agreement.

Systematic campaign

The Qatari statement also indicated that the dispute resolution committee concluded that BN Sports and international rights holders have repeatedly sent detailed information to the Saudi authorities to inform them of piracy activities for the "B-Q" channel without receiving a response from the Saudi side, in addition to a wide range of evidence that It confirms the operation of the B out Q channel by individuals or entities subject to the criminal jurisdiction of Saudi Arabia, in addition to that the committee concluded in its report that Saudi Arabia has taken measures that prevented BN Sports from obtaining legal advice in the Kingdom.

The statement described the allegations contained in the report of the Saudi Commission as a systematic campaign seeking to promote misleading information and divert attention from the actual results of the report of the Conflict Resolution Committee at the World Trade Organization, indicating that it is not the first time that the Kingdom has resorted to these methods instead of taking the necessary measures to combat the theft of property rights Intellectual and piracy.

The Qatari government liaison office concluded that if Saudi Arabia’s commitment to doing its part to put an end to piracy of intellectual property rights is correct, it must accept the results of the dispute resolution committee’s report and take corrective action immediately.

And he considered that the statement published by Saudi Arabia indicated that it had not yet been considered one of the results and the judgment reached by the committee, and that it was continuing the same approach it had taken on B out Q in the past.