As a much welcomed attempt at improving the enforcement scene in the country, Saudi Arabia announced that patent and copyright disputes will be settled before specialized Commercial Courts as of February 1, 2020.

The Commercial Courts, which will be comprised of three judges, will hear infringement and invalidation cases. By resorting to the legal system, cases, where one of the parties is a national entity, can be brought in front of the local Courts. This update indicates a clear decentralization of the outgoing process to raise grievances, which for patent matters used to be under the jurisdiction of a Committee housed at the King Abdul Aziz City of Science and Technology— which meant that all related cases had to be heard and processed in one location.

This news comes in light of Saudi Arabia’s ongoing efforts to develop the national system to become a more effective and convenient system for locals and to help promote local innovation.

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