Article 1 of the Saudi Copyright Law

This article is the dictionary of the law. Each word defined in it is understood in that sense wherever it appears in the articles of the law, unless the context of the article requires another meaning.

The most important terms it defines:

• Work: any literary, scientific or artistic work. This is what the law protects throughout.
• Author: the person who created the work.
• Joint work: a work produced by two or more persons, natural or legal (such as companies), whether or not the contribution of each can be separated.
• Collective work: a work produced by a group under the direction of a natural or legal person who undertakes to publish it under their management or in their name, in which the work of the participants is merged so that the work of each cannot be distinguished separately.
• Audio work and audiovisual work: the first is an audio fixation of a performance or sound by any means, and the second is related images accompanied by sounds, recorded on a medium and shown by suitable devices.
• Derivative work: any work produced on the basis of an earlier work, such as a translation.
• Performers: those who act, recite, sing or perform roles in literary or artistic works.
• Publication: providing copies of the work to meet the needs of the public, and copying: producing one or more copies on a physical medium, including audio or visual recording.
• Folklore: works presumed to have been created in Saudi territory that have passed from generation to generation and form part of the traditional Saudi cultural or artistic heritage.
• Broadcasting: transmitting the work, performance or recording to the public by wire or wireless or by any means, including satellites.

The article also defines the Committee as the committee competent to consider violations of the law, the Ministry and the Minister as the Ministry of Culture and Information and its minister, and the Implementing Regulations as the regulations of this law. Understanding these definitions is necessary for reading Article 2, which lists the protected works, and for reading the rest of the provisions of the law.