Article 11 of the Saudi Copyright Law

المادة 11 من نظام حماية حقوق المؤلف

The article allows the author's rights to pass in whole or in part by inheritance or by a written disposition specified in time and place, passes them to heirs except modification and deletion, and requires the author's will on publication to be carried out.

Official text (Arabic)

This article has not been amended since the law was issued.

1- حقوق المؤلف المنصوص عليها في هذا النظام قابلة للانتقال كلها، أو بعضها سواء بطريق الإرث ، أو التصرف النظامي، الذي يجب إثباته بالكتابة، ويكون محددًا لنطاق الحق المنقول زمانًا ومكانًا.

2- تنتقل الحقوق المقررة بمقتضى هذا النظام لورثة المؤلف من بعده، عدا إجراء تعديل أو حذف على المصنف.

3- إذا كان المؤلف قد أوصى بمنع النشر، أو بتعيين موعد له، وجب تنفيذ وصيته في حدودها.

4- إذا كان المصنف عملًا فرديًّا وتوفي صاحبه، أو عملًا مشتركًا وتوفي أحد المؤلفين ولم يكن له وارث، فإن نصيبه يؤول إلى من يستحقه حسب أحكام الشريعة الإسلامية.

This is the official Arabic wording, the only legally binding version. We do not translate the law itself; the explanation below is ours. Official source: Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers

Article 11 explained in plain English

This article regulates how an author's rights pass to others during his life and after his death:

Transferability: the author's rights may pass in whole or in part, either by inheritance or by a legal disposition such as sale or license. The disposition must meet two conditions: it must be proved in writing, and it must specify the scope of the transferred right in time and place. An oral agreement, or a contract that does not state the period and geographic scope, does not meet what the article requires.
Rights of heirs: the author's rights pass to his heirs after his death, except the right to modify or delete from the work; the heirs may not change the content of the work.
The author's will: if the author left a will prohibiting publication or fixing a date for it, his will must be carried out within its limits.
No heir: if the work is an individual one and its owner dies, or a joint one and one of its authors dies, and he has no heir, his share passes to whoever is entitled to it under the rules of Islamic Sharia.

This article is linked to Article 12, which makes void an author's waiver of the whole of his future intellectual output: a specific written disposition is permitted, but a blanket waiver of future output is void. Article 10 also deals with the case of an author who authorized another to exploit his work and then wanted to withdraw or modify it.

For drafting a sound contract transferring rights, or for questions of dividing the rights among heirs, you may consult a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property and copyright.

Practical example

Reem sold the right to publish her novel to a production company to turn it into a series. For the disposition to meet the conditions of this article, it must be in writing and specify the scope of the transferred right in time and place, such as a period of five years within the Kingdom.

Translated from our Arabic explanation with machine assistance. For guidance only; it does not replace advice from a lawyer on your situation.

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