Article 21 of the Saudi Copyright Law

This article sets out what counts as an infringement of the rights the law protects. It is the basis on which the penalties in Article 22 are built. The most notable forms of infringement are:

1. Publishing a work that the publisher does not own, or publishing it while claiming ownership, or without written permission or a contract from the author, his heirs or those who represent them.
2. Changing the content, nature, subject or title of the work without the author's knowledge and prior written consent, whether by the publisher, producer, distributor or others.
3. Reprinting the work by the producer, publisher or printer without the prior written consent of the right holder, or without documents entitling them to do so.
4. Removing any written or electronic information that may cause the rights of the owners of the work to be lost.
5. Removing or disabling any electronic protective information that ensures the use of original copies, such as encryption.
6. Commercial use of works by methods of circumvention that the right-holding party does not allow, such as using pirated software or capturing encrypted broadcast programs by unlawful means.
7. Manufacturing or importing tools for sale or rental that facilitate receiving or exploiting works other than by the methods set by the right-holding party.
8. Copying or photocopying parts of a book or work, with or without payment, without the written approvals of the right holders and the relevant bodies in the Ministry, except the lawful copying cases in Article 15 (such as personal copying of anything other than software and audio and audiovisual works, quotation on its conditions, and a backup copy of software).
9. Importing forged, imitated or pirated works.
10. Keeping non-original works in the commercial establishment, warehouse or its affiliated sites, directly or indirectly, on any pretext.
11. Infringing any right protected in the law or violating any of its provisions.

The last item makes the list open: every violation of the provisions of the law is an infringement. Note that item 10 covers merely keeping non-original copies in the establishment. A person found in violation, or whose work has been infringed, may consult a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property and copyright.