Mystery Shopper Monitors Markets to Assess Compliance with Intellectual Property Rights

The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) has released its 2023 report on enforcement of intellectual property rights, which shows that the authority received over 2,680 complaints related to copyrights, including regarding trademarks.The growing awareness of the need to adhere to laws and regulations that govern the ownership, use, and protection of intellectual property has contributed to a 50% increase in the total number of complaints in 2023.Trademark complaints rose by 73%, and copyright complaints by 30%.Over 1,000 inspection tours of commercial establishments were conducted in 42 cities and governorates in the Kingdom, based on complaints from copyrights holders.SAIP said that it continues to carry out the mystery shopper program, which plays a vital role in enforcing compliance with intellectual property rights. The enforcement team continuously monitors and surveys commercial and electronic markets, identifying violations and gathering data on commercial establishments to provide the inspection team with information that supports its tasks, carrying out inspection campaigns in specific areas and sectors, and raising awareness about the issue.The mystery shopper made over 4,700 visits to more than 70 malls in 17 cities and governorates, and visited over 6,000 websites and online stores.The report further reveals that 422 suspicious shipments were processed, with the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority reporting that 60% of the shipments were found to be in violation of intellectual property laws and regulations.More than 3.4 million products violating intellectual property regulations failed to receive clearance at various border crossings.In the digital space, SAIP focused on enforcing intellectual property rights in digital content and e-commerce. The number of reported websites reached 4,545, the majority (81%) concerning sites that display and download movies and TV shows.SAIP stressed that over 41 million products infringing on intellectual property rights were confiscated, more than 16,300 content items were removed, and over 3,400 non-compliant websites were blocked.In the course of assessing compliance with intellectual property rights, 13,000 establishments were visited and field and electronic surveys were carried out.In 2023, commercial courts and the Committee for Resolving Intellectual Property Disputes issued more than 270 rulings against intellectual property violators, with total fines amounting to around SAR2.2 million.Source: Saudi Press Agency