In a bid to facilitate access to scientific and technological information from Saudi Arabia’s national databases, the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) has inaugurated 21 IP support centres in partnership with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) across five regions in Makkah, Al-Madinah, the Eastern region, Al-Qassim and the capital, Riyadh.
An agreement was signed between the IP office and King Abdulaziz University, Taibah University, Effat University, King Fahd Medical City, Saudi Health Council, and I-be Company.
The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) reportedly said that the launch is an indication of the importance of IP as a tool to promote intangible values and their impact on the global economy in general and the national economy in particular.
The IP office started receiving trademark applications earlier this month following its mandate as the sole authority responsible for IP in Saudi.
It will be recalled that the Ministry of Trade and Investment was previously tasked with this responsibility and the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property further completed the scope of work by improving existing laws and joining international agreements, such as the Madrid Protocol, the Nice Agreement and the Vienna Agreement to move towards the vision of SAIP becoming a pioneer of IP in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The Executive Director of the IP rights protection department at SAIP, Yasser Al-Debassi reportedly said that “the SAIP campaign is an extension of our periodic unscheduled inspection on public establishments and stores which circulate or deal with products that violate IP rights in any part of its operations”.
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