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7 December 2018Copyright

Saudi Arabia says WTO ‘cannot’ hear IP dispute with Qatar

Saudi Arabia has said the World Trade Organization (WTO) cannot resolve an IP dispute with Qatar due to national security concerns, according to Reuters.

Saudi Arabia cited the WTO’s national security clause that exempts a country from the normal adjudication process of disputes between member states if the nation believes its national security may be compromised as a result.

According to Al Jazeera, a Saudi official said the “WTO is not, and cannot be turned into, a venue to resolve national security disputes”. Neither Al Jazeera nor Reuters specified the nature of the concerns.

Qatar filed a complaint with the WTO in October over the beoutQ platform’s alleged piracy of Qatari company beIN Media Group’s sports and entertainment content. Saudi Arabia blocked beIN’s content in August.

Since the beIN ban, beoutQ has allegedly been illegally broadcasting beIN’s copyright-protected content within Saudi Arabia, Qatar says. The Saudi government has refused to take effective measures against piracy or allow beIN to protect its IP in Saudi courts, according to the Qatari ministry of economy and commerce.

Qatar says beoutQ is based in Saudi Arabia and is broadcast through Arabsat, a regional satellite operator of which the Saudi state is the largest shareholder. Qatar also owns shares in the operator.

Saudi Arabia has denied all allegations that it is either the source of beoutQ or that it does not effectively tackle piracy within its borders. In a statement issued in July, the ministry of media said that the “suggestion that Arabsat is facilitating or otherwise turning a blind eye to beoutQ’s operations is simply more Al Jazeera propaganda”.

Al Jazeera is a Qatari state owned broadcaster which shares a parent group with beIN Media. The network has been banned in Saudi Arabia since 2017, and has been the target of Saudi criticism throughout the dispute over beoutQ’s alleged provision of pirated content.

Saudi officials have said that “given the current diplomatic impasse between Qatar and numerous Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, claims emanating from Al Jazeera that beoutQ is based in Saudi Arabia are highly suspect”.

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