Saudi courts have received 116 cases related to intellectual property and counterfeiting trademarks in various economic sectors, filed by companies and institutions since the beginning of the current Hijri year “255 days.”

The Commercial Court in Riyadh has handled 91.4% of intellectual property and trademark infringement cases, totaling 107 cases, since the beginning of the current Hijri year.
The Commercial Court in Dammam ranked second with five cases, followed by the Commercial Court in Madinah with two cases. Meanwhile, the Commercial Court in Jeddah received one commercial case, and the Court in Hail received one case.

This comes at a time when the commercial courts have begun hearing all disputes arising between merchants or brought against a merchant in connection with his commercial activities, as well as all lawsuits related to commercial regulations and other jurisdictions stipulated in Article 35 of the Sharia Procedural Code.

Any of the procedures stipulated in the Code may be conducted electronically, including the filing and registration of lawsuits and motions, their consideration, remote oral arguments, the exchange of briefs, the rendering of judgments, and the filing of objections.

The court has jurisdiction to hear disputes arising between merchants in connection with their primary or ancillary commercial activities, as well as lawsuits filed against a merchant in commercial contract disputes, provided that the value of the original claim in the lawsuit exceeds 100,000 riyals; the Council may, where appropriate, increase this amount.

This is in addition to disputes among partners in a mudarabah partnership, lawsuits and violations arising from the application of the provisions of the Companies Law, lawsuits and violations arising from the application of the provisions of the Bankruptcy Law, as well as lawsuits and violations arising from the application of intellectual property laws, and lawsuits and violations arising from the application of other commercial laws.
It also has jurisdiction to hear cases and petitions relating to judicial custodians, trustees, liquidators, appointed experts, and the like, provided that the dispute relates to a case within the court’s jurisdiction, and claims for compensation for damages arising from a case previously heard by the court.