Saudi ArabiaCopyright Law (2026), database compilations
Royal Decree No. M/169 (14/8/1447H), Art. 3(12), Copyright Law (published )
In force since .
A database right rule binding public and private bodies.
- How the hook was established
- express
- What makes it apply
- Content origin
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Do not treat the data or materials in a Saudi database as protected merely because they are compiled: only a database that is original in the selection or arrangement of its contents is protected, the protection does not extend to the data or materials themselves, and the rights of authors in works the database contains are unaffected.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
What record it asks for
Logging duty
Article 3(12) of the Law defines which collections and databases are protected (originality of selection or arrangement) and leaves the underlying data outside the protection. It imposes no duty to create, keep, produce or review a log or record, and names no audit or anyone entitled to see a record. The Law's own scope clause (Article 2) reaches works of Saudi or resident authors and works first published in the Kingdom, and that content-origin test is the hook.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Article 3(12) protects collections of works and cultural heritage, such as encyclopedias, anthologies and databases, that are original in the selection or arrangement of their contents. The protection does not extend to the data or materials themselves, and it does not affect the rights of authors in the data and materials that form part of the collection, whether machine-readable or in another form.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web or trains models.
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