Intellectual property protection in the e-commerce environment
Introduction
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is among the top 10 fastest-growing countries in the field of e-commerce, with an annual growth rate exceeding 32%, where the value of Mada e-commerce transactions during the past year reached 111 billion, according to the quarterly bulletin of the Ministry of Commerce.
History
Aug 2025
The sector
Commercial Activities

Discussing e-commerce in light of intellectual property protection is of great importance in creating a commercial environment that fosters creativity and innovation. The proliferation of stores that deliberately infringe on trademark rights and use designs, products, and industrial models owned by others causes significant losses to producers and creative business owners. Furthermore, weak intellectual property protection measures discourage foreign investors from entering the market. Therefore, e-commerce store owners must respect intellectual property protection laws by ensuring their stores are not exposed to infringement lawsuits. This can be achieved by taking several steps: • Verify that logos, writings, or trademarks belonging to other local or foreign entities are not being used. The scope of intellectual property rights protection extends beyond local borders based on applicable international agreements. • For stores whose products rely on designs, materials, or prints owned by other entities, care must be taken to obtain the necessary licenses from the rights holders to use their designs or trademarks. • Copyrights must be respected; do not use product descriptions or distinctive, protected phrases belonging to other companies and entities. • When importing products, verify that suppliers have obtained the necessary licenses to use the designs, logos, and other intellectual property elements.

On the other hand, to ensure that the e-store owner's brand and creative ideas are not copied or infringed upon, they must follow several steps: • Register the trademark and creative designs of the e-store • Draft and publish a usage policy that includes preventing the use or infringement of any creative idea or product owned by the store • Monitor and file objections against registrations of matching and similar trademark advertisements, and submit the necessary compensation claims. In conclusion, the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) was keen to clarify the procedures for filing a complaint regarding the infringement or use of registered trademarks for e-stores, through the link here Intellectual Property E-commerce Trademarks