Governments in Mena region urged to pronounce Saudi’s ‘beoutQ’ as illegal

Governments in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region have a responsibility to make a statement that says the Saudi Arabia-based pirate operation ‘beoutQ’ is illegal and that those selling and using it are also breaking the law, the United States Intellectual Property (IP) Attache for the Mena, Peter Mehravari has said yesterday.

In an interview with The Peninsula, Mehravari reiterated the recent Special 301 Report published by the US government which condemned and called for an end to the sports broadcast piracy operation which is still widely available throughout the region.

The US Special 301 Report discusses countries that do not provide adequate protections and enforcement for IP rights. Mehravari said: “This year, beoutQ was featured in both the Special 301 Report as well as in the 2018 notorious markets, where the US government labeled beoutQ as a notorious market. It’s an indication that the US government sees the threat of this unprecedented pirate to changing the way IP are valued globally.

“Over the past nine days I’ve been traveling around the region for World IP Day, unfortunately in most of my visits beoutQ came out. People are using it and there are boxes everywhere. And part of what makes beoutQ so unprecedented is that it looks genuine. One thing that we can do as not only consumers, not only government officials but also companies is making it clear that beoutQ is a pirate. It’s not a legitimate service. It’s an illegal pirate. The community and governments in the region need to make a statement that says beoutQ is illegal, and for those selling it and using it, it’s against the law”.

Mehravari went on to say that counterfeit or pirated products harm consumers, the economy, as well as the national security of countries. He added: “US companies and other companies in the region face significant challenges when it comes to protecting their IP in the region. We are seeing many positive developments that many governments are focusing on IP, but there are still many challenges. I think a lot of it is dealing with counterfeit parts coming into the region, sometimes promoting ease of trade and ease of commerce at the risk of also transshipping counterfeits through port systems. For years, we’re more focused on a resource-based economy, and now that we’re merging into a knowledge-based economy, IP has to be the foundation of that”.

Further, Mehravari also stressed that countries with strong IP protection systems in place attract more investments. “I think Qatar is doing a very good job about that right now. There are certain ways for it to improve. But I think understanding that they need to not only beat the standard, but really find what’s the best possible laws and practice and implementations in the world. That’s gonna attract more businesses. Because companies need to be protected. They need to know that their investments are safe,” he added.