By: Marie Claire O’Leary
On October 4, 2018 Qatar accused Saudi Arabia of supporting and encouraging the Saudi Arabian broadcast company beoutQ in illegally distributing Qatari sports broadcasts.[1] In early August 2017, beoutQ began broadcasting Qatari broadcasts stolen from the Qatari company, beIN.[2] Saudi Arabia willfully ignored all of beIN’s requests for an investigation into beoutQ’s piracy, and has even supported beoutQ by promoting public gatherings held by beoutQ, which broadcasted beIN’s material.[3] On October 4, 2018, the Qatari government finally went to the World Trade Organization (hereinafter “WTO”) with a request for Saudia Arabia to “enter into consultations concerning Saudi Arabia’s failure to provide adequate protection for intellectual property rights, in particular . . . held . . . by entities based in the State of Qatar. . . .”.[4] Along with Qatar’s Request for Consultation with the WTO, beIN Media announced its initiation of a $1 billion international arbitration claim against Saudi Arabia.[5]
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been experiencing tension since 2017 when Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates decided to impose a complete economic embargo on Qatar.[6] The countries are each members of the Gulf Cooperation Council and claim that the Qatari government funds terrorism.[7] Saudi Arabia imposed the economic measures against Qatar in June 2017, which, among other things, impacted Qatar’s ability to protect intellectual property rights in Saudi Arabia.[8] Qatar asserts Saudi Arabia has violated its obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS Agreement”).[9]
The company caught in the middle of this dispute, beIN Sports, is one of the fastest growing sports networks in the world.[10] The company serves many soccer viewers in the U.S. as well as around the world.[11] On the other hand, there have been suspicions and accusations that beoutQ is a product of the Saudi Arabian government.[12] Not only are beoutQ’s actions an infringement on beIN’s intellectual property rights, but of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (“FIFA”) rights.[13] FIFA is the international organization that governs all football, or soccer.[14] BeIN has exclusive rights to show World Cup games in the Middle East and Northern Africa, and in Summer 2018 FIFA said it was considering legal action against beoutQ.[15] However, currently, Saudi Arabia only faces beIN’s arbitration and Qatar’s Request for Consultation before the WTO.[16] Qatar’s complaint to the WTO comes at a time when the rest of the world is scrutinizing Saudi Arabia for alleged humanitarian violations.[17] It will be interesting to see if the WTO takes alleged violations into account when evaluating Saudi Arabia’s conduct in this case.
[1] Bryce Baschuk, Qatar Accuses Saudi Arabia of Broadcast Piracy in WTO Dispute, Bloomberg BNA: Int’l Trade Reporter (Oct. 4, 2018), https://news.bna.com.proxy.wcl.american.edu/itln/ITLNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=141974845&vname=itrnotallissues&fn=141974845&jd=141974845.
[2] Joyce Hanson, Qatar Seeks WTO Talks with Saudi Arabia Over IP Piracy Row, Law360 (Oct. 4, 2108, 9:44 PM), https://www-law360-com.proxy.wcl.american.edu/internationaltrade/articles/1089549/qatar-seeks-wto-talks-with-saudi-arabia-over-ip-piracy-row.
[3] Request for Consultation by Qatar, Saudi Arabia – Measures Concerning the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, WTO Doc. IP/D/40 (Oct. 4, 2018), available at https://dlbjbjzgnk95t.cloudfront.net/1089000/1089549/qatar.pdf [hereinafter Request for Consultation by Qatar].
[4] Id.
[5] Hanson, supra note 2.
[6] Baschuk, supra note 1.
[7] Id.
[8] Request for Consultation by Qatar, supra note 3 (explaining that the TRIPS Agreement is “the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property”).
[9] Id.
[10] AT&T/Direct TV has Dropped beIN Sports, Business Wire (Aug. 29, 2018), https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180829005806/en/.
[11] Id.
[12] Sam Carp, BeoutQ Illegally Shows Opening Premier League and Ligue 1 Games, SportsPro (Aug. 16, 2018), https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/premier-league-piracy-beoutq-bein-saudi-arabia-qatar-ligue-1.
[13] Holly Ellyat, Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s Clash Over World Cup Piracy Just Got Worse, CNBC Sports (June 27, 2018, 10:59 AM), https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/27/saudi-arabia-and-qatar-clash-over-world-cup-piracy.html.
[14] FIFA (last visited October 16, 2018) https://www.fifa.com/news/y=2003/m=4/news=what-does-fifa-mean-86831.html.
[15] Id.
[16] Hanson, supra note 2.
[17] See Laura Smith-Spark and Nic Robertson, Apple Watch worn by Saudi journalist may have transmitted evidence of his death, Turkish paper reports, CNN (Oct. 13, 2018), https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/12/middleeast/khashoggi-saudi-turkey-recordings-intl/index.html.
