Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07RIYADH2192
2007-11-03 11:17:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Riyadh
Cable title:  

SAUDIS STILL STUDYING SPECIAL 301 INITIATIVE

Tags:  ECON ETRD KIPR PGOV SA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0015
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRH #2192 3071117
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 031117Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6875
UNCLAS RIYADH 002192

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

USTR FOR JENNIFER GROVES AND JASON BUNTIN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR PGOV SA
SUBJECT: SAUDIS STILL STUDYING SPECIAL 301 INITIATIVE
ACTION PLAN

REF: RIYADH 1909

Emboffs met with Mohamad Al-Aiyash, Chairman of the IPR
Committee, on November 3 to discuss, inter alia, any
developments in the SAG's internal review of Saudi Arabia's
Special 301 Action Plan (reftel). Al-Aiyash shared that the
Ministry of Culture and Information (MOCI) provided its
comments to the plan after the Eid (no earlier than October
20). He said that the IPR Committee is now analyzing MOCI's
response and coordinating with other ministries to address
aspects of the plan for which MOCI is not responsible.
Al-Aiyash also mentioned that he met with the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva last
month. The SAG is still in the process of engaging a legal
advisor to explain the content of the WIPO Copyright Treaty
and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty and what the
SAG's responsibilities would be if it were to ratify the
treaties. Al-Aiyash emphasized that the SAG did not want to
undertake any obligations it could not meet.
FRAKER