Crime of Assault on Industrial Designs - A Jurisprudential Study and Its Impact on the Economy

Abstract

The research aimed to define industrial designs from an Islamic jurisprudential perspective, and the penalty for assaulting industrial designs, and to clarify the effects of that from both the Sharia and legal perspectives. The study was based on the descriptive method and relied within that framework on the analytical approach, yielding several results; among the most prominent are the following: Industrial design is a strategic process for solving problems that stimulates innovation, leads to commercial success, and improves life through innovative products, devices, and experiences. The industrial design process consists of the following: designing the shape, forming the pattern or color, and integrating the pattern and color within a three-dimensional shape with aesthetic value. The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs serves as a source for securing ownership of industrial designs. The means of proving this crime include inspection, expertise, testimony and confession, documentary evidence, circumstantial evidence, oath, and others. The assault on industrial designs is criminalised; as industrial design rights are part of intellectual property rights, classified as a patent, and are a legally protected right under Sharia as legitimate property and their rooting falls within the scope of general benefits. One of the goals of sustainable development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is to adopt industries with good designs, which has an impact on improving production levels. Saudi law considers industrial designs as innovative works in literature, arts, and sciences, and Saudi law punishes those who assault industrial designs with penalties ranging from warning to imprisonment.

Recommendations

The researchers recommend the following:

1. Respect intellectual rights in all creative fields.


2. Promote a culture of protecting the Sharia for all innovations that contain intellectual rights.