Criminal Protection of Trademark in Saudi Law .

The trademark is one of the most vital elements of a store, and it has great economic importance at different levels including country, businessmen, and consumers, because it is one of the forms of industrial and commercial property that is closely related to the rights of its owner and consumer. On the other hand, the issue of legal protection of the trademark is one of the most important topics related to intellectual property in general. Also, studying criminal protection will ensure that the trademark continues to perform its functions correctly. Indeed, as the use of trademarks expands, the need to protect them increases. As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has its own view when concluding international agreements, the main question lies in what the aspects of criminal protection for a trademark in the Saudi system are? and the extent of its adequacy in confronting trademark infringement. The inductive and analytical approach to statutory texts and judicial rulings was followed to clarify the position of the Saudi regulator and judiciary regarding the trademark and the extent of their criminal protection for it in accordance with the Saudi trademark system and the unified Gulf law. At the end of the research, we concluded that the objective criminal protection of a trademark consists of criminalizing the behavior of violating the trademark and imposing penalties. Criminal protection of a trademark is considered as an effective tool of reducing attacks on the trademark. The regulator tried to track all forms of behavior and criminal intent of the person who violated the marks, in order to ensure effective protection for them, and to determine penalties commensurate with the type of violation.