Saudi Arabia doesn’t get much global press when it comes to intellectual property violations, but the government there is making great strides in its attempt to root out IP-related crime. 

The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) announced that in 2024, it seized 3.6 million infringing materials while blocking and removing some 34,000 infringing websites. News sources in Riyadh reported that this was achieved through 20,000 inspection tours carried out in 51 cities in the kingdom. 

During the same period, the SAIP received 52,400 trademark applications, a 16 percent increase over the previous year, in addition to 8,000 patent applications, 2,500 copyright applications (a growth of 63 percent) and 2,100 design applications. SAIP noted that some applications were successfully processed in just one day. 

More than 25,000 trainees benefited from the Intellectual Property Academy’s programmes in 2024. It reported that the rate of intellectual property awareness increased to 65.8 percent, an increase of 16.9 percent over the previous year. The authority also provided advisory and guidance services to 6,000 beneficiaries through its IP clinics. 

In October 2024, the first in-person WIPO – Saudi Arabia Summer School was held in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, for the benefit of 40 senior students and young professionals from 22 jurisdictions. The summer school was jointly organized by the WIPO Academy, the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The programme was held on the KAUST campus and featured interactive lecturers from professors and professionals from the private sector, WIPO and SAIP.  

The programme featured lectures on all aspects of intellectual property (IP), including the economics of IP; trade secrets and open source; IP and biotechnology; patents and trade secrets; and IP valuation and management. Participants also engaged in simulation exercises on licensing negotiations and alternative dispute resolution in IP disputes and field visit to the Museum of Science and Technology in Islam at KAUST. 

Facing this bright future for intellectual property work in Riyadh and elsewhere in the Kingdom, we turned to IP professionals in the region in order to understand better what clients need today. Asia IP asked a large number of professionals – mostly in-house counsel and corporate legal managers – what they were looking for from their legal service providers. From their answers, we have compiled our list of Saudi Arabia’s IP Experts, those lawyers who understand just what their clients need and are able to provide them with the best practical advice.  

As Saudi Arabia’s leadership faces a public demanding a more liberal society, the Kingdom has become a more attractive destination for lawyers to set up shop. While many expat lawyers in the Kingdom still split their time between Riyadh and another city (often Dubai), more lawyers are settling in the KSA and joining those who are locally grown, trained and hired. 

Regional firms including Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property and Al Tamimi & Company are represented alongside international firms such as Eversheds Sutherland and Freshfields, who work in association with local law firms. The other firms represented on our 2025 list of IP Experts for Saudi Arabia are local firms, including Kadasa Intellectual Property, which had four lawyers named to our list, demonstrating the great strength such firms have in the Kingdom. 

Our survey includes only those lawyers working at law firms in Saudi Arabia. 

Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.  

All of them have something in common: they are Asia IP’s IP Experts for Saudi Arabia. – GREGORY GLASS 

Saudi Arabia’s IP Experts is based solely on independent editorial research conducted by Asia IP. As part of this project, we turned to thousands of in-house counsel in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, Asia and around the world, as well as EMEA-focused partners at international law firms, and asked them to nominate private-practice lawyers, including foreign legal consultants, advisers and counsel.  

The final list reflects the nominations received combined with the input of the editorial team at Asia IP, which has more than 50 years of collective experience in researching and understanding the legal market in the region. 

All private practice intellectual property lawyers working at law firms in Saudi Arabia were eligible for inclusion in the nomination process; there were no fees or any other requirements for inclusion in the process. 

The names of our 20 IP Experts are published here. Each IP Expert was given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details in print and on our website, for which a fee was charged.