Further refinement of the law, and prompt development of modern copyright enforcement mechanisms, are the surest way to inoculate Qatar against the possibility that pirates will seek refuge there as they flee from the larger Gulf states. USTR should signal its active engagement in these developments by placing Qatar on the Watch List . USTR agreed, and placed it there in 1995 and 1996, noting that it expected Qatar to take steps to address shortcomings in its intellectual property regime. However, as discussed below, a copyright law was enacted in 1995. Parallel imported laser discs are also available and are used as masters for local production of pirate videos.
Many hotels show U.S. videos in public without authorization.
Enforcement is being carried out principally through the censorship system, which requires proof of copyright authorization as a condition of censorship approval. No enforcement whatever has been undertaken with regard to laser discs, even though the new copyright law appears to ban the unauthorized sale of parallel imported material. Whether, in the longer run, sufficient resources will be dedicated to enforcement is uncertain. It is also unclear what effect a rumored transfer of the copyright and censorship offices from the Ministry of Information and Culture to the Ministry of Education would have on copyright enforcement. Enforcement against video piracy, like the copyright law itself, is still in its infancy in Qatar.