By Andrew Mills

DOHA (Reuters – Qatari and Saudi Arabia have halted negotiations at the World Trade Organization in an effort to settle a dispute about alleged piracy by content from Doha’s sports and entertainment channel beIN.

Two countries informed the WTO that they would “mutually suspend” their requests to the dispute resolution body. Notices published Friday by WTO.

Saudi Arabia appealed the WTO panel’s 2020 decision that Riyadh had violated international intellectual property laws by failing to prosecute BeoutQ, a commercial-scale station that broadcast the pirated broadcasts.

The WTO decision was made after Doha filed its complaint in 2018, saying Saudi Arabia was blocking Qatari-owned broadcaster beIN from broadcasting in the kingdom and refusing to take effective action against alleged piracy of beIN’s content by beoutQ.

Saudi Arabia blocked beIN in Saudi Arabia starting in 2017. This was part of a diplomatic boycott Riyadh placed on Qatar and its allies, which included travel, trade and trade boycotts. Qatar accused Qatar of supporting terrorist activities. Qatar denies the allegations and says the embargo is designed to weaken its sovereignty.

Qatar’s beIN is the Middle East broadcasting license holder for several of the top sporting events, entertainment and entertainment worldwide. This includes soccer’s Premier League or FIFA.

Saudi Arabia withdrew an appeal to the WTO’s conclusions, and Qatar suspended a request for it to formal adopt them. This was according notices that WTO published Friday.

Qatar stated that Qatar had “agreed to suspend the appeals proceedings in accordance with the terms of Al-Ula Declaration”, and added that the suspension was mutually agreed.

A deal was reached by the leaders of Gulf Arab nations at AlUla in Saudi Arabia last January to resolve the long-running dispute between Qatar and its neighboring countries, Saudi Arabia included.

Qatar also agreed to end all litigation related to the dispute as part of this agreement.

Riyadh lifted beIN’s ban in October. However, broadcasts unofficially resumed in Saudi Arabia soon after AlUla agreements were signed.

A $1 billion arbitration was launched by Qatar against Saudi Arabia for piracy claims in 2018, separate to the WTO action. Since the AlUla agreements have been signed, arbitration has not moved forward.

Tuesday’s request for comment was not answered by either beIN or Qatar’s Government Communications Office.