Chairman IPO-Pakistan, Farukh Amil visits the OICCI

Karachi, March 21, 2023 (PPI-OT):Chairman Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan), Farukh Amil, along with Muhammad Rafique, Registrar trademarks, Syed Nasrullah, Registrar Copyrights, Saima Kanwal, Senior Patent Examiner and Tafseer Fatima, Senior Patent Examiner, visited OICCI for a meeting with OICCI leadership and discuss the issues related to the registration and protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Amir Paracha, President OICCI, M. Abdul Aleem, CE/Secretary General OICCI, Kashif Shafi, Executive Director, OICCI, and OICCI IPR Core Team members including Aman Ghanchi, Usman Javed Altaf and Shaheryar Siddiki welcomed the guests.

M Abdul Aleem presented brief profile of the OICCI, snapshot of members’ contribution to the economy, the role of the Chamber in facilitating FDI in the country, the research activities carried out and members’ perception about the IPR environment in the Country reflected in OICCI IPR Survey 2022. Brand owners consider Intellectual Property (IP) as an important issue and therefore, sound enforcement of IP laws is important for bringing FDI to the country besides cultivating the culture of innovation and research. Weak enforcement of IPR not only deprives country from sizable revenues in form of duties and taxes but also adversely impacts the health and well-being of the citizens. To improve the enforcement of IPR, OICCI recommended the following:

Increase the monetary penalty on IPR infringements, current level of penalty is too low to act as a deterrence.

A task force, chaired by IPO-Pakistan and representation from OICCI, should be made at District or Division level, with Police, FIA and Customs.

Minister of Commerce should monitor the performance of the task force on quarterly basis. OICCI can pro-actively, engage the Ministry to ensure that this task force should deliver.

Legal support can be provided by in the form of engaging public prosecutor to ensure that matters in court can pro-actively be managed.

Consumer courts should be activated. Awareness and Training Sessions for Judiciary, Law Enforcement Agencies and IPO-Pakistan Staff should also be conducted regularly.

Digitization to expedite the registration process and Data sharing and coordination between IPO-Pakistan and DRAP for increased efficiency should be focused.

The Chairman, Farukh Amal, thanked senior management of OICCI for hosting their visit and appreciated the feedback and suggestions presented. He informed that IPO-Pakistan is in process of upgrading various laws, including Copyright and Patent Ordinances to improve the IPR regime in Pakistan. He assured that IPO-Pakistan will make every effort to uphold the IPR regime in Pakistan and will give full support to OICCI members in resolving their concerns.

Amir Paracha thanked the Chairman and the delegation for visiting OICCI and listening to the concerns of foreign investors. He hoped that such meaningful interaction will continue in the future as well.

For more information, contact:
Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI)
Chamber of Commerce Building, Talpur Road, P.O. Box 4833,
Karachi – 74000, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-32410814-5
Fax: +92-21-32427315
Email: info@oicci.org
Website: http://oicci.org/

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