Talking to newsmen, he said presently those offices were located in Karachi and Lahore only, and the business and export circles had to visit those two cities with regard to their trademark and patent registration etc, which was not only very cumbersome and expensive but also resulted in unnecessary wastage of efforts and time.
Shaheen explained that in Pakistan three different organisations, ie Federal Ministry of Education, Commerce and Industries and Production were dealing with the subject respectively copyrights, trademarks, patent and registry. Resultantly, the business community was constraint to deal with three different ministries and several departments, which resulted in unnecessary hurdles, delays and time wastage, he pointed out.
FCCI chairman said Pakistan was the member of World Trade Organisation (WTO) and signed agreements including Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) for which the implementation deadline was ending on December 31.
Majority of business circles was not aware of the importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), which were integral part of the economy in the developed nations who were very sensitive about copyright laws and their strict enforcement, he added.
He particularly mentioned the flouting of copyright laws with regard to computer software, video films and textile designs etc in Pakistan, which would come under severe criticism/action under the Trips and said that the area required immediate and swift remedial measures on part of Pakistan government.
Shaheen said that to provide protection under Intellectual Copyrights, some amendments had been made in Patent Ordinance 2002, Trademarks Ordinance 2001, Copyrights (Amendments) Ordinance 2000, Industrial Designs Ordinance 2000 and layout Designs of Integrated Circuits Registration Ordinance 2000. But their implementation rested with three different authorities, which was yielding negative impact over its implementation on the one hand, while business community was facing severe difficulties due to slow enforcement of these measures on the other hand, he added.
He said the situation demanded for a separate independent Ministry for the purpose so that it could monitor and steer the implementation the trademark and copyrights registration and patent registration through one window mechanism.