Amer Rashid Sheikh, Director IPR South while delivering electronic presentation said that 124,440 trademarks, 32,000 copyrights, 25,000 patents and 10,000 designs were registered in Pakistan. Quoting section 15 of Customs Act 1969, he stated: "No goods shall be brought into or taken out of Pakistan, namely:-... (c) goods having applied thereto a counterfeit trade mark within the meaning of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, or a false trade description within the meaning of the Copyright Ordinance, the Registered Designs Ordinance 220, ... and the Trade Marks 2001".
He said that the department had so far confiscated 1,120 kilograms interlining fabric, 19.57 metric tons ball bearing, 20.13 metric tons insecticide, 3.17 metric tons face creams, 20000 body sprays, 25.80 metric tons perfume bottles, 10,000 shaving foam, 1 metric ton body cream, 2,370 kilograms contraceptives, 454,000 shoe polish, 2.6 metric ton battery cells, 3,000 LED panels, 216,000 watches and 475,000 toothpaste as counterfeit products, which resulted robust growth in the sales of companies.
Furthermore, he said that IPR department was committed to fulfilling the mandate assigned to them in terms of border IPR controls and would continue to work with national & international stakeholders to make a success of it. Meanwhile, Arshad Jamal, vice president FPCCI asked about IPR jurisdiction, enforcement procedure, identification of genuine stakeholders and others.
Replying to Arshad Jamal queries, Amer answered that jurisdiction of IPR South was Karachi, Hyderabad and Quetta customs stations and added that international brands interacted with IPR through their Attorneys based in their countries or in Pakistan. Furthermore, he said that as per International laws, confiscated items could not be released but destroyed as these items were counterfeit products.
While appreciating the consent to constitute a committee for dispute resolution and trade facilitation Arshad also urged DG IPR to induct IPO officials in the committee to make it more effective.
He further said that committee would comprise of five FPCCI members countrywide and three from IPR department and added that this committee, which would be headed by him from FPCCI side, would take dispute resolution on priority in order to avoid litigation. Later, S M Muneer lauded the efforts for organizing this informative seminar and hoped that IPR committee would help resolving trade related issues in effective manner.