Islamabad : Intellectual Property policy has been formulated by Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) and has been sent to the law ministry for their comments. DG IPO Engr Aamir Hassan disclosed this at a media Seminar “The enforcement of copy laws in Pakistan” organised by Oxford University Press (OUP) on Tuesday. Hassan said that based on this draft policy IPO had also prepared an integrated strategy and action plan. He also revealed that IPO had proposed setting up of IP courts in all the provincial headquarters and the federal capital. This proposal has already been submitted to the law ministry and is actively followed-up.
“With the establishment of IP tribunals the intellectual property cases would be resolved in time and the problem of litigation period would be solved,” he said.
Earlier, opening the seminar OUP MD Ameena Saiyid said that books piracy deprived the writers of their royalty, the publishers of their legitimate income and government with its tax revenue. She said according to an estimate the government had lost Rs 25 billion during 2012 due to piracy.
She proposed that there should be special task force at the provincial level to counter the IPR violations. Saiyid was of the opinion that punishment period in the IPR laws did not discourage piracy as the violators were sentenced mildly by the courts. She said that the pirated books were being exported to the Middle East countries, which should be checked by custom authorities.
Syed Bilal Ahasn, IPR legal expert, said that punishments for IPR violations should be enhanced to create effective deterrence. He observed that as law enforcement were pre-occupied with law and order issues, special IP enforcement squads be established to take quick and effective action.
Additional Collector Customs Intelligence Imran Chaudhry said that Pakistan was bound to protect intellectual property rights under various international laws like TRIPs.
Addressing the seminar Deputy Director FIA Shahbaz Akram said that 131 cases of IPR violations were registered with FIA during the last 8 years.
The MD Oxford University Press said if genuine publishers published more books, the prices of books would come down.