Pakistan suffers Rs21bn loss due to IPR infringement

Saturday, November 21, 2009
By Samia Saleem

KARACHI: The government has been losing Rs20 billion annually due to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) infringement in all forms of legal businesses, including local and foreign companies, said Ameena Saiyid, Vice President of Overseas Investors Chambers of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) and Managing Director of Oxford University Press Pakistan. Intellectual Property Rights is a new line of awareness which prevents misuse of an individual, group or organisation’s intellectual property by anyone. Ameena said the extent of the losses that the government faced had doubled from Rs10 billion in 2002 to Rs21 billion in 2008.

Although the phenomenon is as old as civilisation itself, in the current world, infringement, piracy and counterfeiting is rampant in all societies whereby the doer of the crime reap the fruits and financial benefits of somebody else’s labour. While the whole world has geared up to fight for IPR, Pakistan still lags behind in its implementation.

In this regard the British Deputy High Commission held a seminar in collaboration with the OICCI on Thursday at the High Commission office here, to spread awareness of IPR in Pakistan and its implementation. Speakers present at the seminar expatiated on the importance of IPR in the world and the impacts of infringement on society.

Amar Naseer, Co-chairman of OICCI IPR Standing Committee, highlighted the extent of piracy and counterfeiting in Pakistan. Giving a presentation, he said in the country the most famous brands lose 5-20 per cent sales annually with job losses in millions. He said at present the Pakistani markets are full of all varieties of counterfeit brands of almost every renowned product including medicines. “This is extremely hazardous for health of the consumers and society as a whole,” said he. “Such a crime also affects the state as we lose billions of rupees annually in businesses and losses.”

Mahnaz Malik, who is a solicitor (England & Wales) and advocate (Pakistan), said while it is all state citizens that are affected by IPR infringement, it is foreign investors and businesses that are the most affected. Being a signatory to Trade Related Intellectual property Rights, Agreement (TRIPs) under WTO, Pakistan requires not only the upgrade of its intellectual property infrastructure in tandem with global trends but also strict execution, she stressed.

She said it therefore becomes a necessity for the government to follow international rules as in the business treaties signed with foreign countries Pakistan is bound to provide them safety from any sort of counterfeiting of their product. And if there is any violation, then the investors can sue us. “This violation hits us equally bad as Pakistan has to pay exorbitant sums in compensation which also resulted in loss of several millions of dollars in the past,” she said.

Matthew Ward, an international expert in revenue protection schemes from De La Reu told The News that the government should be careful about stepping up measures and awareness. In Pakistan, the IPR organization was made in 2005 and is currently headed by Syed Kahlid Mehmood Bukhari. Also present on the occasion, he said while there are IPR laws in the country but the implementation is terribly weak.

He suggested that the government should give enforcement powers to IPRO like in Mongolia and other countries with the proper enforcement force. He also proposed that the IPR be made a compulsory subject at the college level to apprise future generations of its importance.

However, for a developing state as Pakistan where there are millions of unregistered small entrepreneurs who earn their bread and butter while copying the larger brands it is difficult to think of a crackdown without affecting these people.