July 6, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 5,1424

ISLAMABAD, July 5: The future of Pakistan Intellectual Property Rights Organization (PIPRO) is in the doldrums because of reluctance of relevant ministries over the establishment of an independent organization to provide all intellectual property rights under one roof.

Officials told Dawn on Friday the establishment of PIPRO was announced in the trade policy 2002-03 following a constant demand from the foreign countries asking for curbing the menace of piracy of various goods in Pakistan, which was yet to be established.

PIPRO was aimed at providing all the intellectual property rights requirements under one organization, which was currently available from three different ministries.

Currently, the Ministry of Industry deals with patent, design and layout design of integrated circuits; the Ministry of Commerce in trademarks; and the Ministry of Education deals with copyrights and related rights.

The officials said Pakistan trade mission in Washington had also communicated to the government that the environment for enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRS) in Pakistan was a major issue of concern for investors in the United States.

The US has already placed Pakistan on super watch list, which indicated a highest level of piracy of products in Pakistan. The major piracy was so far observed in computer programmes, books and CDs.

The officials further said that due to absence of any organization to counter the menace of privacy, the foreign investors felt shy to do investment in Pakistan.

The officials said in case PIPRO was established, it would be a self-financing and an autonomous organization manned by professionally qualified persons.

Under this organization, necessary infrastructure in keeping with contemporary requirements will be provided.

“It was observed that the working of our copyright, trademark and patent offices were unsatisfactory and desperately called for a major revamping,” the officials said.

According to the officials, it was high time for the government to consider removing uncertainty to bring about consistency between the laws relating to intellectual property rights and the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The government had also revised laws governing intellectual property rights — trademarks, patents, copyrights, integrated circuits layout and industrial designs, the officials said and added the revised laws were yet to be enforced.

“We are determined to ensure better protection of intellectual property rights. We have also noticed that certain provisions of the PPC overlap with those of the Trade Marks Ordinance (TMO), but were not consistent with each other,” said the officials.

They further said the PPC did not provide for minimum punishment but TMO did; the offences under the relevant PPC sections were cognizable, while under the TMO they were not.