19 May 2004	Wednesday	28 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, May 18: The speaker of the National Assembly, Chaudhry Amir Hussain, has assured the corporate sector of government's full support to curb down violations of intellectual property rights in the country.

He was speaking as chief guest at a seminar on "Intellectual Property Rights in Pakistan: Issues and Challenges" here on Tuesday. Chaudhry Amir Hussain said the government was serious about the issue and would go allout to put an end to plagiarism and would not be tolerated at any cost.

He urged the media to play its role and help the government eliminate the menace. He assured the audience that he would take up the issue in the National Assembly and all legitimate recommendations from the quarters concerned would be given due consideration.

Intellectual Property Rights Academy of Pakistan chairman Chaudhry Muhammad Shafi said the issue of intellectual property rights had come to limelight due to rapid technological development and awareness of the issue among the masses.

"Piracy of intellectual rights could not be legally and ethically sanctioned." He said Pakistan being a member and signatory to various intellectual property rights conventions like TRIPS etc was bound to implement all provisions of the agreements of the World Trade Organization."

He added that the business sector, especially the foreign companies working in the country faced multifaceted intellectual property rights issues like infringement of the copyrights and flaws in patent law etc.

Ms Toe Su Aung, the general counsel of Batmark, said it was not the problem of developing countries but the US and EU also. She also referred to the first global congress on counterfeiting being held on May 25 - 26 in Brussels.

The chair of the first two sessions, Justice (retired) Khalilur Rehman, concluded by calling for the establishment of trained tribunals to deal with the intellectual property rights infringement cases and issues.

He said the foreign and developed nations instead of giving loans to Pakistan for the training purposes should give grants so that the country could be able to stand at international level.