January 23, 2006	Monday	Zilhaj 22, 1426

INTERNATIONAL Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has recommended to United States Trade Representative (USTR) in a recent hearing to terminate investigation to withdraw GSP benefits from Pakistan. The reason cited by IIPA was ample, visible progress was made on fighting piracy of optical discs such as CDs, VCDs and DVDs by the authorities in the country.

Is there any room for complacency? Not at all. Because piracy of copyrights of discs is not the only arena where infringement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) is a cause of concern. A lot graver situation continues to prevail in other areas, leaving little choice for any smugness.

Counterfeiting of trademarks in items like electronics, cosmetics, sports goods footwear, drinks and food products is no secret to any Pakistani. Infringement of patents in fields like pharmaceuticals and chemicals is widespread. Even in the very field of optical discs, we are no where near a situation that can be termed satisfactory.

It was because of IIPA’s pressure that Pakistan was at risk of loosing GSP benefits and resultantly an increased access in the US market for its exports. Not long ago, IIPA was advocating declaring Pakistan as “priority foreign country”, the worst ranking regarding violations of IPRs. Pakistan was on the special watch list for several years.

As IIPA stands to safeguard the interests of American companies mainly, it was pressure from the US authorities and businessmen that raids were carried out against the violators, particularly the copying facilities in Karachi, seizure of copied discs and arrests of owners. Why should the foreign pressure alone determine the direction of efforts being made against the violation of intellectual property rights?

An important aspect in Pakistan regarding debate on IPRs is that it is generally considered as a problem being faced by the international businesses. The fact, on the other hand, is that the infringements of intellectual property are a severely damaging many a local concerns as well.

Brands of a number of domestic companies are counterfeited on massive scale, resulting is huge losses to them. We can see copied version of things from confectionery to electronics and auto parts flooding our markets.

Are there no talented authors, writers and other artists in Pakistan? What one gets for writing a book in our country is well known. Publish a book in Islamabad one day and you can yourself buy a pirated copy of your own publication at any bookstore in Karachi in a week’s time.

Famous Pakistani pop singer Abrarul Haq claims that copying of his five albums has caused him heavy losses. Can creativity flourish in such an environment? What to say about the talk of “developing a knowledge based economy” in these circumstances!

IIPA itself recommends that success witnessed in fighting piracy of discs “can serve as fighting the book piracy as well.” We can add that the same applies to the violators of IPRs in all other fields in the country.

The establishment of Intellectual Property Organizations (IPO) was a welcome step and duly lauded by all concerned quarters. But it is certainly not all what is needed. First, as a country faced with such a high level of infringements of intellectual properties, we were already late in coming up with a specialized organization, and that too owing to pressure form outside.

Now that the organization is in place, the real challenge lies ahead. And this is to ensure effective protection and strengthening of intellectual property rights nationwide.

What the government will have to keep a check on is that IPO does not become yet another organization sitting in the capital like many others, while the situation in other parts of the country remains unchanged. It is to be ensured that it does not end up becoming another “vacation mood posting station” for lazy, blue-eyed high-rankers. The organization will need efficient field offices with well trained workforce from the professionals.

The related government functionaries responsible for implementation and enforcement of laws, say police and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) should be mobilized to the full extent after proper training and understanding of IPRs. The judiciary also needs to be trained as for as matters related to intellectual property are concerned.

But what is more important is to create a proper sense of respecting the intellectual property. Well planned awareness drive should be conducted at the national level.

An investigation may be stopped in a particular country. But the damage being caused by IPR violations is multi-dimensional goes beyond trade with single country, be it US or another.

The key question we are confronted with is do we really consider intellectual property rights as a priority area? The IIPA says in its post-hearing brief, issued on December 14, 2005 that “We can only assume the reluctance to curb this problem has more to do with government’s will than capacity”.

The government needs to come up with such genuine steps without further delay, that do away with such an image. IPR are a problem of our own economy. Occasional hectic efforts from time to time will not bear any positive results.