March 25, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429

FAISALABAD, March 24: The growing menace of counterfeiting deprives the government of over Rs 10 billion in taxes and duties every year besides causing a tremendous harm to the consumers and manufacturers, speakers said here at a workshop on Monday.

They said the menace of counterfeiting and piracy continued to flourish in the country because either the law enforcement officials did not have adequate knowledge to distinguish between the fake and genuine products or they were ineffective.

The workshop on the "Role of media in projecting legitimate business practices & curbing piracy in Pakistan" was organized by the Anti-Counterfeit & Infringement Forum (ACIF), Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry (OICCI), and Pharma Bureau in collaboration with MediaMark, says a press release.

ACIF is a non-profitable alliance of business organizations working to eradicate the menace of counterfeiting, infringement and piracy of IPRs. It creates awareness on these issues and strives to protect the consumer rights by supporting government efforts and actions for strengthening the IP regime in the country. Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry (OICCI) is the oldest Chamber of Commerce in the country and supports efforts at strengthening IP regime, while Pharma Bureau is an alliance of reputed pharmaceutical manufacturers and it seeks fair and equitable patent protection to bolster the industry.

The workshop participants were of the view that media could play a positive and effective role in creating mass awareness about the bane of counterfeiting and piracy. At the same time, the authorities should take prompt remedial steps to rid the society of the menace of piracy and counterfeiting, which has practically arrested the growth of firms in the legitimate sector and also curtailed government's endeavours for socio-economic development of the citizens due to low tax revenues.

Known writer and poet Amjad Islam Amjad, who was the chief guest at the event, said that since economic development of a country depended on sustained creativity, hence there was a need to combat counterfeiting and piracy with an iron hand. He was of the view that weak enforcement of copyright laws only encouraged piracy and was also detrimental to the growth of creative activities in the society. Rana Sanaullah Khan, a leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N), highlighted the importance of media in creating awareness among the people.

Ms Ameena Saiyid of Oxford University Press, and Mr Juergen Koenig of Merck stressed that the mass media could play a vital role in projecting legitimate practices and also guiding the consumers about the steps that they should take in case they happened to get a fake product.

Syed Omar of Pakistan Tobacco Company and Tariq Cheema of Indus Motors highlighted the plight of consumers at the hands of counterfeiters and pirates. They said that fake goods, cigarettes and medicines seriously harmed consumers, while fake auto parts posed serious risk to motorists and increased vehicle maintenance cost.Workshop moderator Amar Naseer of Unilever drew the attention of the media towards the growing menace of the counterfeiting of famous brands and the enormous health and safety risks that they posed to the consumers.

The speakers were unanimous in holding:

"Brands and Intellectual Property Rights –IPRs"(Trade Marks Copyrights and Patents) are the principal assets of business enterprises and their violation was a clear act of theft of other people's creativity, investment and efforts.

There is an urgent need for creating mass awareness about the IP laws and their continued violations and the harms that the pirates cause to the nation and the society so that consumers are convinced not to purchase counterfeited brands and pirated products.

The media can guide as well as refine the opinions at both social and official level through its suggestive role.

Various famous consumer brands lose legitimate sales in the range of seven to 20 per cent.

Widespread availability of fake and sub-standard food products and medicines pose serious threats to health of the citizens and the wellbeing of the society.

Every year, the illegitimate trade in counterfeits and infringed products inflicts a loss of over Rs. 1.5 billion to the oil & lubricants industry and a colossal loss to the national treasury due to loss of excise and sales tax on the retail price. Further, counterfeited cigarettes caused a revenue loss of Rs 1.3 billion to the government, while piracy in the books & publishing industry deprived the government of Rs 40 million in revenues.

The Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan must put in more efforts to ensure strict implementation of IP laws so that the curses of counterfeiting and piracy are countered effectively.