LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday issued notices to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Punjab police chief and Intellectual Property Rights Organisation (IPRO) on a petition questioning registration of FIR on charges of alleged infringement of copyrights and trademark.

Representing two petitioners, Advocate Sheraz Zaka argued that it was the IPRO that had been vested with the jurisdiction to investigate and probe into infringement of trademark and copyright not the FIA or the police.

He said two separate FIRs were registered against the petitioners, one each by the agency and the local police, on charges of violation of copyrights and trademark.

However, he argued that IPRO under its Act of 2012 was the competent forum to deal with these cases. He said no other department or agency had the jurisdiction to investigate such allegations or cause any harassment. He asked the court to set aside the impugned FIRs for being illegal and without lawful authority.

Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem issued notices to the respondents and sought their replies by Oct 25.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2019