LAHORE, Feb 13: The businessmen have urged the government to help them create mass awareness about the intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the country.

In a joint statement issued here on Wednesday, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Dr Khalid J. Chowdhry and vice-president Yawar Irfan Khan said the ministry of commerce must help the business community to organize a series of training courses and seminars on IPRs.

The intellectual property included patents, designs, registered and unregistered trademarks and service marks, confidential information, registered and unregistered copyrights, and geographical indications.

The LCCI office-bearers said the business community would greatly benefit from the training courses and seminars because these would help them prepare for the post-WTO era.

They said the intellectual property laws not only protected the commercial interests of the owners, it also protected the consumer who associated every brand with a particular level of quality. “Thus if there were no trademarks it would be extremely difficult for an ordinary consumer to pick the product of his desired quality and price from among a host of similar competing products,” they added.