Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI) organised a workshop on 'Intellectual Property, Brand Protection, Company Formation and the US Legal System' in collaboration with Ali and Associates. To acquire global perspective on the said topic, Harold L Novick, who is a senior partner at Novick, Kim & Lee PLLC, was specially invited from the US.
Other speakers included Karimullah Adeni, Partner, Ali & Associates and Khalid Hidayat Khan, Director General, Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and former Registrar Trademarks, IPO Pakistan. Speaking about IPR stature and challenges in Pakistan and Asian context, Adeni said that in recent years trademark and IP issues were taken very seriously and an improvement had been observed in this sector in Pakistan.
He also established that well-known did not only engage themselves in getting their brands legally registered in Pakistan but a lot of them had properly registered their marks in countries of exports to tap the benefits and escape the challenges in case their marks remained unregistered. Nonetheless, the legal system regarding IP & Trademark in Pakistan would still take some time to fully settle as organisations were in process of understanding its importance.
Adeni emphasised that even though a lot of brands had registered their marks internationally but due to lack of marketing and communication, consumers and other stakeholders were unaware of it. He also placed few examples of strong Pakistani brands facing immense difficulties in international market due to lack of awareness of their marks, this had though enhanced value of IPR and protection mechanisms across the corporate landscape of Pakistan.
Faiza, Secretary General, PAJCCI, deliberated upon several challenges faced by Pakistani businesses in Afghanistan in context of IPR and Trademark registration. She also established that "first to register gives significant advantage to companies over those who are first to invent". Additionally, companies before entering the new territorial zones must protect their identity in that country by registering in order to avoid competitive take-over of their identities.
Khalid Hidayat Khan delved upon the importance of Trade Mark and IP registration that safeguarded the brand identity and consequently enhanced its visibility both locally and globally. He reiterated that challenges were variable in different territories and that under his tenure as a registrar, he had focussed greatly on awareness of the issues attached with the lack of registration especially before moving into a different zone.
Novick elaborated that in recent years, it was understood that Patents was a great security against undue competition and timely, high-quality patents greatly promoted investment in innovation and foster economic growth. The competitive drive of a dynamic marketplace raised the introduction of new and improved products and processes, whose identities if were not protected could demoralise the sentiments of inventors.-PR