KARACHI: In a scathing letter to the prime minister’s adviser on commerce and investment, the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has complained that the progress on developing an effective regime for intellectual property rights (IPR) like trademarks, patents and copyrights has been “well below the desired level”.

The representative body of more than 200 foreign investors reminded Commerce Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood the issue needs “attention and focus from top government authorities” to ensure the country attracts foreign direct investment.

The letter, available with Dawn, highlighted the poor response from the government to the consolidated feedback that OICCI members submitted on the proposed amendments to the IP legislation in 2019. “No update (has been) received on whether the IP laws have been approved,” it said.

Although the term “trade secret” is recognised as an intellectual right in the preamble of the IPO Act 2012, the actual law doesn’t offer any protection to the same, the letter said.

“It is our understanding that this matter is a constraint for foreign investment… international companies do not set up operations in Pakistan, and do not partner with Pakistani companies, as their trade secrets, which include, inter alia, specifications and formulae, are not protected by law,” it said.

While the database of the Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan (IPOP) has been “digitalised,” its system has an “extremely slow” processing time and shows multiple errors at different stages while searching for trademarks. The website is offline “very frequently” and search results are inconclusive.

Online applications receive “a filing date of one month later, which defeats the purpose of digital filing,” it said, noting that there is no update on hearings for opposition proceedings. “This is a major setback that causes substantial delays in IP processes.”

According to OICCI members, IPOP should carry out its own due diligence on new IP filings to determine whether they are materially similar to ones that may already exist. Currently, IPOP “seems to be accepting” all applications and publishing them. This means companies must pay a lawyer each time a new application is made to file an objection against an IPR materially similar to an IPR registered earlier.

The OICCI suggested the government should introduce a Company Direct Access feature in the IPOP online system.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2021