PESHAWAR, Dec 22 (APP): Ambassador Farukh Amil, Chair-Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan) here on Friday said Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) were very important for the promotion of genuine trade and underscored the need for the creation of awareness among manufacturers, people and industrialists on its registration, protection and enforcement for genuine business development.
He expressed these views during an awareness session on ‘Protection and enforcement of IPRs: Business development opportunities for industrialists’ jointly organized by (IPO-Pakistan) and the Industrialists Association Peshawar (IAP) here.
Speaking as chief guest, Farukh Amil said that the workshop aimed to raise awareness among people, manufacturers and industrialists in Peshawar about IPRs related services including trademarks, copyrights and patent designs that were protected by his organization and ensure their effective enforcement by law enforcement agencies to avoid counterfeiting and piracy of their products.
For this purpose, he said the process of digitalization has been started by IPO Pakistan with the assistance of the Punjab IT Board for speedy service delivery. Besides English and Urdu, he said people need to be educated about IPRs in regional and mother languages including Pashto, Hindko, Punjabi, Sindhi and Balochi for which the role of academia and media was equally important.
Ambassador Farukh Amil said that Pakistan was blessed with all kinds of resources including mines and minerals, forests, coal, winds, gemstones and hydel power and its optimum utilization through innovative approaches and modern research-based practices could bring laurels to the country. He said economic empowerment of youth carried significant importance and transformed societies forward-looking and prosperous.
He said the promotion of Small and Medium Entrepreneurship (SMEs) was imperative for speedy economic growth and generation of employment opportunities for the young generation and urged academia and educational institutions to come forward with new workable ideas to spur industrial growth.
Farukh Amil underscored the need for organized innovative business competitions in educational institutions vital to bolster SMEs and attract young graduates to start their businesses in their selected fields.
He said academia and industrialists need to encourage young researchers and scientists who were working diligently and bringing innovation to their research work.
Underlining the need for a proactive role of technical education institutes and universities of Pakistan to prepare students as per industries’ demands and exploring markets overseas, Farukh Amil said that IPRs was a very important subject being practised the world over and suggested its inclusion in the national curriculum for education of youngsters besides discouraging brain drains.
The Chair-IPO spoke at length about the importance of trademarks, copyrights and patents for the promotion of trade and business in Pakistan. The ambassador said the doors of his office were open to the public.
Ayub Zakori, President of IAP Peshawar said that KP was relatively located in a disadvantageous position in term of a business point of view due to its long distance from Karachi seaport and underscored the need for digitalization of IPRs services for prompt action on complaints by FIA and other law enforcement agencies to counter piracy.
He said the time of industrialists and businessmen of KP was mostly being wasted while pursuing cases at Islamabad and urged IPO to help in the establishment of the Intellectual Rights Tribunal at Peshawar.
Zakori suggested enhancing communication among traders, industrialists, IPO Pakistan and law enforcement agencies to counter business practices on fake trademarks and copyrights.
Besides others, the function was also addressed by Muhammad Ismail, Director of Enforcement IPO-Paksitan, Umme Salam, Deputy Director of Trademark and Saifullah, Deputy Director of Copyright IPO-Pakistan. Dr Ismail spoke about copyright laws and various penalties including fines and jail terms.
Former President of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industries Peshawar, Adeel Rauf and other eminent industrialists and businessmen participated in the event and presented different proposals.
IPO Pakistan was established on April 18, 2005, and is presently working under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Islamabad. The participants said that a portal would help bring IPO-Pakistan and people closer.
