Afridi for effective enforcement of IPR laws

Weakness in enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) laws tantamount to crossing the red line in IPR violation, which may attract economic sanctions, said Hameedullah Jan Afridi, Chairman Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) here on Monday.
"Due to improper enforcement of the IPR at national level as well as dismal state of the affairs within the Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan during the recent years, calls for no less than global economic sanctions. He said this while talking to media during a briefing a day ahead of the Third National IPO Conference scheduled to be held at National Convention Centre on Tuesday (today) to mark the International Intellectual Property Rights day.
Afridi informed the media that Pakistan's IPR ranking was good few years back, but came down to lowest ebb in the world as the enforcement and protection of the IPR have weakened at national level in recent years. He said that key institution like IPO is being run without proper legislation, as the IPO Ordinance has lapsed. Director General and Chairman IPO Board for gaining powers under the legislation had submitted two separate draft of the fresh legislation to the Ministry of Law and Justice, he maintained.
"I have ordered for their immediate withdrawal so that new piece of legislation con be prepared," Chairman IPO said, adding, "Being new Chairman I have decided to take all the stakeholders on board and all four provinces and other stakeholders would be consulted while finalising fresh draft of Intellectual Property legislation. Afridi refused to given any deadline of new draft for IPO legislation, saying that the efforts are underway to draft best legislation regarding the IPR. Once the IPO legislation is passed from the relevant forums, the government would constitute IPO Board with qualified persons having international experience, he opined.
Afridi presented a dismal picture of the state of affairs in IPO in the recent past, saying that IPO was being run without legislation and a Policy Board, as rift between former Director General and former Chairman resulted in a complete collapse of the institution.
Keeping in view the sorry state of the affairs, Prime Minister has decided to re-orient the institution for national needs and his appointment has been made on merit, IPO chief said.
Violations of IP rights in the country and weak enforcement or protection of IPRs hurt the investors' confidence, Afridi said, adding that unless and until the confidence of the foreign investors is restored in protection of its IP rights it would be difficult for the country to attract investment. He said that Federal Board of Revenue, Federal Investigation Agency and other federal and provincial institutions have been empowered to enforce IP laws and rules and if they failed in meeting the national obligation in future country would face more difficulties internationally.
He informed that soon IPO would give a detailed presentation to the Prime Minister for making the role of law enforcement agencies more effective, as the country cannot afford capital flight and brain drain. Afridi was of the view that there should be separate IP Tribunals in the country to take quick decisions on infringements of the IP law and culprits be brought to justice.
He was of the opinion that there should be speedy registration of the patents and other rights, hence two years time is far more than international practice of less than one year. He said that Third National IPO Conference would highlight the importance of the Intellectual Property Rights for the economy and stakeholders' recommendations would be incorporated in fresh legislation.