IPR violation causes loss of billions to government

KARACHI: Head of Events Committee, Anti Counterfeit and Infringement Forum (ACIF) Pakistan, Amar Naseer has said that lax implementation of Intellectual Property laws results in rampant counterfeiting and piracy which also deprives the government of billions in taxes and duties every year while causing tremendous harm to the consumers, manufacturers and national economy.

He said that Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) violation leads to losses worth Rs10 billion annually in terms of direct and indirect revenue because of counterfeiting and trade mark infringement. A workshop on the “Role of Media in Projecting Legitimate Business Practices and Curbing Piracy in Pakistan” was organised by ACIF in collaboration with MediaMark on Tuesday.

Naseer highlighted various sectors where IPR violation directly affects the government. He said that the oil and lubricants industry leads to losses worth Rs1600 million for the government, cigarette companies were estimated at approximately Rs500 million and books and publishing industry at Rs40 million. He further informed that according to media surveys, 60 per cent of the consumer goods are sub-standard and Pakistan stands amongst the top 13 countries which sell counterfeit medicines.

He added that the International Chamber of Commerce had estimated that the global counterfeiting industry was worth 7-8 per cent of the world trade worth over $400 billion in a research conducted in 2007. Director General of Intellectual Property Organisation Pakistan (IPOP), Syed Khalid Mehmood Bukhari said that IP’s are used as important tools in fast growing IT sector whereas the new concept of IT based nation is also growing rapidly.

He expressed that the government of Pakistan had also strengthened its policies for IP and seriously perceives counterfeiting and piracy amongst heinous crimes like murder and treason. The DG articulated “journalists are custodians of awareness and they can help to eradicate the menace of counterfeiting”.

He believed that the national media can guide the common public towards denying the use of counterfeit products and raising voices against those who practice such criminal acts.

“We have laws but we need force to implement the laws” he stressed. “Unfortunately corruption is rampant in our society and the police that have been given to us cannot do anything and therefore we need our own forces” he continued.

The Chief Guest of the event, Sindh Minister for Information and Archives, Shazia Marri said that though the issue of counterfeiting and piracy was of great concern, it was often not given the importance it deserved. She said that everyone knew that massive levels of counterfeiting was going on in the country and get the government cannot resolve the issue alone “especially in this time when we have a democratic government and the masses are representatives of the state”.

Marri stressed that every individual also had their share of responsibilities and moral values “and if we ourselves said ‘no’ to counterfeit products that we bring into our homes, then we would help to discourage these activities while also aiding the government and other stakeholders”.

She stated that it was a matter of attitude as the consumers were the biggest force that could add on or curb this evil. She added that the implementation of goals and targets was the problematic issue and the government wanted to ensure at all provincial level authorities that the matter was tackled effectively.

The minister for information added that the real affectees were those of the rural areas who could not read and write and recognised a product by its look alone. “These people were affected the most as they were cheated of their money for products which were neither original and nor of good quality” she said.