US offers help in fighting counterfeiting

ISLAMABAD: The US embassy has highly appreciated collaboration between the Intellectual Property Organization (IPO-Pakistan) and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in the field of IPR enforcement and expressed confidence that this association would be fruitful for overcoming issues of counterfeiting and piracy in an effective manner.

The appreciation came during the IPR Enforcement Coordination Committee meeting held at the IPO-Pakistan Headquarters.

Meesaq Arif, Executive Director IPO-Pakistan, chaired the meeting. The US delegation included Ms. Peggy J. Walker, Economic Counselor; and Mr. Michael D. Boven, Economic Affairs Officer. Representatives of LEAs from Pakistan Customs, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Islamabad Police, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) attended the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Meesaq Arif said the IPO-Pakistan was fully aware of the importance of IPR enforcement and that was why it was following a pro-active approach in overcoming enforcement issues.

He said owing to close coordination between the IPO-Pakistan and LEAs, enforcement meetings had been organized in 10 different cities from time to time. He said the IPO-Pakistan was going to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for a better coordination.

The committee termed counterfeiting and piracy a crime against innovation and creativity and expressed resolve that the issue would be dealt with relentlessly and all out efforts would be made for the development of genuine businesses in the country.

The US embassy appreciated the efforts of IPO-Pakistan and LEAs in the field of enforcement and offered any kind of technical support to further improve their performance. The DRAP representative was of the view that instead of individual trainings, collective trainings will be more beneficial for all the LEAs. Muhammad Ismail, Director Enforcement, apprised the meeting of the progress of previous meetings and the future vision.