Staff Report IBD: The Federal Cabinet is expected to accord approval of Intellectual Property Right Ordinance 2012 soon to provide legal infrastructure for enforcement of IPR law and protection for the local and foreign investors in the country.
The Chairman IPO said that IPO also intends to amend the Copy Right and Patent Laws so as to make violation of these law a criminal act with heavy fine and possibly imprisonment for the violators, with death penalty for making counterfeit medicines.
The summary in this regard has been submitted to the Cabinet Division, an official of the department said.
Explaining the salient features of IPO Ordinance 2012, he said that old Ordinance had lapsed in March 2010 and there is a need to not only upgrade the IP legislation but also to have a legal backing by law of the enforcement of IP initiatives.
The draft IPO Ordinance, he said, contains new provisions like creation of Intellectual Property Tribunals in the country for speedy disposal of IP violation cases. The establishment of new offices in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Baluchistan to have geographic presence in all the provinces.
For capacity building of judicial and law enforcement agencies officials, Chairman IPO informed that a panel of 18 judges is being sent for training to Singapore for training in IPR laws.