ISLAMABAD: Awareness regarding Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is very important for the growth of businesses but unfortunately this issue was not well taken by a lot of business people in the country, said IPR Director Meesaq Arif on Saturday.
Speaking to businesswomen here at a workshop on “awareness among businesswomen about importance of intellectual property rights”, he said registration and protection of IPR was very important through awareness activities to effectively address issues of piracy and counterfeiting for development of genuine businesses.
The workshop was arranged by Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI) to aware women entrepreneurs regarding the importance of trade marking in their businesses. “We are doing our level best to improve service delivery for IP rights registration while we have close coordination with IPR enforcement agencies including FIA, Police, Pakistan Customs and PEMRA to effectively address issues of piracy and counterfeiting in the country,” he remarked.
Meesaq Arif said the government continued to streamline its governance systems and strengthening IPR regime which would not only help for development of genuine business at local level and attract Foreign Direct Investment but also open avenues for Pakistani businesses for growth in international markets.
Speaking on the occasion, Samina Fazil, founder president of IWCCI said that registration of IP rights takes long time which should be reduced to minimum level for ease of IP right holders.
She said that a lot of young people were starting their businesses, so guiding them was responsibility of IWCCI and that we are hopeful that such workshops will help the entrepreneurs to grow.
In the changing global scenario, the issues of IPR have gained special importance and that we will fully cooperate with the government to put Pakistan on the IP map of the world as a responsible country, said Fazil.
Naima Ansari, former vice president of FPCCI mentioned that IPR violations were inflicting losses to the tune of billions as it has become a threat to legitimate businesses. She said that “we are always looking for opportunities like these to educate our members so that their businesses reach new heights”.
