World Intellectual Property Day has been celebrated this week across to world to celebrate the intellectual property rights imperative for any society on path to growth. This year’s IP Day has been assigned the theme: Innovation – Improving Lives, by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
With the progress of globalization, innovation linkages are gaining more and more prominence. this has led to collaboration among nations involving academia and industry as a key driver of economic growth. Thereby, bringing the intellectual property rights to the forefront of technological revolution. However, in Pakistan industries are quite unaware how to use intellectual property rights to help in capacity building.
Speaking at a panel discussion organized over the occasion, Haris Bajwa, a practicing IP lawyer in the US and Pakistan, said:
“In the US, 25-30% of the economy is tied to IP and now countries like Bangladesh and Iran are looking to utilize IP to enhance their business.”
There is an undeniable correlation between innovation, patent filing and economic progress. The trend of the patent filing reflects a nation’s economic growth and a culture’s social development.
Ameen Imam, United States Patent and Trademarks Office’s (USPTO) associate, helping Pakistan’s government work on and draft IP laws, said:
”Anything that takes a creative expression can be copyrighted.”
He further explained:
“Trademark is related to any marks that are created to be a source of identification of a product.”
There can be serious consequences if this aspect of IP is not considered seriously. Trademark infringement is one such situation. The situation arises when two trademarks are too similar in their look, either by mistake, or by a malicious intent. Underlining the damage this can cause, Imam warned:
“This may often result in product counterfeiting and that is one of the serious consequences of ignoring IP.”
Highlighting the need for creating more awareness among the masses, especially for people working in Pakistan, regarding the IP rights, Imam said:
“Since the proliferation of facilities, counterfeiting has become a large problem, it breaks economic laws, it is against health and safety and it is a massive concern that affects poor and rich countries alike.”
Top image credit: Shutterstock
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