On 20 May 2015, Saad Nasrullah [LL.M. (WIPO-Turin); Advocate, High Court] gave a talk on protection of intellectual property rights in Pakistan.The participants comprised of law students, lawyers, and law professors.
Mr. Nasrullah began his talk by introducing the concept of intellectual property. He stated that intellectual property can be defined as a translation of ideas in a tangible form. He went on to talk about the different types of intellectual property including copyrights and industrial property. The speaker mentioned that industrial property can further be categorized into patents, trademarks, and designs. Each category was then discussed in detail including the registration requirements, procedure of registration and the grounds for refusal. The speaker also talked about the objection stage in the registration of trademarks. During the discussion of patents, Mr. Nusrullah addressed the requirements and pointed out that the inventions must be in conformity with the international novelty standards. He shared some interesting facts with the audience including the fact that medical treatments are not patentable. While talking about designs, the speaker mentioned that not all designs can be registered and that there are certain requirements that have to be fulfilled in order to qualify.
Towards the end of the talk, Mr. Nasrullah displayed various charts showing the amount of registrations filed in Pakistan. This showed the audience the actual state of intellectual property registrations in Pakistan.
In the end, Syed Imad-ud-Din Asad [LL.M. (Harvard); Advocate, High Court; Founding Director and Associate Professor, UMT School of Law and Policy] thanked Mr. Nusrullah for taking out time to share his views and expertise on the matter.
© Copyright UMT, 2015. All Rights reserved.