Lack of awareness on intellectual property rights

Experts weigh in on adverse effects of intellectual theft

KARACHI:

Pakistan lags behind in a variety of areas - awareness on intellectual property rights is one of them.

The reality was even more striking during a panel discussion at the 7th Karachi Literature Festival titled, ‘Fostering Innovation and Creativity through Protection on Intellectual Property Rights’.

Panel speakers at included renowned author Babar Ayaz, Unilever Pakistan Company Secretary Amar Naseer and Oxford University Press Managing Director Ameena Saiyid.



Kicking off the discussion, Ayaz highlighted the devastating effects of piracy on the economy as the annual revenue loss amounts to Rs60 billion. “Even if you see a single movie that is pirated, the loss is immense,” said Ayaz. “Piracy affects the country’s creative process, as people are required to churn out products at a faster pace in order to avoid large scale intellectual theft.”

Building on the argument that creativity is hindered due to piracy, Naseer said it is discouraging that a product that needed several months of work is ripped off in a matter of seconds. Connecting the country’s brain drain to intellectual property rights, Naseer said that Pakistani experts prefer working in foreign countries because these rights are better covered there. “If the world’s first virus can be created in Lahore, why do our programmers move away?



“Similarly, piracy in text books is a rampant issue, with quality going down immensely as writers have no incentive to write.” Saiyid clarified that patent, copyright and trademarks are not limited to movies and books, but for any kind of design.



“I think the issue of IPR is surrounded by myths - one of them is that privacy helps the poor. This is not the case. Consumers suffer equally because at the end of the day they end up paying the same amount.”

Meanwhile, Saiyid said text privacy forces authors to lose millions to the black market and also affects the reputation of the publisher. “Books are subject to economies of scale, the greater the production the cheaper they will cost,” said Saiyid. “However, the market is lost to piracy and hence, prices soar.”  While identifying one of the reasons behind rampant piracy, Naseer said lack of awareness is a key issue that causes large scale theft.

Moderator Syed Nusrat Ali said another reason is the absence of a moral code in society. “People are not informed that this illegal and incorrect.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2016.

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