The US is now actively engaged with Pakistan to enforce IPR laws in an effort to help woo foreign investors, forge better ties with trading partners in the global market and become competitive. CREATIVE COMMONS
ISLAMABAD: Although the United States is pushing Pakistan to strictly enforce intellectual property rights (IPR) to encourage trading partners and achieve better competitiveness in the global market, the task does not appear to be simple as cost of doing business has jumped manifold.
Acute energy shortages, bad governance, poor regulatory framework and precarious law and order situation have all significantly added to the cost businesses bear to run their ventures.
The special report of the US trade representative for 2013 has placed Pakistan among 10 countries where enforcement of IPR is very weak. Pakistan is on the priority watch list where trading partners voice the most significant concerns about insufficient IPR protection or limited market access for people relying on IPR protection.
The US is now actively engaged with Pakistan to enforce IPR laws in an effort to help woo foreign investors, forge better ties with trading partners in the global market and become competitive.
According to US authorities, the rule of law prevails in America, Australia and the United Kingdom, therefore, Pakistan should apply IPR laws in order to gain a foothold in the world economy, while protecting the domestic industry, which is also very competitive.
This will create a competitive environment and bring down prices, which will benefit consumers, they say. Competition encourages new entrants, leading to improvement in quality while a lack of IPR protection gives birth to market monopoly.
“If you want innovation in technology, you need to encourage more people to invest for continuous growth and then enforce the law of IPR for quality products,” said US Judge for Eastern District of California, Morrison England, who visited Pakistan in February 2014. Enforcement of the IPR law would encourage foreign investment, he suggested.
However, experts say Pakistan encounters many hurdles that stand in the way of application of IPR laws.
In a significant move, the Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) Pakistan, which was established in April 2005, has empowered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Pakistan Customs to check and tackle IPR violations. Despite that, the situation is not encouraging as bad governance prevails. The regulatory framework is quite weak where no action is taken against violators.
Smuggling
Pakistan borders Afghanistan, Iran and China from where a flood of smuggled goods enter the domestic market.
Bernice Donald, a federal judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, who visited Pakistan in September 2013, had been asked by the media how enforcement of IPR laws was possible in this scenario.
She replied that courts of law would have to play a critical role in IPR enforcement – an essential prerequisite for attracting investment. “If you get the framework of IPR regime, the gaps (in laws) can be amended,” she said, referring to trademark and copyright laws.
Energy scarcity
Another area that makes it hard to implement copyright laws is frequent power and gas cuts that have disrupted production processes and sent cost of doing business soaring. Investors cannot bear higher expenses by running industry on alternative expensive fuel and in an attempt to restrict cost, they prefer to copy products.
Cheap Chinese products in Pakistan market also pose a big challenge to IPR laws. These goods will wipe out those that are better in quality and in line with copyright laws as consumers, who have a low purchasing power, also prefer cheaper products.
Examples to follow
However, experts do point out that the enforcement of IPR laws brings substantial advantages as well. Investment starts flowing in, which in turn creates job opportunities and boosts the economy.
Examples of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and many others are quite encouraging and a source of learning for Pakistan. Earlier, Singapore was a haven for piracy, but after restructuring its laws, the city-state became a leader in technological advancement.
Officials believe that the government would have to take a bold initiative, bring transparency in affairs of law enforcement agencies and take action against copyright violators. It should set up a separate court and law enforcement agency to deal with the violators.
The country should also encourage the police, prosecutors and judges to take action against criminals involved in smuggling for successful enforcement of the IPR regime.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2014.
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There is NO evidence that IP laws encourage innovation (the answer is we don't know). A developing country like Pakistan should not buy into this argument which is promoted by vested corporate interests from the US. Copying and using other peoples work is part of the creative and learning process, and developing economies should only impose IP as far as it promotes their own interests. The judge's arguments are wrong. Countries like Korea and Singapore became technologically advanced because they copied, not because they enforced IP. Having reached a stage of development where it was to their advantage to enforce IP, they then enforced IP. Within the US itself there is huge debate about whether IP laws are a help or hindrance in innovation.
Policy makers in Pakistan should also be aware that these sorts of visits are part of a concerted effort to co-opt the opinion of decision makers in developing countries by convincing them that IP laws are a key to development and investment.
If anyone thinks I'm a conspiracy nut I invite you to google respected IP researchers such as Stuart Macdonald and Susan Sell who have written about developing countries are adopting IP laws under pressure from developed countries without thinking of the consequences.