The Cabinet Standing Committee of Senate and Capital Administration on Tuesday unanimously passed the IPO Bill 2012 in a meeting held at the Cabinet Division Secretariat.
The meeting was chaired by Senator Kulsum Perveen and attended by committee members including Senator Najma Hameed, Senator Dr Seeda Iqbal, Senator Kamil Ali Agha, Senator Nawabzada Saif Ali Magsi, Chairman IPO Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi, Director General IPO Sajjad Ahmad Bhutta, Additional Secretary, Cabinet Division, Shahid Ullah Baig, Joint Secretary Cabinet Ayaz Khan, Secretary Cabinet Committee Ghulam Murtaza, Officers of IPO Hamid Javaid Awan, Nadia Zubair Shah, Muhammad Ismail and Amir Latif.
Bhutta gave a briefing regarding the IPO Bill 2012 and highlighted its salient features. Members of the standing committee discussed different clauses of the bill.
Afridi said that the IPO Act would empower the organization to adopt solid steps for the improvement of the service delivery system, besides proceeding for the up-gradation of the trade mark, copy rights and patent laws. He expressed gratitude to the parliamentarians for taking keen interest in the promulgation of the IPO Ordinance and said that IPO Tribunals would be established after the enactment of the bill, while new IP Offices would be opened in KPK and Balochistan. Similarly, an IPO Policy Board would also be constituted to undertake policy decisions.
Senator Kulsum, in her concluding remarks, stated that the senate committee, after a thorough analysis of the bill, had given its approval in national and public interest.
Baig also clarified various points raised by members of the committee and said that the enactment of the IPO Bill would enable the organization to accelerate the pace of development initiatives adopted to improve the services of IPO Pakistan, for the protection of intellectual property rights.
Standing Committee unanimously passes IPO Bill 2012
