KARACHI – The protection of intellectual property (IP) in a country like Pakistan has assumed paramount importance as IP theft in various forms has reached staggering proportions, Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited President Kalim A Siddiqui has said.
He indicated this while delivering his keynote address as guest of honour at an International Conference on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Siddiqui in his address said the magnitude of the IP problem could be judged from the fact that the government is losing Rs 9.0 billion annually or Rs 25 million each day because counterfeiters do not pay general sales tax, excise duty, income tax, or any other income whose collection is the due right of the government.
He claimed that Pakistan has suffered $156 million in trade losses during 2009 due to piracy in record and music, books and business software industry areas. The Byco Petroleum chief quoted the recent figures of Anti Counterfeiting Infringement Forum (ACIF) according to which 60 percent of the consumer goods in the country are substandard. Every year most famous brands lose seven to 20 percent in terms of sales.
