Copyright Registration in Pakistan
What is copyright?
Copyright is a regulation that provides an individual or group of individuals the possession over the stuff they have created. Whether it is a portrait, a book, a song or a film, if you have made it and you own it, it’s the law of copyright that guarantees that proprietorship. These rights allow the owner to reproduce the work, to produce a similar work, to distribute the finished copies and to demonstrate the work on public places. Copyright is a legitimate tool that offers the maker or creator of a substance that carries information or concepts, the lawful right to govern that how the substance is used. The objective of copyright law is to develop the advancement of knowledge and awareness by giving the creator of a particular work an economic encouragement to produce new stuffs again. Copyright is a method of safety provided to the writers of “original workings,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other performing arts or intellectual work. This safety is available to both printed and unpublished works. Copyright Registration is your rights until you freely give them up. For example, no one can violate a creative license legally. It means that, no one can perform a part written by you or create duplicates of it until you allow him to do so.
Copyright Registration Categories:
- Literature: Magazines, Books & Journals, Lectures & Presentations, Novel Scripts & Song lyrics, Poetry Manuscripts, Information Technology Programs and Software and other complicated data etc.
- Art: portraits & paintings, photographs, drawings & Charts, Calligraphies & Sculptures, Architectural Works & Maps, Label & logo Designs etc.
- Cinematography: Films, movies, animations, documentaries and other visual works etc.
- Recordings: Music compositions sound recordings, song styles and chord progressions etc.
Benefits of Copyright
- The most basic advantage of getting your stuff copyrighted that it enables copyright holders to take legal action in the court of law against others who intentionally use your stuff or have copied it.
- When you copyright your data and stuff, it maintains a public record of the right holder's title.
- One of the key benefits of copyright is that it institutes adequate evidence in court regarding the legitimacy of the rights and the facts and figures specified in the copyright documents.
- In case someone copies the stuff created by someone else, the copyright owner is allowed to pursue constitutional compensations and fees in the court of law.
- Without copyright registration, only an award of actual damages and earnings will be available, and these can be quite problematic to prove.
- It allows the true owner to record the registration with government of Pakistan to protect against the import or export of pirated copies of owner’s work in the state and abroad.
- Only the owners of the work have the right to reproduce the work in copies.
- Only the owner has the right to make derived works grounded upon the work which is already done by the same individual or group.
Copyright in PakistanThe Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan) was established as an independent organization on 8th April, 2005 under the managerial control of the Cabinet Division for united and efficient intellectual property management in Pakistan. The Trade Marks Registry, Copyright Office and Patent & Design Office became part of the new Organization under a combined and integrated executive system. IPO Pakistan (Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan) oversees the matters of copyright that are operational under the copyright ordinance, 1962. The head office of the IPO is at Islamabad while branch offices are in Karachi and Lahore. The IPO Copyright Office offers facilities for registration of a copyright material. Registering of copyright stuff is provided only if an owner documents an application as per suggested method. Though, registration of copyright stuff is suggested, the IPO Copyright office issues a certificate that obliges as principal proof of the proprietorship of copyright before the court of law of Pakistan.
Major Functions of IPO:
- Manage, direct and safeguard of Intellectual Property (IP);
- Administrate all IP offices in the nation;
- Build awareness about IP Rights in the eyes of public;
- Give advice to Central Government about IP Policy;
- Make sure of effective enforcement of IP rights by nominated IPR Enforcement Agencies (Police, FIA, and Pakistan Customs).
Steps for Copyright Registration:
- Filing of the application
- Examination of the application
- Publication in newspaper or media (for Artistic Work only)
- Opposition, if required
- Issuance of a copyright Certificate by the Registrar
If you need any kind of assistance or expert advice over the Copyright Registration in Pakistan, please feel free to contact us. We are Evolution Business Consultants (pvt) limited and we provide copyright and trademark registration services to our clients. Let’s us make the whole process easier for you because we are experts of this field. Please send us an email or make a call.
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