Registration of Designs in Pakistan

Designs Laws of Pakistan:

What is Design?

An industrial design is the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article, in other words, that part which makes the article attractive & appealing. It may consist of three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an article or two-dimensional features, such as patterns, lines or colours. An industrial design is primarily of an aesthetic, visual nature, and does not relate to technical features of an article.

What are the Requirements for Registration of a Design?

An application for the registration of a design must be made on a prescribed form, and must be accompanied by the prescribed number of representations of the design or the specimen of the article bearing the design and by the prescribed fee and affidavit in accordance with Rule 63B.
If it is desired to register the same design in more than one class, a separate application must be made in each class.

Claiming Priority in Design Registration:

The Design Ordinance 2000 provides priority arrangements for all member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if application in Pakistan is filed within 6 months of the priority country filing. Under Section 11 of the Ordinance, any person who has filed an application to register a design in any of the member countries of WTO (or his legal representative or assignee), either alone or jointly with any other person, is entitled to make an application for the registration of the same design in Pakistan, claiming priority of date for his registration. Similarly, any person who has filed an application for registration in Pakistan is entitled to claim that the official date of the Pakistani application for any registration may be affected in the aforesaid countries.

An application under section 11 of the Designs Ordinance 2000 should be made on Form-16 within six months from the date of the first application in a foreign country, and should be accompanied by four identical representations. In addition, a copy of the representation or specimen of the design filed or deposited abroad in respect of the first application in a foreign country duly certified by the official Chief or head of the Patents Office of that country, or otherwise verified to the satisfaction of the Registrar, should be left with such application, or within three months thereafter and if such certificate or document is in a foreign language, a translation thereof (in English) verified by statutory declaration or otherwise to the satisfaction of the Registrar should be annexed thereto.

 Laws of Pakistan Regarding Designs:

Designs Ordinance, 2000