A business name is not a trademark, and registering a company with SECP does not give you rights in your brand. Those are two separate registers, and the one that stops a competitor using your name is the trademark register.
The governing law and the office
Trademarks in Pakistan are governed by the Trade Marks Ordinance, 2001 and the rules made under it, administered by the Trade Marks Registry under the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan). Disputes are heard by the IP Tribunals.
Search before you commit
Run a search of the register before you order signage, packaging or a domain. A mark that is deceptively similar to one already registered in the same class will be refused, and by then you have spent the money. This is the step that saves the most and is skipped the most.
Pick the right classes
Registration is granted for specified goods or services, grouped into the classes of the international (Nice) classification. Protection is class-specific: registering a name for clothing does not stop somebody using it for software. Think about what you actually sell now and what you realistically will sell, and file accordingly — each class carries its own fee.
What can and cannot be registered
A mark must be capable of distinguishing your goods or services. The Ordinance sets out absolute grounds for refusal — marks that are purely descriptive, generic, deceptive, contrary to law or morality, or that consist of protected emblems — and relative grounds, which concern conflict with earlier marks.
The practical lesson: descriptive names are weak. “Best Lahore Tiles” is hard to register and harder to enforce. A distinctive or invented word is easier to protect and cheaper to defend.
The process, in order
- Application on the prescribed form, with the mark, the applicant's details, the class or classes, and the specification of goods or services.
- Examination by the Registry, which may raise objections. You reply, and may be heard.
- Publication in the Trade Marks Journal.
- Opposition — third parties have a window to oppose. If nobody does, or an opposition fails, the application proceeds.
- Registration certificate. Registration runs for ten years and is renewable indefinitely, so diarise the renewal; letting a mark lapse is an avoidable disaster.
Expect the process to be measured in many months rather than weeks, and longer if there are objections or an opposition. Once filed, you may use the ™ symbol; the ® symbol is for registered marks only.
Enforcing the mark
A registered proprietor can sue for infringement. Even without registration, a trader with genuine goodwill may have an action for passing off — but it is far harder, because you must prove the reputation that registration would have presumed. Remedies include injunctions, damages or an account of profits, delivery up of infringing goods, and criminal action in cases of counterfeiting.
Housekeeping that matters later
- Record assignments and licences properly. An unrecorded transfer causes problems on enforcement and on sale of the business.
- Keep evidence of use — invoices, packaging, advertising, dated photographs. Non-use exposes a registration to cancellation.
- Register the mark in the name that will own it long term, not a founder's personal name by accident.
- Trademarks are territorial. A Pakistani registration protects you in Pakistan; exporting means filing where you sell.
General information about Pakistani trademark practice, not advice on a particular mark. Registrability depends on the mark, the class and what is already on the register. Have a search run and take advice before filing or before threatening anyone with infringement.