How to Register Trademark in Pakistan: For SMCs, Entrepreneurs, & Freelancers

This content is marked source of information.

A bit about what is trademark.

A Trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. A service mark is a word, phrase, symbol, and / or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than goods.

IPO, Pakistan

• What is Trademark or Service Mark in Pakistan
• Government department that handles trademark
• Register trademark in 2 steps
• When you get trademark application response?

Which government body or department handles trademark registration in Pakistan?

Trade Marks Registry (TMR) is premier body of Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan) working for the registration of trade and services marks under the Trademarks Ordinance, 2001. It is a federal government body and its jurisdiction for trade and services marks lies within the geographical boundary of Pakistan. It works as a civil court and its decisions are appealable at the provincial high courts. The Trademarks Registry is headed by a Registrar and its office is located in Karachi and also Regional Office situated in Lahore.

IPO, Pakistan

Register trademark in Pakistan and secure your business identity and social handles

There are 2 steps involved to register trademark for SMCs, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and any organization who needs to register just additional trademarks without representatives.

• Step # 1: Register with IPO
• Step # 2: File Trademark Application Online

Step # 1: Register with IPO

Either you need one or multiple trademarks for multiple businesses, register at least one account with IPO. You can manage all of your trademark applications within your IPO account. Following are steps to register account with IPO or trademark registry system in Pakistan: –

1. Go to IPO trademark account registration page.
2. Click on New Registration.
   • Enter the details such as CNIC, phone number, and active email. Verify phone number and email via PIN. The phone number must be registered on the CNIC you entered.
   • Verify details and continue to next step.
3. In authorized representative details section, choose ‘SELF’, and enter details: –
   • Title (Do not select Mr/Ms/Dr/Prof if your name starts with Malik, Hafiz, Chaudhry, Syed, Qazi, Rana, Mian, Sheikh, Mirza, etc. etc. Instead select the last option in Title drop down list.)
   • Full Name (Name of the applicant applying for registration)
   • Enter other details including gender, landline, and FAX.
   • Correspondence Address (Mailing address of the applicant. Do NOT mention city, name, country name and mobile / phone number etc. in this field. These are to be mentioned in their respective fields i-e: Province and City based on selected province.)
   • Agree to IPO terms, enter captcha (random characters for human verification), and click ‘Save and Continue’.
   • If everything goes well, you will receive a confirmation email from IPO containing your username, default password, and PIN number. PIN is required to verify your trademark applications. Keep these details safe somewhere.

Step # 2: File Trademark Application

Once you have your IPO account, login it from the same portal where you registered account.

There are multiple trademark related forms available on IPO account dashboard. To file a new trademark application, you need TM 01 form. The current fee of TM 01 form is Rs. 3000 PKR only.

Following are the steps to file trademark TM 01 form for a new trademark registration: –

1. Click on plus or + icon next to TM 01 form.
2. Click on ‘+ New Application Form‘ at the top.
3. In the step 1 of this opened form, select your designated IPO office. Choose the one which is closest to you.
4. Refer to Trademark classification summary page to figure out or choose your trademark class. Pick that class number in the form and add details of your services/products.
5. In the Business details, pick ‘Sole Proprietor’ if you haven’t registered your official company with SECP. If you have that, choose accordingly. In the trading as field, add your most common business name that you use. In our case, it is Digital Setups. In the ‘Since’ field, choose ‘Period of use’ if you are already doing business locally or online but registering trademark later. Choose ‘Proposed to be used’ if you are just starting with your business.
6. In the Logo & Mark details, choose ‘Word and mark’ if you have logo designed and textual word (usually same as trading name).
   • Add number of mark series i-e: if you have logo variations such as short icon, complete logo, in different colors etc.
   • Add domain name. In our case we have multiple domains associated to Digital Setups, however, there is one i-e: digitalsetups.org that is main one. Enter your main domain or the only domain you have. If you don’t have it or don’t want to have it in future, just enter N/A.
   • Color Claimed: add your color scheme colors especially for the logo and word mark. Don’t enter your website color scheme. It is recommended that you enter color code as well as their closest match names. Such as in our case, we have dark navy blue color with color shade #112b4b. You can also add details like #112b4b on #ffffff and #ffff on #112b4b etc.
   • Save and move to next step in the form.
7. Attachments: Upload a .png (good quality) image having your logo icon, full logo, word logo, and its variations. Save and continue.
8. Review your details. The attached photo seems blurred and stretched due to the poor style coding of IPO system. Don’t worry about that. If you right-click and open the photo, it is same as you uploaded.
9. Pay the fee via Credit/Debit card. Fee includes the TM 01 form fee and FED tax. Once paid, save and continue.
10. Scroll down to bottom of form, enter your IPO account PIN (it was mailed to you in Step # 1 or account registration time), and click ‘Submit’.
11. That’s it. The application is submitted. To verify, click on Trademarks from left-side pane or login to account again. Click on the same + (plus) icon for TM 01, you will see your application in the list.

What happens next? – Trademark Application Processing & Response by IPO Registry

It takes at least 12 to 14 months to fully get your trademark registration certificate by IPO.

Following is the breakdown of major activities that are conducted in these months:

In 15 days of submission of trademark application, you will receive application acknowledgement. You can check acknowledgement from IPO account’s left-side menu Trademark > TM 01 Acknowledgement page.

In next 3 to 4 months, you will receive 1st trademark examination report. The assigned officer examines if your trademark belongs to right classification that you picked, formal examination is conducted, they contact you via email or phone and ask for additional details if required, similarity check is performed to ensure you’re not infringing anyone else copyright, trademark, or patent-based design or word, and examination report is prepared.

Based on your response in last stage, they take some internal actions such as checking your response, updating documents if needed, and clearing your application for next stage.

In next 2-6 months, legal requirements are fulfilled. It includes activities such as publication of trademark in TM eJournal to let other people know about it and if anyone have issue with our trademark, they can report it. 2 months are given to everyone to raise any opposition on your trademark. In case there is no opposition to your trademark, a demand notice is issued to you pay trademark fee for 10 years or as decided at that time.

In next 3 months, finally, trademark registration certificate is issued dependent upon clearance of demand notice fee, no opposition, no amendments to make, and everything is clear. Otherwise, depending upon any of these issues, it takes additional time.