Copyright Infringement and Litigation

When any person without the consent of the owner of the copyright or without a license granted by such owner or the Registrar or in contravention of the conditions of a license so granted, does anything the exclusive right to do which is conferred upon the owner of the copyright, constitutes an infringement of the copyright in the work.

Where copyright in any work has been infringed, the owner of the copyright becomes entitled to all such remedies by way of injunction, damages, accounts and otherwise as are or may be conferred by law for the infringement of a right Provided that if the defendant proves that at the date of the infringement he was not aware that copyright subsisted in the work and he had reasonable ground for believing that copyright did not subsist in the work, the plaintiff shall not be entitled to any remedy other than an injunction in respect of the infringement and a decree for the whole or part of the profits made by the defendant by the sale of the infringing copies as the court may in the circumstances deem reasonable.

Remedies for Infringement:

There are two remedies for breach of copyright in Pakistan; civil proceedings and criminal proceedings. To avail the civil remedy a person whose copyright has been infringed is able to sue for damages, claim an injunction, an account of the profits gained by the defendants as a result of the infringement, delivery up of infringing articles etc. The law also declares the willful infringement or abetment as criminal act punishable with imprisonment which may extend to 3 years, or with fine which may extent to one hundred thousand rupees or with both.

We at Intellectual Property Logium provide service to deal with the infringement suit trials in the trial courts and appeals in the high court.

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