Copyright
Under the Copyright Ordinance,
- Any person who knowingly infringes or abets the infringement of,
- the copyright in a work;
- the rental rights in cinematographic works and computer programmes;
- the rights of performers or producers of sound recording; or
- any other right conferred by the Ordinance,
shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with a fine which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees, or with both.
- Any person who knowingly publishes, or causes to be published, a collection or compendium of works which have been adapted translated or modified in any manner without the authority of the owner of the copyright in the original works, or who fraudulently employs a title which tends to mislead the public or create confusion with another work published earlier, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with a fine which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees, or with both.
- Any person who unauthorizedly makes or distributes counterfeit of sound recordings and cinematographic works for the purpose of business, profit or gain shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with a fine which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees, or with both.
- Any person who for the purpose of business, profit or gain exploits or appropriates any sound recording or audio-visual work intended for private use, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with a fine which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees, or with both.
- Any person who, without authorization of the copyright owner or his licensee rents out the original or copies of the cinematographic works or computer programmes, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees or with both.
- Any person who produces, or causes to be produced copies or reproductions in excess of the number authorized by the copyright owner or his successor-in-title, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with a fine which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees, or with both.
- Whosoever,
(1) inserts or affixes the name of any person in or on a work of which that person is not the author, or in or on a reproduction of such a work, in such a way as to imply that such person is the author of the work;
(2) publishes, or sells or lets for hire, or by way of trade offers, exposes for sale or hire, or by way of trade exhibits in public a work in or on which the name of a person has been inserted or affixed in such a way as to imply that such person is the author of the work, or the publisher of the work, who to his knowledge is not the author or the publisher, as the case may be, of such work; or
(3) does any of the acts mentioned in clause (2) in relation to or distributes, reproductions of a work, being reproductions in or on which any person's name has been inserted or affixed in such a way as to imply that such person is the author of the work, who to his knowledge is not the author of the work, who to his knowledge is not the author of such work, or performs in public, or broadcasts the work as being the work of a particular author, who to his knowledge is not the author of such work;
shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years, or with a fine, which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees, or with both.
- Any person who published a record or a video film in contravention of the provisions of section 57A, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with a fine which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees, or with both.
The court before which any offence under the Copyright Ordinance is tried may, whether the alleged offender is convicted or not, order that all copies of the work or plates or recording equipment in the possession of the alleged offender, which appear to it to be infringing copies, or plates, or recording equipment used or intended to be used for the purpose of making infringing copies, be destroyed or delivered to the owner of the copyright or otherwise dealt with as the court may think fit.
- Trademarks
Criminal penalties are available under the following provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code:
- Section 482: Whoever uses any false trademark or any false property mark shall, unless he proves that he acted without intent to defraud, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with a fine, or with both.
- Section 483: Whoever counterfeits any trademark or property mark used by any other person shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with a fine, or with both.
- Section 484: Whoever counterfeits any property mark used by a public servant, or any mark used by a public servant to denote that any property has been manufactured by a particular person or at a particular time or place, or that the property is of a particular quality or has passed through a particular office, or that it is entitled to any exemption or used as genuine any such mark knowing the same to be counterfeit, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to a fine.
- Section 485: Whoever makes or has in his possession any die, plate or other instrument for the purpose of counterfeiting a trademark or property mark, or has in his possession a trademark or property mark for the purpose of denoting that any goods are the manufacture or merchandise of a person whose manufacture or merchandise they are not, or that they belong to a person to whom they do not belong, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with a fine, or with both.
- Section 486: Selling goods marked with a counterfeit trademark or property mark. Whoever sells, or exposes, or has in possession for sale or any purpose of trade or manufacture, any goods or thing with a counterfeit trademark or property mark affixed to or impressed upon the same or to or upon any case, package or other receptacle in which such goods are contained, shall, unless he proves,
(a) that, having taken all reasonable precautions against committing an offence against this section, he had at the time of the commission of the alleged offence no reason to suspect the genuineness of the mark, and
(b) that, on demand made by or on behalf of the prosecutor, he gave all the information in his power with respect to the persons from whom he obtained such goods or things, or
(c) that otherwise he had acted innocently,
be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with a fine or with both.
- Section 487: Making a false mark upon any receptacle containing goods. Whoever makes a false mark upon any case, package or other receptacle containing goods, in a manner reasonable calculated to cause any public servant or any other person to believe that such receptacle contains goods which it does not contain or that it does contain goods which it does contain, or that the goods contained in such receptacle are of a nature or quality different from the real nature or quality thereof, shall unless he proves that he acted without intent to defraud, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with a fine, or with both.
- Section 488: Punishment for making use of any such false mark. Whoever makes use of any such false mark in any manner prohibited by the last foregoing section shall, unless he proves that he acted without intent to defraud, be punished as if he had committed an offence against that section.