GUJRANWALA: The Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan) has strengthened its engagement with the industrial sector in Gujranwala by establishing an Intellectual Property Facilitation Desk at the Gujranwala Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and organising an awareness programme in collaboration with the All Pakistan Aluminium Utensils Manufacturers Association (APAUMA).
The initiatives aim to improve access to intellectual property services, promote the registration and protection of trademarks, patents and industrial designs, and enhance the competitiveness of local manufacturers in domestic and international markets.
Director General IPO-Pakistan Nauman Aslam Sheikh inaugurated the facilitation desk during his visit to Gujranwala. He was accompanied by Mueed Aman Rana, Director/In-charge of IPO-Pakistan’s Regional Office Lahore, Shakra Khursheed, Senior Examiner (Patents), and other officials.
The newly established desk will provide entrepreneurs, manufacturers and businesses with guidance on intellectual property registration and protection, bringing essential services closer to one of Pakistan’s major industrial centres.
Addressing members of the business community, Sheikh emphasised that intellectual property protection was crucial for safeguarding commercial interests, encouraging innovation and increasing the market value of Pakistani products.
He also highlighted recent institutional reforms and improvements in service delivery at IPO-Pakistan. According to him, the backlog of trademark applications had been significantly reduced over the past year, while the registration period had decreased from approximately two years to around eight months.
He further said that an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism was being introduced to facilitate the timely settlement of intellectual property disputes.
The GCCI event was attended by Chamber President Ghulam Hussain Judge, Senior Vice President Arshad Mughal, Vice President Rana Muhammad Farhan Asghar, former President Mian Umer Saleem, former Gujranwala Development Authority Chairman Aamir Rehman, and former Vice President and Executive Member Waqas Afzal Mughal, alongside Executive Committee members and representatives of local industries.
The Chamber’s leadership welcomed the establishment of the facilitation desk, expressing confidence that it would help businesses better understand and protect their intellectual property rights.
In a separate initiative, IPO-Pakistan, in collaboration with APAUMA, organised an awareness session for the local manufacturing community. The session covered trademark registration, brand protection, patents and industrial designs, highlighting their importance for manufacturers seeking to safeguard their products, innovations and market identity.
The Director General attended the session as chief guest and encouraged participants to recognise intellectual property as a valuable commercial asset and make greater use of available legal mechanisms to protect their brands and innovations.
The two initiatives form part of IPO-Pakistan’s broader efforts to strengthen cooperation with chambers of commerce, trade associations and industrial clusters across the country.
By expanding access to intellectual property services and raising awareness among manufacturers, the organisation aims to foster innovation, support business development and strengthen the competitiveness of Pakistani industry.
