Media should raise awareness of counterfeit, fake products

ISLAMABAD,Sept 11: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervez Rasheed on Wednesday said media had not played its due role in raising awareness of counterfeit, fake and infringed products. “Media can play pivotal role in raising awareness of the menace of counterfeiting and piracy affecting the rights of consumers and investors,” the minister said, adding that the intellectual property right is key to success of any business.  Senator Rasheed was addressing a workshop ‘Role of media in projecting legitimate business practices and curbing piracy’ here on Wednesday.  The workshop was organised by Anti Counterfeit and Infringement Forum (ACIF) a group of multinational and local corporates, who have been hit by locally manufactured fake or counterfeited smuggled products. The minister assured that measures should be taken to protect Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of a person and implementation of Intellectual property laws is crucial for economy, businesses and consumers protection in the country.  The minister said that public and private sector should come closer and share their opinion and expertise to devise means required to curb the evils of counterfeiting, piracy and smuggling.  “Counterfeiting, piracy, substandard production and smuggling are barriers to innovation and economic progress of a country, causing losses worth billions of rupees to the national exchequer on the account of tax evasion,” he added.

However, neither the minister nor the officials concerned provided any future course of action and roadmap to counter open sale of pirated products in the country.

 

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