Innovation Incubators in Pakistan — Part 7 of 12 · By Sameer Sami, Founder & Principal Attorney, SAMI & SAMI (Attorneys-at-Law)
“Not every innovator can run a business — but every innovator deserves to benefit from what they create.”
Millions of Pakistanis have technical skills but lack formal degrees. Incubators can formalize their contributions — but only if they train innovators on the IP tools that actually exist under Pakistani law.
IPO-Pakistan — established under the IPO-Pakistan Ordinance 2005, now the IPO-Pakistan Act 2012 — administers four registries, each under its own law:
Patents (Patents Ordinance 2000) — new, inventive, industrially applicable inventions, protected for 20 years.
Registered Industrial Designs (Registered Designs Ordinance 2000) — a product’s visual appearance, protected for up to 30 years across three renewal terms.
Trademarks (Trade Marks Ordinance 2001) — brand names and logos, letting a manufacturer sell under its own name rather than as an unbranded subcontractor.
Copyright (Copyright Ordinance 1962, amended 2000) — original creative and written works, protected for the author’s life plus 50 years.
One correction is worth repeating: unlike some countries, Pakistan has no separate “utility model” or petty-patent registration route — the same is true in the UK. Minor, incremental innovations must instead be protected through a standard patent or a registered design, whichever fits.
Incubators should train innovators to use these four real tools correctly, and build licensing and royalty frameworks around them so companies can license grassroots technologies and inventors earn royalties with legal protection from exploitation.