Intellectual Property

Patent Registration in Pakistan: From Filing at the Karachi Patent Office to Grant and Enforcement

Many patent problems in Pakistan begin before any form is filed: the product is already on sale, a research paper has gone out, or a pitch deck has been shared with investors without a confidentiality agreement. The Patents Ordinance, 2000 rewards the first person to file a properly drafted specification and gives almost no credit for earlier disclosure. Inventors and manufacturers looking for the best patent lawyer in Karachi usually need one question answered first: whether the invention is still new under section 8, and in what order to file in Pakistan and abroad. This guide follows an application through the statute in the order it actually moves.

What can be patented: the three tests and the statutory exclusions

Section 7(1) of the Patents Ordinance, 2000 states the core rule: an invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step and is capable of industrial application. Each limb has its own section.

• Novelty (section 8). The invention must not form part of the “state of the art”, which covers anything made available to the public anywhere in the world, by publication, oral description, use or otherwise, before the filing or priority date. Section 8(2)(c) adds a point many applicants miss: knowledge traditionally held by local or indigenous communities also counts as prior art.
• Inventive step (section 9). The invention must not have been obvious to a person skilled in the art, judged against that same body of prior art.
• Industrial application (section 10). It must be capable of being made or used in some kind of industry.

Pakistan has no general grace period for an inventor's own disclosures. The only statutory relief is section 8(3), which disregards a display at an official or officially recognised international exhibition within twelve months before filing. A conference paper, a crowdfunding video or a demonstration at an ordinary trade fair can therefore destroy novelty outright.

Section 7(2) lists things that are not inventions at all: discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods; literary, artistic or purely aesthetic creations; schemes, rules or methods for mental acts, games or doing business; presentations of information; and substances found in nature, even if isolated. Under section 7(3) these exclusions bite only on the subject matter “as such”. Section 7(2) does not name computer programs, so software-related claims are judged on whether they are, in substance, an excluded business or mathematical method or a technical contribution. IPO-Pakistan has published little guidance, so drafting decides most cases.

Section 7(4) separately bars patents for inventions whose commercial exploitation must be prevented to protect public order or morality (including human, animal or plant life, health or the environment); plants and animals other than micro-organisms; diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods of treatment; new or subsequent uses of a known product or process; and mere changes in the physical appearance of a known chemical product. The last two exclusions matter most for medicines, which we cover in patent protection for medicines in Pakistan. New plant varieties are protected under a separate statute; see plant breeders’ rights in Pakistan.

Who may apply, and filing abroad from Pakistan

Under section 11(1), an application may be made by the true and first inventor, by the inventor’s assignee or successor in interest, or by the legal representative of a deceased person who was entitled to apply. Several people may apply jointly. Under section 13(1) an inventor who is not the applicant is still entitled to be named.

Ownership disputes usually arise inside organisations. Section 12 deals with inventions made by employees, and section 36 allows the Controller or the court to settle employer–employee disputes. In practice, a signed assignment from every contributor should be on file before the application is lodged. IPO-Pakistan’s filing guidelines also call for a no-objection certificate where the applicant is a student or employee of a university or research institute.

Applicants in Karachi also need to watch section 26. A person resident in Pakistan may not apply for a patent outside Pakistan for the same invention without the Controller’s written permission, unless a Pakistani application was filed at least six weeks earlier and no secrecy direction under section 25 is in force. Breach is an offence under section 71. A local start-up that files a US provisional first can fall foul of this rule.

Every applicant must give an address for service in Pakistan (rule 7, Patents Rules, 2003). Only registered patent agents may practise as such (section 82), and the Controller must refuse to recognise an agent who has neither a residence nor a place of business in Pakistan (section 84(2)).

Provisional or complete specification: choosing how to file

Section 14(1) allows an ordinary (non-Convention) application to be accompanied by either a provisional or a complete specification. A Convention application claiming foreign priority must be filed with a complete specification. If the applicant starts with a provisional, the complete specification must follow within twelve months of the filing date or the application is treated as abandoned (section 14(2)).

Point	Provisional specification	Complete specification
Purpose	Secures a filing date while development continues	Defines the monopoly and is examined
Claims	Not required	Required; must be clear, succinct and fairly based on the description (section 15(4))
Content	Describes the invention in general terms	Must describe the invention fully and how to perform it, followed by claims and an abstract (section 15(3), (6))
IPO forms	P-1 or P-1A with P-3	P-1 or P-1A with P-3A (Convention: P-2 or P-2A)

A provisional filing is useful, but it is not a free option. The complete specification may include developments made after the provisional (section 15(5)). However, if it claims matter that goes beyond the provisional, an opponent can rely on section 23(1)(e) where that matter was published in the meantime. The safest course is a provisional that already describes the working embodiments in detail.

Each application may cover only one invention (section 13(3)). An applicant may divide an application before acceptance, and divisionals keep the original dates (section 13(4)–(5)). Lack of unity is not itself a ground for invalidating a granted patent (section 13(6)). Applications may be lodged in Islamabad, Lahore or Karachi, but prosecution is handled by the Patent Office in Karachi.

Examination, acceptance and publication

Every application with a complete specification is referred to an examiner, who reports on novelty, inventive step and compliance with the Ordinance (section 16(1)). Objections are communicated in writing, and the applicant may amend or ask for a hearing, which is fixed on at least ten days’ notice (rule 14, Patents Rules, 2003). Section 20 lets the Controller ask about corresponding foreign applications, so keep foreign search reports and allowed claims to hand.

The original Ordinance set an eighteen-month timetable for putting an application in order. That fixed timetable was removed by amendment (Patents (Amendment) Act, 2010, following a 2009 Ordinance). Pendency now depends on the Patent Office’s workload rather than a statutory deadline, so applicants should plan on a multi-year process.

Once the complete specification is accepted, the Controller notifies the applicant and advertises the acceptance in the official Gazette and the Patents Journal. The file then becomes open to public inspection (section 21). From acceptance, the applicant has the same rights as if the patent had been sealed, but cannot sue for infringement until it is actually sealed (section 22). After publication, any person may also file written observations on novelty with supporting evidence (section 24). The observer does not become a party.

Opposition under section 23, sealing and the rights granted

Any person may oppose the grant within four months of the advertisement of acceptance (section 23(1)). The grounds are limited to:

1. the applicant obtained the invention from the opponent or someone the opponent represents;
2. the invention is not patentable under the Ordinance;
3. the specification does not disclose the invention clearly and completely enough for a skilled person to carry it out;
4. the claims are unclear or go beyond the disclosure as filed; or
5. the complete specification claims matter beyond the provisional, and that matter is the subject of the opponent’s own application or was published in the interval.

Procedure is set by rule 18 of the Patents Rules, 2003. The opponent files Form P-7 with a statement. The applicant has two months to file a counter-statement. Evidence then follows in two-month stages, and the hearing is fixed on at least thirty days’ notice.

If there is no opposition, or it fails, the applicant requests sealing on Form P-10. Under section 27(2) the request must be made within six months of publication of the complete specification. That period may be extended by six months under section 27(3), or runs from the final decision where proceedings are pending. The patent is dated as of the filing date, or the earliest Convention date (section 29).

Section 30 gives the owner of a product patent the right to stop others making, using, offering, selling or importing the product. For a process patent, it covers use of the process and dealings in the product directly obtained by it. The section 30(5) exceptions include goods already put on the market anywhere by or with the owner’s consent, purely experimental acts, good-faith prior users, teaching and research, and acts needed to obtain regulatory approval for sale after expiry.

Term, renewal, restoration and compulsory licences

A patent lasts twenty years from the filing date (section 31). It must be kept alive by renewal fees. Under rule 24(1) of the Patents Rules, 2003 the first renewal falls due at the end of the fourth year from the date of the patent, and further renewals fall due at the end of each year after that. Fees may be paid in advance. A missed payment causes the patent to lapse, although section 32 allows the period to be extended by up to six months on payment of an additional fee. Official fees are set by the Schedule to the Rules and change from time to time.

A lapsed patent can be restored on an application made within eighteen months of lapse (section 45). The proprietor must show that reasonable care was taken and that the failure was due to circumstances beyond its control. Anyone who started using the invention in good faith during the lapse is protected. Restoration is discretionary; diarising renewal dates is the better protection.

The Ordinance contains two separate compulsory-use routes:

• Government or third-party use (section 58). The Federal Government may authorise exploitation without the owner’s consent on public-interest grounds (national security, nutrition, health or vital economic sectors). It may also do so where the owner’s exploitation is anti-competitive, where the owner refuses a licence on reasonable terms, or where the patent is not worked in a way that promotes technology transfer. The owner must be heard and paid adequate remuneration, and an appeal lies to the High Court (section 58(12)).
• Compulsory licence from the Controller (section 59). This may be sought after four years from filing or three years from grant, whichever is later, mainly to address non-working. The owner can resist by showing legitimate reasons for not exploiting the invention in Pakistan.

Foreign applicants: Paris Convention priority, and why the PCT route is closed

The Paris Convention entered into force for Pakistan on 22 July 2004. Section 2 of the Ordinance treats every WTO member, and any country notified under section 86, as a “Convention country”. An applicant who first filed in such a country may file in Pakistan within twelve months, claim that earlier date, and must lodge a certified copy of the foreign application with an English translation if needed (section 88).

Pakistan is not a contracting state of the Patent Cooperation Treaty. WIPO’s current list of states bound by the Paris Convention but not the PCT still includes Pakistan. IPO-Pakistan announced in late 2023 that it aimed to accede within two years and consulted on related amendments to the Ordinance, but no accession had been recorded when this guide was updated in October 2026. The practical consequences are significant:

• A PCT application cannot “enter the national phase” in Pakistan at 30 or 31 months.
• Pakistan must be covered by a direct national filing within the twelve-month Paris window.
• Once that window closes and the PCT application is published, the invention will usually no longer be new in Pakistan.

Filing programmes built around the PCT should treat Pakistan as a hard twelve-month deadline, and recheck the position before filing in case accession changes the route.

Enforcement: forum, remedies and threats

Section 60(1) of the Ordinance still refers to an infringement suit in the District Court. Since the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan Act, 2012 came into force, however, civil suits for infringement of the IP laws listed in its Schedule, including the Patents Ordinance, must be filed in the IP Tribunal (section 18(1)), and that Act prevails over inconsistent laws (section 39). Section 60(1) also says that a counterclaim for revocation sends the case to the High Court. That provision has not been amended to fit the Tribunal scheme, so check current practice on revocation counterclaims before filing. See our guide to IP Tribunal jurisdiction and procedure.

• Remedies (section 61). Damages, injunctions and accounts are available. So are prompt provisional measures, including orders made without notice to preserve evidence or stop infringing goods entering commerce, though the court may require security.
• Process patents. Where the patent covers a process for a new product, an identical product is presumed to have been made by that process unless the defendant proves otherwise (section 61(1)(b)).
• Innocent infringers. Damages are not awarded against a defendant who did not know, and had no reasonable grounds to suspect, that the patent existed, but an injunction is still available (section 62).
• Defences. Every ground for revocation can be raised as a defence (section 60(2)). Any interested person may also petition the High Court for revocation under section 46.

Patent owners should be careful with warning letters. Section 66 lets a person threatened with infringement proceedings sue for a declaration, an injunction and damages unless the threatened acts are shown to infringe a valid claim. A bare notice that a patent exists is not a threat. Read how to frame a cease and desist letter before sending one. Appeals from the Controller’s decisions lie to the High Court within three months (section 69). Appeals from a final judgment of the IP Tribunal lie to the High Court within thirty days (section 19, IPO-Pakistan Act, 2012).

Common questions

This article is general information about Pakistani law and procedure, not legal advice for any specific matter. If this touches on something you're currently facing, get in touch and we'll advise on your facts directly.