Design Registration Fees and Timeline in Pakistan

The fees are set by the First Schedule to the Registered Designs Rules 2023 (rule 3(1)). IPO-Pakistan’s design “Fee & Forms” page lists the same figures:

Each fee is paid when the form is filed (rule 3(4)), and fees are not refunded, whether or not the proceeding takes place (rule 3(5)). The Rules allow payment by pay order, postal order, demand draft on a scheduled bank, or electronic means or another manner notified by IPO-Pakistan, payable to the Director General (rule 3(2)). IPO-Pakistan’s 2024 filing guidelines refer to a cheque in favour of the Director General. Check the accepted method with the Patent Office before you pay.

Official fees for a straightforward registration

These examples are our arithmetic on the published figures. They assume no objection, no extension and no hearing.

A “set of articles” means articles of the same general character, ordinarily sold or used together, that carry the same design or minor variations of it (section 2(m)). Whether articles form a set is decided by the Registrar.

Each class of articles needs its own application. Where the same design is to be registered for more than one class, a separate application is made for each class, and each is treated as a distinct application (rule 8(4)). Each one carries its own filing and certificate fees.

IPO-Pakistan publishes average processing times for its Design Office. They are averages, not guarantees:

The Rules also set targets for the Office. The examiner reports to the Registrar within two months of receiving the application (rule 13(2)). If there is no objection, an acceptance letter issues within one month (rule 13(3)). Information about the rights in a registered design, requested on Form D-11, is to be given within ten working days (rule 27).

Deadlines that affect the cost

These deadlines decide whether extra forms and fees are needed:

• Priority: an application that claims priority from a first application in a Convention country is filed within six months of that first application (section 12(1); rule 12(1)). Members of the World Trade Organization are Convention countries, and the Federal Government may notify others (section 11). A certified copy of the first application is filed within three months of the Pakistan filing date (rule 12(3)). A translation, if the Registrar directs one, is due within two months of the direction (rule 12(6)).
• Objections: the applicant has two months from the examination report to remove the objections or apply for a hearing. Otherwise the application is treated as withdrawn (rule 13(4)). The period can be extended on Form D-4, with the fee, to no more than six months from the date of the first examination report.
• Hearing: a hearing is requested on Form D-14 within two months of the examination report (rule 13(5)). The applicant gets notice of the date: usually at least ten days’ notice, or shorter notice the Registrar considers reasonable (rule 13(7)).
• Certificate: after acceptance, Form D-5 and the PKR 3,000 fee are filed within thirty days (rule 13(3)).
• Appeal: an appeal against the Registrar’s decision on an application (and the other decisions listed in rule 20(1)) goes to the High Court within ninety days of the decision, counted from the date it is received (rule 20; section 5(6)).
• Other periods in the Rules can be extended by the Registrar by up to three months on Form D-4 (rule 34), at PKR 1,000 per month.

A registration lasts ten years from the date of registration (section 7(1)). A design is registered as of the date of the application, unless the Registrar directs another date (section 5(5)). A design filed with a priority claim is registered as of the date of the first application in the Convention country (section 12(2)).

The Registrar extends the registration for a second ten-year period and then a third, if the extension is applied for and the fee is paid before the current period expires (section 7(3)). The application is made on Form D-5 (rule 16). The maximum term is therefore thirty years. The official fees are PKR 4,000 for the second period and PKR 6,000 for the third.

If the deadline is missed, the Ordinance allows the extension to be applied for and paid within a further period of no more than six months, with an additional fee (section 7(3)). Under the Rules, the proprietor applies on Form D-4 within six months of the date on which the design ceased to have effect, with the unpaid fee, the late fee and a verified statement of the circumstances (rule 17).

No infringement proceedings can be taken for acts committed before the date on which the registration certificate is issued (section 5(5)).

The published schedule is the floor, not the whole budget. It does not include:

• professional fees for preparing the application, replying to objections and attending hearings, which are quoted per matter;
• stamp duty on the agent authorisation, Form D-13 (rule 29);
• preparing the representations: the Rules accept drawings, photographs, three-dimensional modelling or a combination, on A4 sheets, each dated and signed, with a statement of novelty at the bottom (rule 10), and the Registrar can ask for a specimen as well (rule 10(3));
• for a priority claim, the certified copy of the first application and any translation (rule 12); and
• extra applications where a design is needed in more than one class (rule 8(4)).

Some subject matter cannot be registered as a design. The Registrar refuses designs for paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, photographs, architectural works of art, other works of artistic craftsmanship, designs contrary to public order or morality, and trade marks and trade dress (rule 11(1)). Words, letters or numerals that are not essential to the design are removed from the representation (rule 11(2)).

An applicant can deal with the Registrar directly or through an authorised agent (rule 28). The agent is appointed on Form D-13 (rule 29). For design matters, the Rules define an agent as one registered under rule 45 of the Patents Rules 2003 (rule 2(1)(a)), and a person may authorise a legal practitioner or a patent agent to act (rule 32(2)). The Registrar may refuse to recognise an agent who is not entitled to practise as a patent agent under the Patents Ordinance 2000 (section 26). Registered trade mark agents are on a separate register, kept under the Trade Marks Rules 2004.

Every applicant gives an address for service in Pakistan (rule 32(1)). If the applicant’s own address is outside Pakistan, the Registrar need not examine the application until an address for service in Pakistan is provided (rule 32(4)). Foreign applicants can meet this requirement through Pakistan IP local counsel. Patent applications go to the same Patent Office; the steps for overseas applicants are in our guide to Pakistan patent filing for foreign applicants.

A registered design protects the appearance of an article: features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament, applied by an industrial process and judged by the eye. It does not cover a method or principle of construction, or features dictated only by technical and functional considerations (section 2(e)). The design must be new or original. It is not new if, before the filing date, the same design was registered in Pakistan or published anywhere in the world (section 3(2)). A disclosure in the twelve months before the filing or priority date is not counted against novelty if it resulted from acts of the applicant or a predecessor in title, or from an abuse by a third party (section 3(3)); the application must include a statement claiming this (rule 9).

A product’s name and logo are protected differently. Trade marks are excluded from design registration (rule 11(1)) and are registered at the Trade Marks Registry instead. The official trade mark fees are in our trademark registration cost and timeline guide. At Raza & Associates, Hashim Raza is a Registered Trade Mark Agent with IPO-Pakistan (Trade Marks Registry), registration No. TM-215/20, on the Register of Trade Mark Agents since 25 January 2019.

Copyright is a third route, and rule 11(3) marks the line. A design is treated as used as a model or pattern to be multiplied by an industrial process, within the meaning of the Copyright Ordinance 1962, when it is reproduced, or meant to be reproduced, in more than fifty single articles (unless all of them together form a single set), or when it is applied to printed paper, carpets and floor-cloths, textile goods or laces not made by hand. Copyright fees and timings are in our copyright registration cost and timeline guide.

The fees, times and rules on this page come from the official sources below. Each was checked on 13 October 2026.

• IPO-Pakistan, Industrial Design Fee & Forms: the official fees for Forms D-1 to D-14.
• IPO-Pakistan, Average process time for Services of Design Office: the published processing times.
• Registered Designs Ordinance 2000 (copy hosted by IPO-Pakistan): term, renewal, priority, novelty and agents.
• Registered Designs Rules 2023, S.R.O. 341(I)/2023, Gazette of Pakistan, Extraordinary, 11 March 2023 (copy hosted by IPO-Pakistan): the First Schedule of fees and the procedural time limits.
• IPO-Pakistan, Guidelines to Register Industrial Design in Pakistan (2024): filing practice and payment.

Raza & Associates is listed in Tier 3 of The Legal 500 ranking for Pakistan intellectual property. It is an intellectual property and corporate law firm, established in 2005, with its head office in Lahore and offices in London and Singapore.

The firm’s design services cover filing strategy, application preparation, prosecution support, renewals, portfolio management, assignments, licensing and enforcement coordination; see our design law practice. The ranking, the firm’s awards and its memberships are listed on our Legal 500 ranking, awards and memberships page. To discuss a design, contact us.

This guide summarises the Registered Designs Ordinance 2000, the Registered Designs Rules 2023 (S.R.O. 341(I)/2023), and IPO-Pakistan’s design fee page, average process time page and 2024 design filing guidelines, as read on 13 October 2026 (see the official sources above). Fees change, so check IPO-Pakistan’s current fee page before you file. This guide is not legal advice on any particular matter.