Filing a Trade Mark in Pakistan from the United Kingdom

• No multi-class applications. Rule 13 of the Trade Marks Rules 2004 confines every application to one class, and rule 14 treats the same mark in different classes as separate applications, each on Form TM-1 (rule 12(2)). A UK multi-class filing translates into one Pakistani application per class, each at the full official fee. This is the single biggest budgeting difference.
• Convention priority is six months, not the patent's twelve. Section 25(2) of the Trade Marks Ordinance 2001 gives six months from the first convention application. Pakistan has been a Paris Convention party since 22 July 2004.
• The opposition period is short and hard-edged. Two months from advertisement, extendable by no more than two further months in the aggregate (s.28(2); rule 30(1)). Rule 80(3) expressly removes the opposition and counter-statement periods from the Registrar's general power to extend time.
• An address for service in Pakistan is mandatory. Rule 9(1) requires one from every applicant, opponent, and party to revocation, invalidation or rectification proceedings. Rule 9(6) gives a two-month notice, after which the application is treated as abandoned or the party is deemed to have withdrawn.
• Series marks exist. Rule 21 provides for applications to register a series, and Form TM-11 covers registration of a series within one class — so a series of marks can be filed, within the single-class constraint.
• Filing is in English. Rule 22 requires a transliteration of words in non-Roman characters unless the Registrar directs otherwise, and under rule 23 the Registrar may ask for a translation of words not in English; IPO-Pakistan's guidelines ask for both, by affidavit, where the mark is not in English or Urdu.

National filing

Form TM-1 for a direct application, or Form TM-2 where convention priority is claimed, each at an official fee of PKR 3,000 per mark per class. IPO-Pakistan's filing guidelines direct a foreign applicant to file "through their duly authorized attorney or advocate in Pakistan".

The registration fee falls due later, on the demand notice, at PKR 9,000 on Form TM-11. A Registry search on Form TM-55 costs PKR 1,000 per mark per class and is usually worth running before commitment.

Madrid designation through the UKIPO

Pakistan acceded to the Madrid Protocol with effect from 24 May 2021, so a UK trade mark or application can support an international registration designating Pakistan, with the UKIPO as office of origin. IPO-Pakistan sets out its own role as designated Contracting Party: the Trade Marks Registry records the international registration notified by WIPO, examines it under the Trade Marks Ordinance and Rules, publishes it in the Trade Marks Journal, and issues a provisional refusal to the International Bureau where it objects on examination or where a third party opposes after publication. It then withdraws or confirms the refusal, wholly or partly, and notifies protection accordingly.

So the designation is examined to the same standard, advertised in the same Journal, and open to the same two-month opposition as a national filing. The difference is when local counsel is needed: at provisional refusal rather than at filing — and at that point the response periods are already running and a stamped, notarised Form TM-48 has to be put in place quickly.

Note also that an international registration remains dependent on its basic mark for five years under the Madrid Protocol. Where the UK application is itself contested, a national Pakistani filing avoids importing that risk.

Rule 10 of the Trade Marks Rules 2004 requires the authorisation of an agent — a legal practitioner or a registered trade mark agent — to be executed on Form TM-48. The form is expressed to be stamped under the Stamp Act 1899, and IPO-Pakistan's published filing guidelines state that the applicant "has to authorize an agent through Form TM-48 (Power of Attorney) duly stamped and notarized".

Neither the Rules nor IPO-Pakistan's guidelines require consular legalisation. Where a legalised document is nonetheless required in a particular matter, Pakistan has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 9 March 2023 (accession 8 July 2022), and the United Kingdom is a contracting state, so an apostille issued in the United Kingdom replaces consular legalisation between the two.

There is no official fee for Form TM-48. The cost is provincial stamp duty and the notarial fee.

• The mark, with eight clear reproductions in any colour, form or three-dimensional feature. A colour claim confines the proprietor to the claimed colours; no claim leaves the mark usable in any colour.
• The applicant's full name, description and nationality. For a company, rule 8(3) requires the country of incorporation and the nature of the registration; for a partnership, the full name and nationality of every partner.
• The full trade or business address, given as fully as possible (rule 8(2)).
• The specification and the Pakistani class or classes it falls in.
• Priority particulars where a convention claim is made inside the six-month window.
• Form TM-48, stamped and notarised.
• An address for service in Pakistan.
• Transliteration and translation by affidavit where the mark is not in English or Urdu.

Official fees are payable by pay order or bank draft in favour of the Director General, IPO-Pakistan; the Trade Marks Registry does not accept cash. Local counsel normally disburses and bills on.

IPO-Pakistan publishes target disposal times per office action for the Trade Marks Registry: fifteen days to acknowledgement, four months to the first examination report, three months to act on a reply, two months to acceptance and publication, six months through acceptance, publication, the two-month opposition window and issue of the demand notice, and three months from receipt of the demand-notice fee to the certificate. A TM-55 search report is targeted at fifteen days.

Taking those published steps in sequence, an application that draws no objection and no opposition is in the region of thirteen months from filing to certificate; one that draws an examination report, adding the applicant's two-month reply period and the registry's three months to act on it, is in the region of eighteen months. IPO-Pakistan publishes no figure for opposed applications, stating that these turn on the case. The arithmetic is ours; the component figures are the registry's, and they are targets rather than guarantees.

Diary deadlines:

• Reply to an examination report — two months from the Registrar's communication; otherwise the application is deemed abandoned (rule 27(2)). Restoration on Form TM-57 within two months of abandonment (rule 27(3)).
• Opposition — two months from advertisement, extendable to no more than four in aggregate (s.28(2), rule 30(1)).
• Counter-statement — one month from receipt of the notice, extendable to two months in aggregate; otherwise the application is deemed abandoned (rule 30(2)).
• Opponent's evidence — two months from receipt of the counter-statement; no evidence means the opposition is deemed abandoned (rules 30(5)–(6)).
• Completing registration — twelve months from the application date is the statutory backstop (s.33(5)); the Registrar's rule 32 notice specifies twenty-one days.
• Term and renewal — ten years from the date of registration, which section 33(3) deems to be the filing date (s.34(1)). Renewal on Form TM-12 at PKR 15,000 within the six months ending on expiry (rule 51); a further six months from advertisement of non-payment on payment of an additional PKR 900 (rule 52(1)); restoration on Form TM-13 at PKR 3,000 within six months of removal (rule 53).
• Evidence of use — except on a first renewal, the Registrar may require evidence of use in Pakistan with the renewal request (s.35(5)). UK proprietors holding Pakistani registrations defensively should plan for this.

Section 18 of the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan Act 2012 provides that all suits and other civil proceedings regarding infringement of the intellectual property laws are to be instituted and tried in the Intellectual Property Tribunals, which also have exclusive jurisdiction over offences under those laws. Section 17 gives a Tribunal the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 in its civil jurisdiction and of a Court of Sessions under the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 in its criminal jurisdiction. An appeal lies to the High Court having territorial jurisdiction over the Tribunal, within thirty days of the final judgment or order (s.19).

Raza & Associates maintains an office in London alongside its Lahore head office and its Singapore presence. UK companies and professional advisers can coordinate Pakistan portfolio work through a local team that reports filing requirements, deadlines, office correspondence and enforcement developments clearly.

The firm and its attorneys hold memberships of INTA, AIPPI, FICPI, APAA, MARQUES, ECTA and LES.

This page concerns Pakistan law and Pakistan proceedings and does not provide foreign-jurisdiction legal advice or UK representation.

For the UK-facing service and the London office. Pakistan IP counsel for UK companies and law firms

For the filing route and requirements in more detail. Pakistan trademark filing for foreign applicants

For official fees and the full timetable. Trademark registration cost and timeline in Pakistan

For clearance before commitment. Trademark search and clearance in Pakistan

For the contested route after advertisement. Trademark opposition in Pakistan

To instruct on a Pakistan matter. Pakistan IP local counsel