How to Choose an IP Lawyer in Pakistan

Trade Marks

Any act under the Trade Marks Ordinance 2001, other than making an affidavit, may be done by a duly authorised agent registered with the Trade Marks Registry (s.127(1)). Under the Trade Marks Rules 2004:

• the agent is appointed on Form TM-48 and must be a legal practitioner or a registered trade mark agent (r.10); a legal practitioner need not be on the register of trade mark agents (r.127(3));
• a registered trade mark agent must be resident in Pakistan and a Pakistani citizen, and qualifies by examination or by long service at the Registry (r.116); and
• the Registry keeps the register of trade mark agents (r.115) and issues each registered agent a certificate on Form O-4 (r.121).

An applicant who does not reside or carry on business in Pakistan must give an address for service in Pakistan (s.126(1)). IPO-Pakistan’s filing guidelines say a foreign national should file through a duly authorised attorney or advocate in Pakistan.

What an overseas applicant provides, and when, is set out in our guide to Pakistan trademark filing for foreign applicants.

Patents

The Patents Ordinance 2000 sets its own rules:

• a “patent agent” means an advocate or a person registered as a patent agent (s.2(l));
• only a Pakistani citizen aged at least twenty-one with the prescribed qualifications can be registered as a patent agent (s.80); and
• the Controller must refuse to recognise as agent anyone who neither resides nor has a place of business in Pakistan (s.84(2)).

IPO-Pakistan’s electronic Patent Agent Register has been public since 1 January 2024. Its page says that only registered patent agents with active certificates may do patent agency work and use the title.

What to check: ask who will sign the Form TM-48 or act on your patent application, and in which of the capacities above. Where someone describes themselves as a registered patent agent, look the name up on IPO-Pakistan’s register.

The patent steps for overseas applicants are covered in our guide to Pakistan patent filing for foreign applicants.

The Legal 500, Chambers and Partners and Managing IP’s IP STARS each publish a Pakistan intellectual property ranking, and each explains its own method.

The Legal 500

The Legal 500 researches Pakistan for its Asia Pacific guide. Its research is based on firms’ written submissions and on follow-up research with firms and their referees (clients, introducers of work or counsel), who answer in confidence. Submitting costs nothing. The Legal 500 also sells firm profiles, which the firms write. In its words, “the editorial research is independent of the sales process”, and some firms that pay for profiles are not recommended. Firms are ranked alphabetically within tiers.

Chambers and Partners

Chambers and Partners ranks Pakistan intellectual property in its Asia-Pacific guide, “in bands from 1 (highest) to 7 (lowest)”. It assesses qualities such as technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service and commercial astuteness. It interviews selected references that a firm supplies and uses other market sources. Participation is free, and a submission is “only part of the ranking process”. A lawyer can be ranked when the firm is not, and the reverse.

Managing IP: IP STARS

IP STARS runs six months of research a year, weighing submissions, public data such as court and IP office records, and market feedback. Firms are ranked alphabetically in tiers, or as “highly recommended” or “recommended”. Smaller jurisdictions are ranked for intellectual property as a whole; the 2026 Pakistan page shows one “Intellectual property” category. IP STARS states that no one can pay to be ranked and that a lower tier does not mean low-quality service. A firm that merely appears on its website, perhaps with a paid profile, is not ranked.

Other Directories

WTR 1000 (trade marks) and IAM Patent 1000 (patents) publish their own research methodologies. Check whether the current edition covers Pakistan before relying on either.

How to Use Rankings

• Check the publication, edition and practice table. An IP ranking says nothing about a corporate practice, and the reverse.
• Separate rankings from profiles. The Legal 500 and IP STARS both sell profiles alongside their rankings; only the ranking table is their assessment.
• Ignore the order within a tier. The Legal 500 and IP STARS list firms alphabetically.
• Look at people. Ask whether the lawyers named in a ranking will work on your matter.
• Absence is not a verdict. Rankings depend partly on firms taking part, and IP STARS says it does not rank every IP firm.
• An award is not a ranking. Managing IP, for one, keeps its awards separate from IP STARS.

“IP” covers different jobs: filing and prosecution; oppositions; enforcement against infringers and counterfeiters; and patent drafting and prosecution. Ask for examples of matters like yours, without confidential details. Foreign instructing counsel should also ask how, how often and in what format the firm reports.

Oppositions run to fixed periods: notice must be given within two months of advertisement in the Trade Marks Journal, extendable by no more than two months in total (s.28(2), Trade Marks Ordinance 2001). The steps are set out in our guide to trademark opposition in Pakistan.

• A trade mark is registered for ten years from the date of registration, which is the filing date, and is renewable for further ten-year periods (ss.33(3) and 34, Trade Marks Ordinance 2001).
• Renewal on Form TM-12 may be requested in the six months before expiry (r.51, Trade Marks Rules 2004). After expiry, the Registrar advertises the non-payment, and the mark can still be renewed with an additional fee within six months of that advertisement (r.52(1)).
• Every applicant must file an address for service in Pakistan (r.9(1)). If it is missing and is not filed within two months of the Registrar’s notice, the application is treated as abandoned (r.9(6)).
• A patent’s term is twenty years (s.31, Patents Ordinance 2000). It ceases if a renewal fee is not paid in time; the time to pay can be extended by up to six months with an additional fee (s.32(2)).

Ask how deadlines are recorded and checked, when you will be reminded, and whether the firm watches the Trade Marks Journal for conflicting marks.

Renewal and ownership changes are covered in our guide to trademark renewal and recordal in Pakistan.

IPO-Pakistan publishes its official fees on its “Fee & Forms” pages, and trade mark applications are charged per class. Ask for a quotation that separates official fees, professional fees for each stage, and disbursements such as stamping and notarising the Form TM-48 (IPO-Pakistan’s filing guidelines ask for it to be “duly stamped and notarized”). Ask what changes if there is an objection or opposition. Quotations can only be compared when official fees are shown separately.

The official trade mark fees and the registry’s published processing times are in our trademark registration cost and timeline guide.

For patents, see patent fees and timelines in Pakistan.

The Pakistan Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Rules 1976, in the text published on Pakistan Code, set out canons of conduct for advocates. Under them, an advocate must not act against a client or former client where confidential information was obtained (r.146), must disclose any relationship with the adverse party (r.147), and must not represent conflicting interests (r.148). Ask for a conflict check, with the other parties’ names, before you send confidential details.

The same canons provide that an advocate “shall not solicit professional employment by advertisement or by any other means”, while allowing conventional directory listings limited to qualifications and offices held (r.135). Whatever the rules allow, what a firm says about its own standing is its description of itself, not a ranking. Check it against the directories’ published tables and, for patent agents, IPO-Pakistan’s register.

1. Who will act on my matter, and in what capacity: legal practitioner or advocate, registered trade mark agent or registered patent agent?
2. If a registered patent agent will act, does that name appear on IPO-Pakistan’s Patent Agent Register?
3. Which publication ranks the firm, in which edition, table and tier or band?
4. Have you handled this type of matter (filing, opposition, enforcement or patents) recently?
5. Will you be my address for service in Pakistan, and who signs the Form TM-48?
6. How are deadlines docketed, and when will I hear about renewals?
7. Can the quotation show official fees, professional fees and disbursements separately?
8. Have you run a conflict check against the other parties?

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.

As a Pakistan intellectual property law firm, Raza & Associates advises on trade marks, patents, copyright and industrial designs.

The ranking, the firm’s awards and its memberships are listed on our Legal 500 ranking, awards and memberships page.

For trade mark filing, prosecution and enforcement, see Trademark registration and trademark lawyers in Pakistan.

For patent filing and prosecution, see Patent registration and patent lawyers in Pakistan.

Overseas companies and law firms can instruct the firm through Pakistan IP local counsel for foreign companies and law firms.

To discuss a matter, contact us.

This guide summarises the Trade Marks Ordinance 2001, the Trade Marks Rules 2004, the Patents Ordinance 2000, the Pakistan Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Rules 1976 (as published on Pakistan Code), IPO-Pakistan’s published pages and the directories’ published methods, as read on 5 October 2026. It is not legal advice on any particular matter.