Trademark Squatting in Pakistan: Your Options When Someone Else Filed Your Mark

The common patterns are familiar to anyone who handles foreign brands in Pakistan:

• a distributor or importer registers the foreign principal’s mark in its own name, sometimes years into the relationship;
• a local trader files a mark that is known abroad but not yet sold in Pakistan;
• a former licensee or franchisee files after the relationship ends;
• someone registers a domain name or company name built on the brand, hoping to sell it.

The TMO addresses each of these. An application made in bad faith cannot be registered (s.14(4)). A filing can be opposed on the ground that the applicant is not the proprietor of the mark (s.29(3)(a)). There are specific rules for filings by an agent, representative or importer of a foreign proprietor (s.90) and for well-known marks (ss.18(1)(c), 29(4) and 86). Fraudulently registering or applying to register a trade mark is also an act of unfair competition (s.67(1)(g)).

Before choosing a route, establish the facts on the Register:

• the application or registration number, filing date, class and the goods or services covered;
• its status: under examination, accepted and advertised, or registered;
• the applicant’s name and its address for service;
• if the application has been advertised in the Trade Marks Journal, the date of the advertisement, because the opposition period runs from that date (s.28(2)).

An official search costs PKR 1,000 per class (see the table below). Our guide to trademark search and clearance in Pakistan explains the search options, and IPO-Pakistan publishes the Journal online.

At the same time, start collecting your own evidence: when and where you first used the mark, when it reached Pakistan, any agreements and correspondence with the person who filed, invoices, and anything showing that the filer knew of your brand before the filing date. Bad faith is proved from documents like these.

Once an application is accepted and advertised, any person may oppose it within two months of the advertisement, or within a further period of up to two months in total that the Registrar may allow on request (s.28(2)). The notice must be in writing and state the grounds of opposition (s.28(3)).

The grounds most relevant to squatting are bad faith (s.14(4), which s.29(1) makes a ground of opposition), that the applicant is not the proprietor (s.29(3)(a)), an earlier mark or earlier right, including rights protected by the law of passing off (s.17), and a well-known mark or a mark with a reputation in Pakistan (s.29(4)). Where the applicant is your importer, agent or representative, the Ordinance says registration shall be refused if you oppose (s.90(1)(a)).

Forms, fees and the steps after filing are set out in our guide to trademark opposition in Pakistan.

A registration can be declared invalid if it was registered in breach of s.14, which includes an application made in bad faith (s.80(1) with s.14(4)). It can also be declared invalid because of an earlier trade mark, or an earlier right such as one protected by passing off, unless the owner of that earlier mark or right consented (s.80(3) with s.17).

• Who applies: any interested party, to the Registrar or the High Court; if proceedings about the mark are pending in the High Court, the application must be made there (s.80(4)).
• Form and fee: Form TM-26, official fee PKR 2,250 (IPO-Pakistan fee schedule, checked 13 October 2026).
• Scope: invalidity can be limited to some of the goods or services (s.80(6)).
• Effect: to the extent it is declared invalid, the registration is treated as never having been made, without disturbing transactions past and closed (s.80(7)).

Rectification under s.96 is for correcting errors or omissions in the Register and cannot be used to challenge validity (s.96(1), proviso), so a bad-faith challenge is brought under s.80. The exception is a registration by your agent or representative, where the Ordinance lets you apply for rectification so that your name is substituted as proprietor (s.90(1)(b)(ii)).

Time matters, but bad faith is treated differently. An owner who knowingly tolerates use of a later registered mark for five continuous years loses the right to seek a declaration of invalidity based on its earlier mark, unless the later mark was applied for or used in bad faith (s.81(1)). After five years a registration becomes conclusive as to validity unless it was obtained by fraud or offends s.14(3) (s.44). If a registration is revoked or declared invalid because it was secured in bad faith, the applicant is barred from applying for an identical or similar mark for two years (s.73(7)). Evidence fades, so act promptly in any case.

If the registered owner starts threatening your distributors or customers, an invalidity application and the remedy for groundless threats of infringement proceedings (s.52) can be used together.

Pakistan protects well-known marks of foreign owners even without a registration or sales in Pakistan. The protection applies to a mark entitled to protection as a well-known mark under the Paris Convention that is well known in Pakistan as the mark of a person who is a national of, domiciled in, or has a real and effective business establishment in a Convention country, whether or not that person carries on business or has goodwill in Pakistan (s.86(1)).

Whether a mark is well known is decided on the factors in s.86(2), without requiring registration or actual sales in Pakistan:

• the degree of recognition of the mark in Pakistan or worldwide;
• how distinctive the mark is, inherently or through use;
• the duration and geographical scope of its use and advertising;
• its commercial value, quality and image;
• how exclusively it has been used and registered, and whether identical or similar third-party marks are validly registered or used for the same or similar goods and services.

A mark that was entitled to protection as a well-known mark on the filing or priority date of a later application counts as an earlier trade mark against that application (s.18(1)(c)). That gives its owner grounds to oppose a later filing (s.29(4)) or to have a later registration declared invalid (s.80(3)), and the owner can obtain an injunction against confusing or diluting use in Pakistan (s.86(3)). These rules reflect Article 6bis of the Paris Convention, which requires member countries to refuse or cancel the registration, and prohibit the use, of a mark liable to create confusion with a well-known mark. It allows at least five years from registration to request cancellation, with no time limit for marks registered or used in bad faith.

Being famous abroad is not enough on its own. The question is recognition in Pakistan, judged on evidence: Pakistani media coverage, online reach in Pakistan, sales into Pakistan, registrations in other countries and the history of enforcing the mark.

This is the situation the Ordinance deals with most directly. Where an application is made by an importer, an agent or a representative of the person who owns the mark in a Convention country (s.90(1)):

• if the owner opposes, registration is refused;
• if the mark has been registered without opposition, the owner may apply for a declaration of invalidity, or for rectification of the Register to substitute its own name as proprietor;
• the owner can obtain an injunction against any use of the mark in Pakistan that it has not authorised (s.90(2));
• none of this applies if, or to the extent that, the agent or representative justifies its action (s.90(3)).

There is a deadline. An application for invalidity or substitution must be made within three years of the owner becoming aware of the registration, and no injunction is granted against use the owner has tolerated for three years or more (s.90(4)). This mirrors Article 6septies of the Paris Convention.

Gather the distribution or agency agreement, emails showing the relationship, purchase orders and invoices, and anything the distributor said about registering the mark. A negotiated assignment back to the owner is often quicker than proceedings. An assignment must be in writing and signed by or for the assignor (s.69(4)), and it should then be recorded on the Register (s.70); our guide to trademark renewal and recordal in Pakistan covers the recordal step.

A squatter often files without any real plan to trade. A registration that has not been genuinely used in Pakistan can be removed under s.73, on an application to the Registrar by an interested party (s.73(4)). The periods that apply, and the evidence of use that counts, are explained in our article on non-use revocation in Pakistan.

Using a registered trade mark as a domain name, or as part of one, or obtaining such a domain name without the owner’s consent intending to sell it, is an infringement of the registered mark (s.40(6)). A domain name used as a source identifier can itself be registered under the Ordinance (s.84 and the Third Schedule).

Outside the courts, disputes over generic domains such as .com go to providers under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP), such as the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. Under the UDRP a complainant generally has to show that the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to its mark, that the holder has no rights or legitimate interests in it, and that it was registered and is being used in bad faith.

Sources: Trade Marks Ordinance 2001 as amended in 2023 and IPO-Pakistan trademark fees and forms, checked 13 October 2026. Fees change, so check the current schedule before filing.

1. File in Pakistan before you appoint a distributor, start talks with a licensee or launch, and cover every class you will use; see trademark classes in Pakistan. A Pakistani application filed within six months of your first application in a Convention country can claim its priority date (s.25).
2. Foreign owners should read our guide to Pakistan trademark filing for foreign applicants, which covers the address for service and Form TM-48.
3. Put trade mark clauses in distribution and licence agreements: the local party must not file the mark, must assign any filing it does make, and must stop using the mark when the agreement ends. Franchisors should also read franchising and trademark licensing in Pakistan.
4. Watch the Trade Marks Journal so that conflicting applications are caught within the two-month opposition period.
5. Keep dated records of use and promotion in Pakistan: invoices, advertising, website analytics and press coverage. They support an opposition, an invalidity claim, a well-known mark argument and a defence against a challenge for lack of use.

Raza & Associates was established in 2005 and is listed in Tier 3 of The Legal 500 ranking for Pakistan intellectual property. Its trademark law practice covers clearance searches, filing, prosecution, oppositions, assignments and enforcement, and the firm acts for foreign companies and overseas law firms requiring Pakistan-based trademark counsel.

Oppositions, invalidity applications and recordals are proceedings before the Registrar, where an act may be done by a duly authorised registered trade mark agent (s.127 TMO). Hashim Raza of the firm is a Registered Trade Mark Agent, IPO-Pakistan (Trade Marks Registry), Reg. No. TM-215/20, on the register since 25 January 2019. If the squatter is also selling goods under your mark, see trademark infringement and passing off in Pakistan.

This guide summarises the Trade Marks Ordinance 2001 (as amended in 2023), the official fee schedule published by IPO-Pakistan and the Paris Convention, as read on 12 and 13 October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice on any particular matter.