Law firm SALOOSH merges into Ali & Associates

We are very proud to announce the merger of Saloosh, a boutique law firm, into Ali & Associates. The merger took effect on July 1, 2016. 

BRAND SCIENTIST AWARD (MASTERS BEHIND THE BRAND)

Once you identify someone, whom you believe is engaging in trademark infringement on your marks, you need to understand what to do next.

You have several options if you find that some third party is infringing your name or brand mark.  The first thing you need to do is assess how serious the claim of infringement might be.  An experienced trademark attorney will be able to help you understand the merits of your claim and what possible defenses might arise.  It is critical that you fully understand the merits of a potential claim for trademark infringement before sending a notice letter, threat letter, or filing a trademark infringement lawsuit.  Asserting rights in a name which you do not truly own, or try to extend your trademark rights beyond what is permitted by trademark law could backfire.  Your trademark infringement notice letter could result in a trademark infringement threat letter back against you.

Assuming that a competent trademark lawyer believes you have adequate rights to assert a claim of infringement, your next step will be to determine whether to send a trademark notice letter or a trademark infringement threat letter.  The difference between the two is subtle yet important.  A notice letter is much more friendly in tone.  It seeks to advise the other party that there is a potential problem.  The letter puts the third party on notice of your trademark claims and exclusive rights.  Typically, a notice letter will invite discussion.

A trademark infringement threat letter tends to be much more aggressive and confrontational in tone.  It will not only advise of your superior trademark rights, but demand immediate steps be taken to avoid any further infringement.  A threat letter may also make an immediate claim for damages based on prior infringement.

In addition to monitoring for third party infringement and sending notice and threat letters as appropriate, you also need to extend your trademark rights.  This means that you can file additional trademarks for other goods and services beyond your main business effort.  You can also file different international classes to the extent you offer service in those classes.  There are almost always multiple international classes that you can file for trademark registration in.  By adding to your “family of marks” you increase the scope of your trademark brand and name protection, as well as strengthen your primary mark.  Adding multiple trademarks increase your overall trademark portfolio value.  If you should ever sell your company to a third party, your trademark rights will be an important asset in any sort of deal.

ISLAMABAD: Public Private Partnership (PPP) is vital to promote national IPR system in the country, said Chairman Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO-Pakistan), Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi. Private sector has been contributing in generating economic activities and IPO has provided a platform to join hands in evolving strategy to solve their issues relating to infringement and piracy. In a meeting with President American Business Council Saad Aman Ullah Khan, President Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hamyun Basir and other representatives of Associations on Wednesday he underlined the role of business community for national development and said Pakistan has great potential for investment and we were trying to boost the economic activities by extending all possible facilities of registration. He said a number of steps had been adopted to improve the service delivery system of IPO offices and training process was continued to make the partners conversant with the advance similarly, the legislation was underway to reinforce the effective implementation of laws to check the unlawful activities effecting. The participants discussed in detail the segments of 4th IP conference and also gave their suggestions to make the event suggested to mark the day more impressive and informative for the representatives of different sections of society. staff report.

In a demonstration of the government's resolve to curb the menace of piracy, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) initiated a crackdown on corporate users of unlicensed computer software, says a press release issued here on Wednesday.Acting on a complaint, the FIA this week raided a large pharmaceutical company with offices in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, which was allegedly using pirated software, in other words, unlicensed software.

The production, sale, copy, purchase or usage of unlicensed software is an offence, punishable under Section 66 of Chapter XIV of the Copyright Ordinance 1962 and can lead to criminal prosecution for violation of the law. The FIA raid resulted in the confiscation of computers loaded with unlicensed software, including Microsoft(r) Windows and Microsoft office. The use of unlicensed software by a large company of this nature reflects the scale to which the issue of software piracy has proliferated into penetrated the country.

According to a study conducted by the IDC for the Business Software Alliance (BSA), released on May 2011, the rate of software piracy in Pakistan was 84 percent during the past year. As a result, the country is now amongst those with one of the highest piracy rates in the world.

Kamal Ahmed, Country Manager Microsoft Pakistan remarked, 'Software piracy is a significant threat locally and we as a nation need to take concrete steps to curb it. It is unacceptable when profitable commercial organisations indulge in software piracy with complete disregard to the law, often in a manner which gives them an unfair cost advantage over Pakistan companies with licensed software. Promoting a culture that respects IPR, in software and other industries, will attract greater foreign investment in our economy and also provide an incentive to local entrepreneurs to explore new ideas."-PR