The legal framework
Copyright is governed by the Copyright Ordinance 1962 as amended, administered by the Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan. The term for literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works is the author's life plus fifty years. Fair dealing exceptions cover research, private study, criticism and review, and registration, while optional, is commonly used as evidence.
Pakistan's Copyright Ordinance of 1962 has been amended repeatedly and protects works for the author's life plus fifty years, shorter than the seventy years common in Europe. Enforcement is the persistent weakness: registration with the Intellectual Property Organisation is available and useful in proving ownership, but civil remedies are slow and piracy is widespread, particularly for software, textbooks and film.
Key points
| Statute | Copyright Ordinance 1962, as amended |
|---|---|
| Term | Life plus 50 years |
| Authority | Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan |
| Registration | Optional; the certificate is valuable evidence in practice |
| Fair dealing | Research, private study, criticism, review, reporting |
| Enforcement | IP tribunals established for intellectual property disputes |
| IP tribunals | Specialised tribunals hear infringement cases |
In practice
- Assume everything you find online is protected: absence of a copyright notice means nothing.
- Look for an explicit licence — Creative Commons, a stock licence, a written permission — and keep a copy of it.
- Credit alone is not a defence: attribution does not replace permission.
- For anything commercial, get permission in writing and keep it for as long as you use the work.
- Register the work before any enforcement attempt: practice requires it even though the law does not.
Where to go
- Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan.
- IP tribunals in major cities.
- Collecting societies for music.
Worth knowing
Registration is not required for protection, but in practice courts and police give far more weight to a registered work, so registering matters more than the law suggests. Registration is legally optional but practically essential. Without a certificate, enforcement action rarely progresses.
Frequently asked questions
How long does copyright last in Pakistan?
The author's life plus fifty years for most works, with different terms for photographs, sound recordings and films. That is shorter than in the European Union, so a work can be in the public domain in Pakistan while still protected elsewhere — the law of the country where you use it governs.
Who owns a photograph of the two of us?
Copyright belongs to whoever pressed the shutter, not to the people in the picture — so a photograph taken by a friend or a wedding photographer is theirs unless the contract says otherwise. Being in the image gives you a separate claim based on privacy or personality rather than copyright. If you want to use wedding photographs freely, negotiate a licence in writing before the day, not afterwards.
Official sources and links
- Government of Pakistan — official government portal