How to register an industrial design in Pakistan
Design registration is the intellectual property right most Pakistani manufacturers and product businesses should be using and mostly are not. It protects the appearance of a manufactured article — the shape of a bottle, the pattern on a textile, the configuration of a fixture — under the Registered Designs Ordinance 2000, administered through the Patent Office under IPO-Pakistan.
It is cheaper and faster than a patent, and it covers the thing customers actually recognise.
What the statute protects, and what it deliberately does not
The definition in section 2 of the Ordinance is the whole boundary, so it is worth reading closely. A design means features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to an article by any industrial process or means, being features which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye. It expressly does not include a method or principle of construction, or features of shape or configuration dictated solely by technical and functional considerations.
"Article" is defined broadly as any article of manufacture, including any part of an article if made and sold separately. That last clause is useful: a distinctive component sold as a spare part can be protected in its own right.
What makes a design registrable
- New or original. Not a variation on what is already in the field.
- Not previously made available to the public. Published guidance describes this in strong terms — not made available anywhere in the world, at any time, through description.
- Not contrary to public order or morality.
The Ordinance also addresses independent creation: where two or more persons have created the same design independently, the person whose application has the earliest filing date — or the earliest priority date where priority is claimed — takes precedence. This is a first-to-file system in substance, which means the date on the application matters more than the date in the design studio's notebook.
File before launch
The novelty requirement produces the same trap as patents, and it catches more businesses because design work feels less formal than invention. A product shown to retailers, photographed for a catalogue, posted on social media or exhibited at a trade show has been made available to the public. By the time a competitor's copy appears in the market — which is when most businesses first contact an agent — the right that would have stopped it has usually already been lost.
The discipline is simple: the design filing goes in the pre-launch checklist alongside packaging artwork and pricing, not in the response plan for being copied.
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The Ordinance expresses the registered right as the right to prevent third parties, without the proprietor's licence or written consent, from applying the design to an article, and from making, importing, selling, hiring, or offering for sale or hire, any article to which the registered design has been applied — extending to a design not substantially different from the registered one, and to making anything that enables such an article to be made.
Two things are worth drawing out. The right reaches importation, which is what makes it usable against imported copies. And it reaches designs that are not substantially different, so a competitor cannot escape by making a cosmetic change.
Filing
Design applications are handled by the Patent Office. Published guidance describes the file as generally comprising:
- Applicant details — full name, address and nationality.
- Representations of the design — the drawings or images that define the scope of what is registered. This is the equivalent of claim drafting in a patent: what is shown is what is protected, so the views need to be prepared deliberately rather than pulled from a marketing deck.
- Priority details, where a convention application is being made. Section 12 provides for an application made in Pakistan within six months after an application made in a convention country.
- Power of attorney, duly executed, where an agent is acting.
- The prescribed form and fee.
The prosecution sequence runs filing, examination for compliance with the Ordinance including novelty, registration, and publication of the registered design in the official Gazette, with registration entered in the register.
Term and renewal
The Ordinance provides an initial period of registration with provision for extension by further periods, on application and payment of the prescribed fee, giving a total protection period materially longer than the initial term.
What is consistently described is the shape of the obligation: the renewal application is filed within a window preceding expiry of the current period, with a limited grace period afterwards on payment of a surcharge. Renewals, assignments and cancellations are recorded in the register and published in the Gazette.
How designs fit with the other rights
For a physical consumer product, the rights usually stack rather than compete:
| Element of the product | Right | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Patent | Twenty years from filing, if granted |
| How it looks | Registered design | Initial term plus available extensions |
| What it is called | Trademark | Renewable indefinitely |
| Packaging artwork, manuals, marketing copy | Copyright | Automatic on creation, statutory term |
The one that outlives all the others is the trademark, which is the argument for registering the brand early even when the budget is tight. The design and patent rights buy you a head start; the trademark is what you still own afterwards.
Source check: 14 September 2026. The statutory definition of a design, the functionality and construction-method exclusions, the registrability requirements, the expression of the registered right including articles not substantially different, the earliest-filing rule and the convention-application period are taken from the Registered Designs Ordinance 2000 as published on WIPO Lex. Term length, renewal windows, forms and fees are described from published secondary guidance that is not fully consistent and must be confirmed with the Patent Office before filing or diarising a renewal.
Sources
This guide is written against the official and clearly labelled professional references below. Rates, thresholds and portal procedures change between reviews, so open the primary source before relying on a figure.
- Registered Designs Ordinance 2000 (Ordinance XLV of 2000) — WIPO Lex
- IPO-Pakistan: Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan
- IPO-Pakistan: patent frequently asked questions
Questions people also ask
What is the difference between a design registration and a patent?
A patent protects how something works; a design registration protects how it looks. The statutory definition makes the boundary explicit — design means features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye, and does not include a method or principle of construction or features dictated solely by technical and functional considerations. If the shape exists because the engineering requires it, it is outside design protection. If the shape exists because someone chose it, it is inside.
Can I register the design of something I already sell?
Generally no, and this is the recurring commercial loss. The Ordinance requires the design to be new or original and not previously made available to the public. A product already on the market has been made available, so the design right is usually gone. The correct sequence is to file before launch, not after a competitor starts copying — which is unfortunately when most businesses first think about it.
Is there a "design patent" in Pakistan?
Not under that name. The term comes from the United States, where design protection is granted as a type of patent. In Pakistan the two are separate regimes under separate statutes — patents under the Patents Ordinance 2000 and designs under the Registered Designs Ordinance 2000 — even though both are administered through the Patent Office. Using the US terminology with a Pakistani office or agent tends to produce confusion about which application you actually want.
How long does a registered design last?
The Ordinance provides an initial period with provision for extension by further periods on application and payment of the prescribed fee, so a design can be maintained well beyond its first term. Published secondary sources describe the structure slightly differently from one another, so take the specific initial term, the number of extensions available and the renewal window from the Ordinance text and the Patent Office rather than from a summary — including this one.
Can one product carry a design registration and a trademark?
Yes, and for a distinctive consumer product that combination is often the strongest position. The design registration covers the appearance of the article for its statutory term. The trademark covers the brand under which it sells and can be renewed indefinitely. When the design right eventually expires the trademark survives it, which is why brand protection is the part worth building early rather than treating as an afterthought.
What if my design is copied by an importer?
Registration is what makes enforcement practical. The registered right is expressed as the right to prevent third parties from applying the design to an article, and from making, importing, selling, hiring or offering for sale or hire articles to which the registered design — or a design not substantially different from it — has been applied, without the proprietor's licence or written consent. Note the phrase "not substantially different": the right is not limited to exact copies.
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