Guide
Copyright, a domain name
or a design
Not everything that can be copied is a trade mark. Writing, software, pictures and the shape of a product are protected in other ways, and a domain name is a different thing again. This page separates them, so that you ask for the right one.
Where this applies This page covers rights registered or enforced in Pakistan. Rights in the country you live in are a matter for advisers there.
What this is about
Copyright protects a work from the moment it is made, but a registration in Pakistan makes it far easier to prove. Designs, meaning the look of a product, are registered separately. Patents protect inventions and are the hardest and slowest of the four. All of them are handled by the same intellectual property office as trade marks.
A domain name ending in .pk is registered with the domain registry, not with the property office, and is first come, first served. Losing your name to someone who registered it first is a problem that has to be argued, not simply corrected.
What has to be in place
What has to be clear.
What you are protecting: a work, a design, an invention, or a name.
Who made it and who owns it, which are not always the same person.
Whether someone is already using it in Pakistan.
Note Your advocate confirms which of these apply to your case.
The documents you will be asked for
What is usually asked for.
- The work, the design drawings, or the invention described.
- Proof of ownership: contracts with whoever made it.
- Identity or registration documents of the owner.
How an advocate helps from where you are
What an advocate does.
- Tells you which right fits, and whether registration is worth it.
- Files the registration and follows it through.
- Acts against copies: notices, takedowns, and cases where they are needed.
What to ask before you agree
- Which right fits what I am protecting, and is registration worth it?
- Is anyone already using it in Pakistan?
- If someone copies it, what can you do, and how fast?
- What do you need from me, and by when?
- What is your fee, and what is not included in it?
More in Trade marks and rights
Also relevant
Words you will meet
- copyright
- The right in a work: writing, software, pictures, music.
- design
- The look of a product, registered separately.
- patent
- The right in an invention.
- .pk domain
- A domain name under Pakistan’s country code.
Written
11 September 2026
Pakistan.