PAKISTAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Ali Kabir Shah, Hanya Haroon, Talib Ali Shah and Saif Ahmed, Ali & Associates
No mention is made regarding termination in the Copyrights Ordinance, nor are any precedents available on this. 3.6 Collective Rights Management Systems In Pakistan, the collective rights management system is regulated by the Copyright Ordinance, particularly Sections 31 to 34. These provisions establish a framework for performing rights soci - eties to manage and collect fees, charges and royalties for the public performance of works. The Ordinance establishes a structured mecha - nism for performing rights societies to regulate fees and royalties. It ensures a balance between the rights of content creators and the licensing process for public performances. The provisions create legal enforceability for approved fees and promote a fair and transparent system for the collective management of copyright in the realm of public performances. Currently, in Pakistan there is a Collective Organ - isation for Music Rights (also known as COMP). 3.7 Copyright Registration Copyright registration is not mandatory in Paki - stan; it is automatically formed upon the creation of a work in a tangible form. The benefits of copyright registration are that it certifies the proprietorship of the work, thereby granting exclusive rights to: • reproduce and make copies of the work in any material form; • publish, perform or communicate the work in public; • produce, reproduce, perform or publish any translation or adaption of the work (ie, a derivative work);
• broadcast the work in public or use it in a cinematographic work or sound recording; • offer the work for sale or rental and receive a payment in return; • prevent third parties from using the work without permission or consent from the owner; • have the authority to take legal action should any infringement of the work take place; and • assign or license the copyrighted work to another party. Any individual and/or legal entity may apply for registration of an artistic work. Foreign appli - cants for registration may do so by hiring a local attorney. Once examined and permitted for registration, all applications are then added to the Register of Copyrights, which is under the control of the Registrar of Copyrights. The Reg - ister contains the names and/or titles of works, and the names and addresses of the authors, publishers and owners of copyrights. Any per - son shall be entitled to make copies of or take extracts from the Register of Indexes upon pay - ment of the prescribed fee; however, said Reg - ister is not publicly available online (at the time of this publication). 3.8 Copyright Application Requirements The mechanism for registration is outlined in the Copyright Ordinance, as well as in the Copyright Rules. In accordance with Section 3 of the Copyright Rules, the Copyright Register is divided into four parts, and an applicant can file a copyright appli - cation under any of those categories, based on the type of work for which copyright protection is sought. The categories are: • literary, dramatic and musical works; • artistic works;
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