KARACHI: Justice Junaid Ghaffar of High Court of Sindh (SHC) decreed a suit filed by an importer Fazl-e-Rabbi who sought suspension of seizure and provisional release of consignment. The consingment comprised of various goods including mobile batteries, chargers, camera batteries, automobile parts and cosmetics (L’oreal Paris).
The GD was filed and after completion of all formalities, the goods were out of charge but were detained by the Intellectual Property Rights Directorate on ground that a complaint from “Intellectual Property Rights” has been received.
The single judge of the SHC perusing all record including complaint filed by the alleged complainant held that Rule 680 of the Rules related to IPR have been violated and complaint was lodged after filing of the GD by the plaintiff and hence action of seizure by the IPR, Pakistan Customs was beyond jurisdiction and thus void and illegal.
The bench decreed the suit in favour of the plaintiff after hearing counsel from Franklin Law Associates who represented the plaintiff side, directing the defendants to release the goods immediately.