| June, 2026 | Desk: Brand & IP Law | 17 min read · 3833 words |
Pakistan’s e-commerce sector has grown at a pace that has consistently outstripped the legal and commercial awareness of the businesses operating within it. Daraz, the country’s dominant online marketplace, has millions of active listings. Smaller platforms including Goto, PakWheels, and OLX, and increasingly, social commerce channels running through Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, handle enormous volumes of commercial transactions daily. International platforms including Amazon, Noon, and others extend the reach of Pakistani products into regional and global markets.
This commercial expansion has created a parallel expansion in brand-related problems. Counterfeit products listed under established brand names. Unauthorised sellers using brand imagery without permission. Fake storefronts impersonating legitimate businesses. Account impersonation. Grey market imports sold as genuine goods. These problems exist in every e-commerce market globally, and Pakistan’s market is no different.
What is different in Pakistan is the level of preparedness that most brands bring to this environment. The enforcement mechanisms available on major e-commerce platforms, and the legal tools available under Pakistani trademark law, require a registered trademark as their foundation. Businesses operating on e-commerce platforms without a registered trademark are largely without effective tools to address these problems when they arise.
The specific brand threats on Pakistani e-commerce platforms
| Threat type | What it involves | Primary commercial impact |
| Counterfeit listings | Fake products sold under your brand name or with your imagery | Sales loss + reputational damage |
| Unauthorised sellers | Genuine products sold without brand authorisation — grey market or resellers | Price positioning & quality control |
| Trademark misuse in listings | Brand name used in keywords or descriptions of unrelated products | Search traffic diversion |
| Impersonation storefronts | Fake seller accounts impersonating the official brand store | Consumer trust & direct fraud |
| Social commerce brand theft | Instagram/Facebook/WhatsApp accounts using brand imagery to sell fakes | Revenue loss + brand confusion |
Counterfeit product listings
A counterfeit product listing uses a brand’s registered trademark, brand name, or product imagery to sell products that are not genuine goods of that brand. The commercial damage is multi-dimensional: the immediate loss is the sale that went to the counterfeit seller rather than to an authorised channel, the reputational damage arises when a consumer who has purchased a counterfeit product, believing it to be genuine, has a negative experience and attributes it to the brand, and the regulatory risk arises in product categories such as pharmaceuticals, food products, and electrical goods where counterfeit products may pose safety concerns.
Unauthorised seller listings
An unauthorised seller listing is different from a counterfeit listing. An unauthorised seller may be selling genuine products of the brand, but without any authorisation from the brand to sell through that channel. This can involve grey market goods, genuine products purchased in one market and resold in another where the brand has a different distribution arrangement, or sellers who have obtained genuine products through informal channels. Unauthorised seller listings undercut authorised reseller pricing, damage price positioning, and make product quality control and warranty management more difficult.
Impersonation storefronts and social commerce brand theft
Impersonation storefronts involve the creation of a seller account or shop profile that uses the brand’s name, logo, or imagery to impersonate the brand itself. A consumer who finds what appears to be the official storefront of a well-known brand may not realise it has been created by an impersonator. Social commerce impersonation through Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp operates outside the organised marketplace structure entirely, making it harder to monitor and harder to enforce against than a listed product on a structured marketplace.
What platforms can and cannot do without a trademark registration
Major e-commerce and social media platforms operating in Pakistan have intellectual property protection programmes. Daraz’s intellectual property policy, in common with policies operated by other major marketplaces, allows brand owners to report listings that infringe registered trademarks. When a report is filed through the appropriate mechanism, Daraz reviews the complaint and, where it is substantiated, can remove the infringing listing and take action against the seller account.
The critical limitation is that these brand protection mechanisms are designed to respond to trademark infringement claims. They are most effectively activated by brand owners who hold a registered trademark certificate and who can provide that certificate as part of their infringement complaint. A brand owner without a registered trademark who reports a listing faces a significantly harder process: slower review, less certain outcome, and weaker standing.
Social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok operate similar intellectual property reporting mechanisms. Their brand rights protection programmes give registered trademark holders faster and more reliable access to enforcement mechanisms than unregistered claimants.
| 💡 The single most important point |
| The registered trademark certificate is the document that converts a general complaint about copying or impersonation into a formal trademark infringement complaint that the platform is contractually and legally obligated to act on. Without a registered trademark, every enforcement action on every e-commerce and social media platform is harder, slower, and less certain than it needs to be. Registration is not optional for serious e-commerce brands. It is the foundation that makes every other enforcement tool work. |
How to register with platform brand protection programmes
Daraz Brand Protection Programme
Daraz operates a brand protection programme that allows registered brand owners to register their brands directly with Daraz, submit trademark certificates as part of the registration process, and access an enhanced complaints mechanism for reporting infringing listings. Brands registered with the Daraz brand protection programme receive access to tools that allow them to monitor for infringing listings, report multiple listings efficiently, and track the status of enforcement actions.
To register with Daraz’s brand protection programme, brand owners typically need to provide their registered trademark certificate from IPO Pakistan or, for international brands, from a recognised trademark office with coverage of the Pakistani market. The IPO Pakistan certificate is the standard documentation required for a Pakistani brand to register with the programme.
Amazon Brand Registry
For Pakistani brands selling on Amazon or protecting their brand on the Amazon marketplace, Amazon Brand Registry provides a similar mechanism. Amazon Brand Registry requires a registered trademark in at least one country. Pakistani brands that have registered their trademarks at IPO Pakistan can use that registration as the basis for an Amazon Brand Registry application, though for full international Amazon marketplace protection, marks registered in the US, EU, and other major Amazon markets provide broader coverage.
Noon Brand Protection
For brands operating in the Gulf market through Noon, Noon’s brand protection mechanisms similarly require trademark documentation. Pakistani brands expanding into Gulf e-commerce should ensure their trademark coverage extends to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf markets where Noon operates. This is most efficiently achieved through the Madrid Protocol using a Pakistani base registration.
The step-by-step brand protection workflow
Step 1: Register the trademark at IPO Pakistan
Everything else in the brand protection workflow depends on having a current, valid trademark registration at IPO Pakistan. The registration should cover the classes relevant to the products sold on the platform. For physical product brands, this typically includes the Nice Class covering the specific product category, such as Class 25 for clothing, Class 30 for food products, or Class 3 for cosmetics. The registration should also cover Class 35 for retail and trading services.
Step 2: Register with platform brand protection programmes
After obtaining IPO Pakistan trademark registration, register with the brand protection programmes of the platforms on which the brand operates. For Daraz, this means the Daraz brand protection programme. For social media platforms, this means completing the brand registration with Facebook Business, Instagram, and any other platforms relevant to the brand’s market. Keep copies of all platform registration confirmations and reference numbers.
Step 3: Set up a monitoring system
Effective brand protection on e-commerce platforms requires proactive monitoring, not just reactive enforcement. A monitoring system should check regularly for new listings on Daraz and other relevant platforms that use the brand name, logo, or trademark, for new seller accounts that use the brand’s name or imagery, and for social media accounts that impersonate the brand. For smaller brands, manual monitoring through regular searches is viable. For larger brands with higher volumes of infringing activity, automated monitoring tools can systematically track and flag potentially infringing content across multiple platforms simultaneously.
Step 4: Assess and categorise identified infringements
Not every infringement requires the same enforcement response. A single low-volume seller using a brand name without authorisation may be addressed with a straightforward platform complaint. A network of impersonation accounts across multiple platforms selling counterfeit goods at scale may require a combination of platform enforcement, legal action, and law enforcement engagement. Categorising infringements by type, scale, and likely commercial impact allows enforcement resources to be directed where they are most needed.
Step 5: File platform enforcement actions
For identified infringements that warrant enforcement, file complaints through the appropriate platform mechanisms. For a registered trademark holder on Daraz, the standard enforcement mechanism is the intellectual property complaint form, which requires the brand’s trademark registration details, a description of the infringing listing, and an explanation of how the listing infringes the trademark. Include the IPO Pakistan trademark registration number, the registered classes, and a clear comparison between the registered trademark and the infringing use.
Step 6: Escalate where platform enforcement is insufficient
Platform enforcement mechanisms are effective for many infringement situations but have limitations. A seller who is repeatedly removed for infringing activity and repeatedly creates new accounts to continue the same activity is a situation where platform enforcement alone may be insufficient. Where platform enforcement is insufficient, the escalation options include formal legal action in the Pakistani courts, cease and desist letters to identified infringers, and in cases of criminal counterfeiting, engagement with law enforcement. Registered trademark holders have access to civil remedies including injunctions, damages, and account of profits, as well as the potential for criminal enforcement in cases of deliberate counterfeiting.
Step 7: Maintain and update the protection infrastructure
Brand protection on e-commerce platforms is not a one-time setup. The trademark registration must be renewed before its ten-year expiry. Platform brand registrations may need to be updated when registration certificates are renewed or when the brand extends into new product classes. The monitoring system must continue to operate as new listings and accounts emerge continuously. Build trademark renewal dates and platform registration review into the brand’s operational calendar.
| ⚠ Real-world example |
| A Pakistani skincare brand with a registered trademark in Class 3 had been selling through authorised retail channels and its own Daraz storefront. The brand became aware that multiple Daraz listings were using its exact brand name, product photography, and packaging imagery to sell counterfeit versions of its products at prices significantly below the genuine article. The brand was registered with Daraz’s brand protection programme and filed intellectual property complaints against each identified listing, providing the trademark registration number, the infringing listing URLs, and side-by-side comparison of genuine and counterfeit product imagery. Daraz acted on the complaints within five business days, removing the infringing listings and issuing warnings to the seller accounts. Three of the seven seller accounts were suspended following the complaints. The brand then implemented a scheduled monthly monitoring review. New counterfeit accounts appeared within weeks of the original removals. The ongoing monitoring and complaint process, supported by the registered trademark and the platform brand registration, became a regular operational activity rather than a one-time enforcement exercise. |
| ⚠ Real-world example |
| A Pakistani fashion brand with a strong Instagram following discovered an Instagram account using the brand’s name in its handle, the brand’s original product photography in its posts, and offering products for sale through direct message at lower prices than the genuine brand. The brand first filed a general impersonation report. The initial response took over three weeks and required multiple follow-up submissions before action was taken. When the brand subsequently filed an intellectual property report through Instagram’s trademark infringement reporting mechanism, using the registered trademark certificate as the basis for the complaint, the account was removed within four business days. The impersonation account was recreated under a slightly different handle within two weeks. The brand’s ongoing trademark-based enforcement actions against subsequent impersonation accounts have been consistently faster than the general impersonation report approach, but have not permanently eliminated the impersonation problem. The brand now treats social media impersonation monitoring as a weekly operational task. The lesson is twofold: trademark registration makes platform enforcement more effective, and ongoing monitoring is necessary because removal of individual infringing accounts does not permanently solve the problem. |
Common mistakes Pakistani brands make in e-commerce brand protection
Waiting until infringement is discovered to register the trademark
By the time a brand discovers that its products are being counterfeited on Daraz or its brand is being impersonated on social media, the trademark registration process is already at least twelve months away from completion. Acting on an infringement before the trademark is registered is significantly slower and less reliable than acting on the basis of a registered trademark certificate. Register before the problem arises, not after.
Filing complaints without a registered trademark
Brand owners who file infringement complaints on e-commerce platforms without a registered trademark number to support the complaint often receive slower and less reliable responses. The trademark certificate is what converts the complaint from a general content moderation issue to a legal intellectual property enforcement matter.
Not registering with platform brand protection programmes despite having a trademark
A registered trademark that is not also registered with the relevant platform brand protection programme misses an important layer of protection. The platform brand protection programmes exist specifically to give registered trademark holders faster and more effective enforcement tools. Registering with these programmes is a one-time administrative step that significantly enhances the effectiveness of future enforcement actions.
Inconsistent monitoring
Infringement on e-commerce platforms is persistent and ongoing. A brand that monitors actively for three months and then stops monitoring for six months will find that the infringements removed during the active monitoring period have been replaced by new ones. Monitoring needs to be a consistent, ongoing activity rather than an occasional exercise.
Failing to address social commerce separately from marketplace infringement
Social commerce infringement through Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp channels operates differently from marketplace listing infringement and requires a separate set of enforcement actions through those platforms’ own reporting mechanisms. A brand protection strategy that focuses exclusively on marketplace platforms and neglects social commerce channels is leaving a significant enforcement gap.
Frequently asked questions
Can I protect my brand on Daraz without a registered trademark?
Yes, to some extent. Daraz’s intellectual property policy allows complaints based on various grounds including copyright and general misrepresentation, not only registered trademark claims. However, trademark-based complaints typically receive faster and more reliable responses, and the platform’s enforcement tools designed specifically for brand protection are most effectively accessed by registered trademark holders. Without a registered trademark, the enforcement process is harder, slower, and less certain. Registration is strongly recommended for any brand operating at meaningful scale on Daraz.
How quickly does Daraz act on trademark infringement complaints?
Response times vary depending on the nature of the complaint, the quality of the documentation provided, the volume of complaints Daraz is processing at any given time, and whether the brand is registered with Daraz’s brand protection programme. Registered brand owners with well-documented complaints typically receive faster responses than unregistered brands filing general complaints. Actual response times in practice can vary from a few business days to several weeks depending on these factors.
What should I do if an infringing seller keeps creating new accounts after being removed?
Persistent re-offending by a seller who creates new accounts after previous accounts have been suspended may not be permanently resolvable through platform enforcement alone. Options for escalation include filing a pattern-of-behaviour report with the platform documenting repeated violations across multiple accounts, seeking to identify the underlying seller through information available in their listings and engaging a legal professional to send a cease and desist letter directly, and in cases of commercial-scale counterfeiting, engaging with law enforcement through the appropriate channels.
Do I need separate trademark registrations for Daraz, Amazon, and Noon protection?
The trademark registration system is country-based, not platform-based. A trademark registered at IPO Pakistan provides the foundation for platform protection on Pakistani-facing platforms. For protection on platforms that primarily operate in other markets, such as Amazon in the US or Noon in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, trademark protection in those markets is needed. The Madrid Protocol provides the most cost-effective mechanism for extending Pakistani trademark protection into multiple international markets simultaneously.
Is social media impersonation a trademark infringement issue?
Using another business’s registered trademark in a social media account handle or in a way that creates confusion about whether the account is the official account of the trademark owner can constitute trademark infringement in addition to impersonation under the platform’s terms of service. The trademark-based intellectual property reporting mechanisms available on Facebook, Instagram, and other major social media platforms are specifically designed to address this type of misuse. A registered trademark provides the basis for a faster and more reliable enforcement response through these mechanisms than a general impersonation report.
Final thoughts
E-commerce brand protection in Pakistan is a practical commercial discipline, not a theoretical legal exercise. The platforms on which Pakistani brands operate all provide mechanisms for brand owners to protect their trademarks. Those mechanisms are most effective when the brand owner has a registered trademark, has registered with the relevant platform brand protection programmes, and has an ongoing monitoring process in place.
The brands that manage brand protection most effectively on Pakistani e-commerce platforms are not necessarily the largest brands. They are the brands that have done three things: registered the trademark early, registered with platform protection programmes, and built monitoring into their regular operational calendar. These three steps create the foundation for brand protection that allows enforcement actions to be effective when they are needed.
| Get started with TM |
| TM helps Pakistani e-commerce brands register trademarks at IPO Pakistan and advises on brand protection strategies for marketplace and social commerce environments. Visit: tm.com.pk/contact Email: contact@tm.com.pk Phone: 03-111-456-456 |