In a major success for the country’s rice exporters, Pakistan has managed to cancel of illegal registration of the trademark “Kernal” by an overseas rice company. Advisor to the PM for Commerce and Industries, Abdul Razak Dawood took Twitter to announce the aforesaid statement. “I am glad to share that we have achieved cancellation of illegal registration of the trademark “Kernal” by a rice company overseas,” informed Dawood in a tweet. “This was tantamount to unfair use of intellectual property of Pakistan, as the word is similar to Super Kernel, a premium Pakistani rice variety,” he said. The minister thanked the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) for bringing the issue to the Ministry of Commerce’s notice. “I urge exporters to keep informing MOC of such violations so that we can protect Pakistan’s intellectual property overseas,” he added. About 838,770 metric tons of rice valued US $499.485 million exported during the first four months of the current financial year as compared the exports of 1,176,228 metric tons worth US $633.797 million of corresponding period of last year. According to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, rice exports from the country during the period from July-October, 2020-21 decreased by 21.19 percent as compared to the exports of the same period of last year.