"Formulation, adoption and wide dissemination of objectives should be encouraged in all ministries."
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) demanded the establishment of National Intellectual Property Right (IPR) Strategy Authority to Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in the context of fast changing trade environment driven by global competition, innovation risks, short product life cycle, rapid changes in technology involving huge investments in Research and Development and human resources.
Addressing the 3rd National Conference on Intellectual Property Rights here, ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat said that the proposed authority should be aiming at aligning towards achieving a target of 50,000 patent applications filed in India in 2015 and 1,50,000 in 2020. Similar targets should also be set for filing of design and trademark applications, he said.
The chamber says based on the total global patent filings in 2010, it can be seen that the U.S. received 24.8% of the applications, China received 19.8%, and Japan received 17.4% of the applications. On the other hand, India received only 1.9% of the applications. Also, per billion dollars of GDP, while the US had 30 applications, China had 40 applications and Japan had 80 applications, India had only 10 applications per billion dollars of GDP.
Rawat said that the proposed authority should be functionally autonomous and financially independent and be made responsible and accountable to look into several existing policies, statutes, and regulations of the Government may be not complementary and aligned to the stated objectives of the national IPR strategy.
“A review of such policies, statutes and regulations should be undertaken with a view to align them with the stated objectives of the national IPR strategy and to provide equal opportunity platform to all the players irrespective of their nationality,” said Rawat. “Formulation, adoption and wide dissemination of objectives should be encouraged in all ministries, departments and bodies of the central government, state, sub-state governments, business and cooperative sectors.”
Moreover, tax incentives should be extended to IPR procurement expenses as well. Patent filing and prosecution till grant can cost anywhere between 3-5 lakhs INR for each country. Similarly, protecting trademarks, geographical indications and designs in multiple countries can involve substantial expenses. Since it involves a substantial cost to protect IP outside India, tax incentives for filing outside India based on a first filing in India should be provided.
Concessional official fee offered only to individual inventors today should be extended to MSMEs and universities also. Also, attractive official fee structure should be offered to individuals in case of trademarks and design registrations as is provided for patents, the chamber demanded.
Rawat also said that to discourage software piracy and encourage use of licensed software by MSMEs, Traders, and Enterprises, a compliance certificate from the certified auditors for the use of licensed software should be sought.
The sale of counterfeit and pirated goods sold on the Internet should be addressed by suitably amending the Copyright Act.
Addressing the gathering Information Technology and Communications Secretary Sanjay Jaju complimented the Indian IT industry who have acquired a flagship position by exporting software and hardware to the tune of US $ 60- 70 billions. Further, he said that the industry took steps to protect its IPR rights and commercializing it to improve its bottom-line.
While complimenting the ASSOCHAM for holding such an important event at Hyderabad, Jaju called upon the industry to invest in Research and Development and make themselves aware about IPR processes and protect their business interests in patent and designs as also copyrights to safeguard their business interests.
Officials from office of Controller General Patent and Design, Union Ministry of Communications and top legal attorneys also addressed the conference. A large number of participants from industry, leading advocates, law faculty and other stakeholders attended the conference.
Sanjay Jaju also released the Study Paper brought out by ASSOCHAM for this event. (INN)