A national Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy, aiming to strengthen the IPR regime in the country as well as improve available infrastructure to generate higher levels of intellectual property, has been approved by the cabinet.
The policy, a long time in the making, will see the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Commerce ministry act as the nodal body for the government’s push towards leveraging IPR to reap economic and social benefits on a large scale.
While it does not amend any of the existing legislation protecting various forms of intellectual property in the country, the policy will act as a broad roadmap to coalesce these to ensure greater efficiency, DIPP secretary Ramesh Abhishek said. Accordingly, the administration of two crucial laws – the Copyright Act,1957 and the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000 till now under the aegis of the HRD ministry and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology respectively, have been brought under the DIPP.
Also, a Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) will function under the DIPP to facilitate promotion, creation and commercialization of IP assets.
The policy is based on seven broad objectives such as increasing IPR outreach and awareness, speeding up the approval process, incentivizing the public through greater commercialization and effective enforcement of norms, Finance minister Arun Jaitley briefed the media on Friday.
Customizing IPR programs for specific needs of various industry sectors and reaching out to rural and marginal citizens have been focused on. Small businesses and other stakeholders like artisans and traditional knowledge holders who have hitherto been left out of the process, will be focused on.
A comprehensive base line survey or IP audit across sectors has also been suggested to tap their potential.
Weaving in research and development organizations and educational institutions have been suggested by making IPR a compulsory part of the curriculum at major national institutes.The subject will also be treated as a key performance metric for public funded R&D entities and technology Institutions.The need for a national institute focusing on research into IPR has also been pointed out.
Such efforts, the policy said should go a long way in developing indigenous products to offset growing foreign dependence on them. Case in point has been the direction to reduce dependency on active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) imports, mostly from China.
The policy also focuses on putting in place stronger institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring and review. Specific IP cells at state level have been suggested to curb IP offences.
The government had earlier declared a slew of measures to speed up the granting of IP registration process such as appointing additional 458 new examiners and 263 contract examiners at various levels to clear the backlog of application regarding patents, designs and trademarks in the country.
DIPP aims to lower the average time taken for clearing pending IPR applications to 18 months from the current five to seven years. This also involves bringing down the wait time for registering trademarks down to one month by 2017, currently it takes about 13 months. Figures released by the Commerce Ministry showed more than 2,37,000 patents currently pending approval in the country.
On the global front, India continues to be placed on the Priority Watch List by the US on account of their assessment of India’s IPR protection being inadequate.The special 301 report by the US Trade Representative’s office, has constantly kept India in the list while threatening to further downgrade the country for alleged IPR violations. It has pegged losses from piracy of music and movies in India at approximately $4 billion per year and the commercial value of unlicensed software at $3 billion.
However, India has countered for long that the report constitutes an unilateral measure to create pressure on countries to enhance IPR protection beyond the TRIPS agreement. The agreement which came into force in 1994 sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property regulations for WTO members. Jaitley said all aspects of the policy are compliant with global norms.
The US has been an active critic specific provisions related to pharmaceuticals in India's patent laws, which it says works against US companies. In this regard, Jaitley said, section 3 (d) of the Patents Act, which stops ever greening of patents will remain. Legal practitioners however pointed out that the policy has kept the options open with regards to future amendment to such laws which might harm domestic interests.
Currently, the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) under the DIPP is responsible for administering the laws relating to Patents, Designs, Trade Marks and Geographical Indications within the country. This office has been rechristened as the Controller General of Intellectual Property Rights.
Salient features :
* Push towards higher levels of intellectual property generation : Widespread awareness to be created to target marginal stakeholders in IP generation like MSMEs and rural citizens.
* Leveraging IP to meet socio-economic benefits on a large scale : Enhancing access to healthcare, food security and environmental protection
* Streamlining administrative mechanism to boost efficiency : Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) to function under DIPP to facilitate promotion, creation and commercialization of IP assets. Relevant laws protecting intellectual property rights brought under ambit of DIPP. (Copyright Act, 1957 and Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act)
* Stress on implementation and enforcement : Greater sensitization measures regarding IPR, state level ceels to stop IPR theft
* Focus on research : Roping in major national institutes to make IPR studies compulsory part of curriculum, incentivizing R&D
