India Moves to Exploit IP
13 February 2015
“The object of patent law is to encourage scientiic research, new technology and industrial progress. The price of the grant of the monopoly is the disclosure of the invention at the Patent Ofice, which, after the expiry of the ixed period of the monopoly, passes into the public domain,” says Chaitanya Prasad, India’s Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks. Prasad, who was speaking on the first day of the 7th Global Intellectual Property Convention in Mumbai, was quoting from the judgement in Biswanath Prasad Radhey Shyam v. Hindustan Metal Industries. Prasad spoke on the irst day of the convention, and was outlining the importance of IP globally, and how India is changing its IP procedures.
Prasad noted that there were 2.57 million patents filled worldwide in 2013, with 81% of these filed in China, the US, Japan, South Korea or with the European Patent Ofice. There were also 4.87 million trademarks filled in the same period, with Asian ilings accounting for 42% of all global registrations.
Intellectual property contributes to the economy, contributes to innovation, beneits the consumer and society as a whole, and moves the world forward said Prasad, adding that companies who use their IP well do better than those who do not. “Companies that realize the value of their IP assets are the companies of the future,” he added.
Indians, though, needs to do better, Prasad explained, highlighting that of the 45,107 patents in force in India in 2013, over 80% are held by non-Indians.
Addressing the more than 500 delegates present, Prasad explained that India was an ancient civilization but a young country. With a median age of 32, progress for the future lay with innovation. With the world’s second largest pool of graduate engineers, and the largest number of trained engineers, with future innovation India can leapfrog other countries, predicted Prasad.
A Patent System in Trouble
“We have a problem with the patent system,” declared Sigram Schindler during the opening session of the convention in Mumbai. Schindler, the founder and CEO of TELES Patent Rights International in Berlin, Germany, said that while the patent system had been an enormous help for developing countries, this changed when we left the era of technicity.
Often described as the era when patents were based on physical technology, the move away from technicity into an era when patents are being granted in areas such as life sciences, biotechnology and computer software has meant trying to use a patent system that is not up to the current job, Schindler said, resulting in inconsistent and contradictory decisions being passed by courts. “Technology was important, but old technology will not guarantee future wealth. The future is in life sciences and biotech,” said Schindler, saying that the patent system needs to match these new ideas.
