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Indian Government taking aggressive steps to making Indian IP ecosystem Robust – Nirmala Sitharaman
Apr 27, 2016

 Conferring the awards on the eve of World Intellectual Property Day celebrations here on Friday, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Commerce and Industry mentioned that Government of India is committed to opening up new avenues for women and Intellectual Property is one such field which does not limit their progress. While expanding on some of the statistics shared by Secretary, DIPP, Smt. Sitharaman mentioned that India has seen a rise of about 30% in the number of IPR applications filed in 2015-16. She informed that over 300,000 IPR applications have been filed at the Intellectual Property Office in the last one year. She added that after witnessing a stagnation for three years such a rise only goes to show the conductive environment that is shaping up due to the recent efforts of Government of India in the domain of IPR. Smt. Sitharaman added that the large scale recruitments being done for the Intellectual Property Office is one most aggressive drives carried out by Government of India. Besides, the Government is also committed to ensure that the timelines of processing IP applications is reduced at the Intellectual Property Office to ensure that India matches the global standards. She also mentioned that the stock flow tool introduced by the Indian Intellectual Property Office  to monitor the progress of patent and trademark applications is the only one of its kind facility offered by any Intellectual Property Office around the world. While concluding her speech the honourable minister mentioned that the budget presented in February earlier this year intends to promote innovation as it offered the scope of providing tax concessions on payment or royalties on IP protected assets.

 

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, MSN Laboratories Private Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Triveni Turbine Limited were among the winners of National IP Awards for 2016.

 Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur won the award for the top Indian Academic Institution for patents. The award for top R&D institution/organization for patents was won by C-DOT. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd was felicitated the award for Top Indian Public Limited Company for Patents as well as the WIPO IP Enterprise Trophy. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd was conferred the honours in three different categories, namely, Best commercialization of Patents based products / processes in India, Top organization in Trademarks and  WIPO users Trophy.  The winner in the category of Top Organisation for Designs was Triveni Turbine Limited while MSN Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. won the award for Top Indian Private Company (MSME) for Patents. On the other hand  Dr. Prakash R Somani was awarded in the category of Top Individual for Patents. He was also honoured with the WIPO Medal for Inventors while Prof. Ganesh Shankar Hingmire was awarded in the category of Top Individual for Best facilitation of Registration of GI and Promotion of registered GI in India

 Constituted jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indian Patents Office (IPO), the National Intellectual Property Awards are given every year since 2009 recognising the use of IPRs as a strategic tool in commerce and industry. Comprising a winning amount of Rs 1 lakh in cash and a citation, the awards are evaluated on the basis of number of IPRs granted / registered, growth in IPR portfolio in the past five years, leveraging of IPRs for achieving commercial goals (valuation, licensing, launching of new products / processes associated with granted / registered IPRs), efforts for inculcating IPR culture (R&D budget, employment of human resources for R&D, collaborations with industries and universities, licensing from other sources) and contribution towards the socio-economic development of the country.

 While giving a brief context on the conception of World IP Day, Mr O P Gupta, Controller General of, Patents, Designs and Trademarks, Government of India outlined the importance of commemorating this date which is also marked by an awards ceremony for facilitating the top innovators and creators across the country. He substantiated by informing the audience about the process for selection of the 9 awardees from the original 10 categories that were originally conceived for National Intellectual Property Awards 2016.

 Mr Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion while delivering his address highlighted that Government of India values the importance of Intellectual Property Rights. He also emphasized that Indian IPR Laws  are TRIPS compliant. While sharing some statistics with the audience the Secretary informed that 438 new patent examiners have been recruited while another 263 will be hired on contract basis. He mentioned that Government of India is committed to bring down the pendency levels in patents from the present case of 5-7 years to 18 months until March 2018. On a related note, the pendency levels of trademarks are also intended to be brought down to 1 month for India to match global standards. The introduction of e-filing facility at the Intellectual Property Office has resulted in almost 82% of the total IPR applications through this mode. Mr. Abhishek also informed about about the newly launched IPR facilitation scheme for start-ups which envisage giving technical and financial assistance to IPR applicants. While showcasing the aggressive approach of Government of India to tackle IPR issues, Mr. Ramesh Abhishek also expressed his concern on the low patent portfolio of Indian Industry which in his view is one of the reasons for India lagging behind when it comes to facing competitive challenges.

 While welcoming the awardees and participants to the awards ceremony, Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry showcased the IPR initiatives of CII towards building a conducive environment of IPR protection in the country. Outlining the three prong approach of CII on policy advocacy, awareness & capacity building and IP advisory services, Mr. Banerjee mentioned that, CII established the first of its kind joint venture institutions with state governments and IP Facilitation Centre (IPFC) in Hyderabad, Chennai, Indore, Mysore and Gandhinagar; on a Public Private Partnership mode.  He added that these state level centers and IPFCs cater to the requirement of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises in different Parts of the Country. These Centres also undertake specialized Intervention for Traditional Products and Process which Involves research study, legal support and Post IP Rights handholding for Market Linkages. CII’s PPP institutions with the state governments and Government of India have so far facilitated filing & protection of over than 550 IPs in which 200 patents, 250 trademarks, 53 industrial designs, 25 copyrights and 25 Geographical Indications are protected.

 On behalf of IIT Kharagpur , the award was received by Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Mr. Vipin Tyagi, Executive Director C-DOT  received the award on behalf of –DOT. Dr. Santosh Mohanty, Vice President along with his team received the award for Tata Consultancy Services ltdMr. S Siva Rakesh, Manager - Intellectual Property Management received the award for MSN Laboratories Private Limited, while upon Dr.  Aravind Bharadwaj, Senior Vice President – Advanced Technology & Services along-with his team received the award for, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. . Mr.  Shibu Abraham Head - Intellectual Property Rights, Triveni Turbine Limited.

 

26 April 2016

New Delhi

 

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