DPIIT Secretary Says Government Has Taken Several Steps To Strengthen IPR Regime

 Several measures have been incorporated by the government to strengthen the country's intellectual property rights (IPR) regime, which includes steps like reducing the number of forms for trademarks and patents.

Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Anurag Jain also said several steps have been taken to enhance innovation and the knowledge economy.

“We have the third-largest startup ecosystem…We have reached a level of 80 startups being registered every day in our country, which is the highest in the world,” he said at a conference.

Jain said that 74 forms were required for trademarks earlier but that has been brought down to only eight. For patents too, all the forms have been scrapped and now there is only one form. To increase awareness about IPR, he said there is a need to inculcate seeds of IP in the minds of young people.

“It (IP) has been included in the course of NCERT. There is a lot of engagement with colleges. We have set up 18 IPR chairs, and 135 IPR cells have been created in various colleges and universities,” Jain added. 

Under the provisions of section 159 of the Patents Act, 1970 the Central Government is empowered to make rules for implementing the Act and regulating patent administration. Accordingly, the Patents Rules, 1972 were notified and brought into force in 1972. These Rules were amended from time to time till 20 May 2003 when new Patents Rules, 2003 were brought into force by replacing the 1972 rules. These rules were further amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2005, and the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2006. The last amendments are made effective from 5th May 2006.

This Act remained in force for about 24 years without any change till December 1994. An ordinance affecting certain changes in the Act was issued on 31st December 1994, which ceased to operate after six months. Subsequently, another ordinance was issued in 1999. This ordinance was subsequently replaced by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 1999 which was brought into force retrospectively on 1st January, 1995.

The amended Act provided for the filing of applications for product patents in the areas of drugs, pharmaceuticals, and agrochemicals through such patents were not allowed. However, such applications were to be examined only after 31-12-2004. Meanwhile, the applicants could be allowed Exclusive Marketing Rights (EMR) to sell or distribute these products in India, subject to fulfillment of certain conditions.