Harsh Sharma, B-Tech GT 2nd Year
In today’s intellectual era, India has proven its Intellectual Property (IP) status by the presence of various MNCs and its appreciable growth in R&D. Beyond this level, further development of the country would depend on its ability to convert knowledge into innovation and hence wealth. There lies the importance of matters of generation, evaluation, protection and exploitation of IP.
TRIPS
Under Paris Convention, adoption of different standards of protection by different countries in accordance with different levels of national development was allowed. In order to reduce the asymmetries, the TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was established that sets minimum standards of protection of IP that each country has to pay heed to.
TRIPS can only be held by legal entities – which have the right to sell and buy such properties – which can be held separately in many countries at the same time. TRIPS unlike most of other Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) have an infinite life without the need to be renewed. Moreover, TRIPS have an exclusive nature of being assigned, gifted, sold and licensed to other bodies just like any other tangible property.
TRIPS: Journey in India
Initially during its preliminary stage, problems related to its enactment, administration and government support arose. Lack of awareness was another issue which led to the risk of infringement at alarming levels. Hence with such an unhealthy environment the R&D process in companies was hindered resulting in the death of inventions, high risk infringement, economic loss or basically the decline of an intellectual era in the country. After this, India has undertaken several steps to strengthen IPR. Like the first Indian patent law came way back in 1856 – later being amended in compliance with the TRIPS, also steps like becoming a member of the Paris convention, Patent Co-operation treaty, and signing the TRIPS agreement to comply with the international standards, signing of the Madrid Protocol etc. were taken. Henceforth more number of foreign based countries have established their in-house R&D centres in India, which is a clear sign of IPR influence in the nation.
Challenges in IPR
Despite the continuous efforts of the Government, our industry still faces challenges not only at a domestic level but also at an international level.
India owes much of its progress in R&D to the signing of the Trips agreement mandated by the WTO in 1994. Given our renewed focus on innovation, strengthening IPR might provide a cheaper policy alternative to stimulating innovation – the slew of direct incentives that the government has been attempting to provide.
In today’s intellectual era, India has proven its Intellectual Property (IP) status by the presence of various MNCs and its appreciable growth in R&D. Beyond this level, further development of the country would depend on its ability to convert knowledge into innovation and hence wealth. There lies the importance of matters of generation, evaluation, protection and exploitation of IP.
TRIPS
Under Paris Convention, adoption of different standards of protection by different countries in accordance with different levels of national development was allowed. In order to reduce the asymmetries, the TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was established that sets minimum standards of protection of IP that each country has to pay heed to.
TRIPS can only be held by legal entities – which have the right to sell and buy such properties – which can be held separately in many countries at the same time. TRIPS unlike most of other Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) have an infinite life without the need to be renewed. Moreover, TRIPS have an exclusive nature of being assigned, gifted, sold and licensed to other bodies just like any other tangible property.
TRIPS: Journey in India
Initially during its preliminary stage, problems related to its enactment, administration and government support arose. Lack of awareness was another issue which led to the risk of infringement at alarming levels. Hence with such an unhealthy environment the R&D process in companies was hindered resulting in the death of inventions, high risk infringement, economic loss or basically the decline of an intellectual era in the country. After this, India has undertaken several steps to strengthen IPR. Like the first Indian patent law came way back in 1856 – later being amended in compliance with the TRIPS, also steps like becoming a member of the Paris convention, Patent Co-operation treaty, and signing the TRIPS agreement to comply with the international standards, signing of the Madrid Protocol etc. were taken. Henceforth more number of foreign based countries have established their in-house R&D centres in India, which is a clear sign of IPR influence in the nation.
Challenges in IPR
Despite the continuous efforts of the Government, our industry still faces challenges not only at a domestic level but also at an international level.
- IPR lacks its hold in remote areas which are considered to be hot beds of innovation due to the lack of awareness among people. Such an awareness needs to be promoted by the Government through large scale awareness camps and educational hubs.
- Issues in IPR are matters of law. Today various patent and infringement matters are gaining their significance in the legal story of the country. Hence a skilled team of law persons and IPR professionals are required to regulate such matters efficiently.
- TRIPS flexibility is yet another challenge, which permits developing and developed countries to use TRIPS-compatible norms in a manner that enables them to pursue their own public policies. These have both the positive and negative aspect, latter for the cases where measures reduce or limit the rights conferred. For e.g.- limitation to the use of trademarks for products considered detrimental to health, like alcohol.
India owes much of its progress in R&D to the signing of the Trips agreement mandated by the WTO in 1994. Given our renewed focus on innovation, strengthening IPR might provide a cheaper policy alternative to stimulating innovation – the slew of direct incentives that the government has been attempting to provide.