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In News
- Recently the report “Why India Needs to Urgently Invest in its Patent Ecosystem?” was released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
Report Highlights
- About:
- The report underlines the significance of a robust patent system for a knowledge economy and for the promotion of technological innovations.
- Share of Indians in filing patent applications:
- It highlights the rising share of residents in the total number of patent applications filed in India, which has more than doubled during the last decade.
- The Economic Survey 2022-23, for instance, highlighted the rising share of Indian residents in patent applications.
- For the first time, the number of patent applications by residents has surpassed that of foreign applications during the last quarter of the financial year 2021-22.
- Interestingly, the number of abandoned patent applications also increased at an astonishing rate during this period.
- It highlights the rising share of residents in the total number of patent applications filed in India, which has more than doubled during the last decade.
- Concern:
- A major concern expressed in the EAC-PM report is the long pendency of processing patent applications in India.
- Report recommendations:
- Report has recommended several measures to reduce the pendency issue.
- Increasing the efficiency of processing patent applications will certainly improve the patent ecosystem in the country.
- At the same time, we need to investigate the patent ecosystem more closely to connect the dots so that appropriate measures are adopted to improve the patent ecosystem, keeping in view the national innovation ecosystem.
Role of higher education sector of India in Patenting
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Issues around patenting in India
- Abandoned patent applications:
- The latest Annual Report (2019-20) of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications (CGPDTM) shows that the number of abandoned patent applications are rising.
- The share of such abandoned patents in the total number of patent applications soared from 13.6% in 2010-11 to 48% in 2019-20.
- Possible reasons:
- Applicants are not confident about their applications passing scrutiny and, therefore, do not pursue their applications.
- It may also be possible, especially in the case of innovations with short-life spans, that the long pendency discourages applicants from following up on their applications.
- Filing of patent applications:
- Since the adoption of the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy 2016, a lot of emphasis has been attached to the filing of patent applications.
- It is worth examining if perverse incentives have been created in the process, which encourage the filing of patent applications even when the innovator knows that their claims will not pass scrutiny.
- If that is the case, eliminating such perverse incentives itself will add to improving the patent ecosystem of India.
Indian Patent Regime
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Way Ahead
- As the patent system is a critical aspect of the national innovation ecosystem, investing in the patent ecosystem will help in strengthening the innovation capability of India.
- The right interventions should be made for the promotion of the quality of patent applications and collaboration between academia and industry.
Source: TH
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