India ranks second-last in US Chamber's international IP index

Patent protection in India is nowhere near best practices globally, and law doesn't provide adequate enforcement mechanisms to combat online piracy, the report said

India continued its dismal run on the International IP Index, placed 37 among the 38 economies studied for their intellectual property (IP) environment and commitment to innovation by the US Chamber of Commerce.  

“Patent protection in India remains outside of international best practices, and Indian law does not provide adequate enforcement mechanisms to effectively combat online piracy,” the latest report said, explaining India’s score of 7.05 (out of 30). Produced by the chamber’s Global Intellectual Property Centre (GIPC), the study – in its fourth edition – found India’s score was largely unchanged from previous editions of the study. Venezuela finished last, while the United States was the top-ranked country.

India’s overall score decreased to 7.05 from 7.23 in the previous edition. The report noted that this decrease was driven by the introduction of the Global Measure of Physical Counterfeiting in the current edition, in which India was ranked 7.

Among the weaknesses cited in India’s IP environment are lack of specific IP rights for the life sciences sector, a challenging enforcement environment and that the country is not a contracting party to any of the international treaties that are included in the Index. That India is yet to conclude a free trade agreement with substantial IP provisions did not find favour with the GIPC.

The report questions the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (CII) in India. “The environment for protecting CIIs in India has been marred by uncertainty for a number of years. Existing guidance documents, including the Indian patent manual, did not provide clarity on the extent to which CIIs were patentable,” the report said.

India scored 14.29 (out of 100) for IP environment-related to patents, related rights, and limitations; 24.5 for copyrights; 56 for trademarks; trade secrets and market access (25); enforcement (22.17); and zero for membership and ratification of international treaties.

The government is currently in the process of drawing up the contours of a national intellectual property rights policy. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had in 2014 circulated a draft IPR Policy seeking public comments.