Indian patents to gain more visibility in EPO soon: Official

Indian patents will soon become more visible internationally, which could lead to increased technology transfer solutions between countries, a top European Patent Office (EPO) official said.

EPO is the world's largest collection of patent information, spanning a database of 90 countries while its Espacenet patent search tool offers free access to more than 80 million patent documents worldwide.

According to Patrick Le Gonidec, Electronic Publication and Dissemination, EPO, the demand for Indian patents and technology transfer solutions have risen significantly in the last decade.

"We do not know when exactly the EPO will ink a deal with the Indian government, but it is in the pipeline. This will make Indian patents more conspicuous internationally. This will be a huge boost for those who are searching for patents and technologies from the country," Gonidec said during a seminar here on patent awareness, adding "not many" patents from India are on EPO.

"EPO is also looking forward to a unitary patent system," he said.

Organised by the Bengal Chamber and European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC), the workshop focused on how academics and entrepreneurs can zero-in on clean energy solutions across borders.

The highlight was to acquaint researchers with tools and services like Espacenet and Global Patent Index (GPI) and raise awareness about the various classification systems under which patents across the world are categorised, including an exclusive one for climate mitigation solutions.

Arvind Chopra, head of Intellectual Property Rights, EBTC, said: "This would enable them to proactively search for latest clean technologies, create their own analyses, and if a technology is of interest to the Indian party, EBTC can help facilitate the transfer of the specific solution."

In addition, Gonidec stressed such databases could be seen as "fantastic source of ideas" for academicians.