Govt taking steps to expedite patent applications

The commerce and industry ministry is taking several steps including hiring more people and training them to reduce the time and pendency of patents and trademark applications, an official said today.
Joint Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Rajiv Aggarwal said that the "biggest bane of our system" is the time consumed in processing of intellectual property (IP) applications.
"Last year, the first examination of trademark applications was taking almost a year and a half. Today that time has come down to around 4-5 months and by March 2017, it will come down to only one month," he said here at the CII's India-UK Tech Summit.

He said this is happening because the ministry has augmented its manpower and is training them.
Last year the filings of trademark applications had gone up by 35 per cent and by end of this year "we will be touching 3,00,000" applications, he said.
Similarly, he said for the first examination of patent applications it used to take 6-7 years and "we have aimed to bring it down to just 18 months by March 2018".

For examinations of patent applications too, "we have enhanced our manpower by five times," he said adding that the DIPP is concentrating on these two areas.

He also said that there is a need to bridge the gap between the industry and academia and increase ties between the two to promote R&D and innovation.
"We are also preparing a tool kit for enforcement for police officers so that they should know the law, they should have the checklist which they have to go through for trademarks and copyrights," Aggarwal said.
Speaking at the session, Tata Group CTO Gopichand Katragadda said that the UK has a lot to offer to India in the areas of auto, engineering and aerospace.
"In order to develop a sustainable innovation...India should also aim to be a global source for new technology," he said.

Referring to the student visa issue raised by India with the UK, founder of Cobra Beer, NRI Karan Bilimoria said that Britain has the finest universities in the world.
"I encourage despite whatever you may hear about the immigration rules, Indian students to continue to come to study in the UK and our universities welcome them" he added.