India should start patenting intellectual inputs: BJP MP

BJP parliamentarian Meenakshi Lekhi today said the time has come for India to start patenting intellectual inputs, instead of "over-paying" for them.
Terming India a "knowledge-driven society", the lawyer- turned-politician said that traditional medicine practised here was part of science and this was not new.
"The traditional medicine which is practised in India is science. It's not new. We are a very scientific society. We may have gone astray for whatever reason. But back on track, as long as we understand it logically that this kind of logic leads to this, patents are good for us. Because we are the innovators.

"Earlier we had to sell our technology because we did not have the potential for manufacturing things ourselves," Lekhi said, while delivering the keynote address at a workshop on "Innovation, Intellectual Property and Role of Licensing: A technology driven initiative towards Make in India" here.
The workshop was organised by the Licensing Executives Society (LES) India.
The workshop laid emphasis on the creation, development, protection and role of licencing and regulatory compliances in the digital age through adoption of various strategies.
"I think it's time Indians start patenting. We are looking at a global regime. We patent and let the world pay us. They would be using our knowledge and technology. Let's use it to our benefit.

"We have been paying and over-paying for long. Let's reverse the game by innovating by patenting and having the right and end up benefiting the country," said Lekhi, the MP from the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.