India's IPR Policy to fully protect patents: Nirmala Sitharaman

National IPR Policy, which is currently under discussion, will fully protect patent, geographical indication (GI) and copyrights, said Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce & Industry Minister, while speaking at a seminar on ‘Protecting brands abroad with the Madrid System’. The final draft of the National IPR Policy has been circulated for inter-ministerial consultation and is likely to be put up to the Union Cabinet for approval after getting the comments.
 
Nirmala Sitharaman sought to allay apprehensions in the minds of foreign investors about the strength of the Indian IPR regime, stating that final draft of the National IPR Policy has been arrived at through a transparent process with inputs from all stakeholders.
 
The draft policy, she said, focusses on stronger enforcement of IPR by increasing the manpower strength in IP offices and reducing the pendency of IPR filings. Most of the offices have done away with manual interface as all applications, queries and decisions are made online.
 
Speaking on the Madrid Protocol on registering and managing trademarks worldwide, Nirmala Sitharaman said that the system allows an applicant to file one application, in one language and pay one set of fees to protect the trademark in all WIPO member countries.
 
In his address, Amitabh Kant, secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said, “The key challenge before the country was to attain growth rates of 9-10% year after year for 30 years. We need to be a nation of job creators where innovation and creativity will be the key driving forces.”