With the new government led by Narendra Modi, India has seen increasing IP awareness, growth and reforms aimed at strengthening the IP rights regime. Since its inception, the Government has been consistently trying to revamp IP policies in India. Even the Indian IP Office has been upgrading IP records and making efforts to bring about transparency in its procedures. This article will discuss: (i) Government initiatives and the national IP rights (IPR) policy; (ii) IP rights trends in the past year; (iii) recent developments in IP administration and management; and, (iv) recent case law.
Government initiatives
Last year, the Indian Government entered into several reform policies to strengthen the IP regime in India. One of its initial steps was the constitution of the IPR think tank for drafting the national IPR policy and advising the Government on such policy matters.
The draft national IPR policy as published by the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) in December 2014 outlines its objectives in seven areas: IP awareness and promotion; creation of IP; legal and legislative framework; IP administration and management; commercialisation of IP; enforcement and adjudication; and, human capital development.
The draft also highlights the steps taken towards integrating IP with Government initiatives like Make in India and Digital India. Under the Make in India initiative, the Government is at- tempting to transform India into a world-class manufacturing hub, with the intention of fostering innovation and creativity by generating, protecting and utilising IP assets. The Digital India initiative involves components like smart cities, e-governance, e-literacy, e-commerce, strengthening and expansion of digital infrastructure and transforming India into an electronic system, design and manufacturing hub.
At present, the policy has received input from and its final version is being drafted for approval by the cabinet.
Recent IPR trends
In June 2015, the Indian IP Office released its Annual Report (2013-3014). The Report demonstrates the progress in the filing and disposal of IP applications in India during the reporting year. The Report showed several trends.
In trade mark filing, the Report indicated an increase of 2.98% as compared to the previous year's filings (see figure 1).
In patent filing, the Report witnessed a marginal decrease of 1.65% in filing as compared to various stakeholders, organisations and countries the previous year (see figure 2).
In design filing, the Report witnessed an in- crease of 2.35% as compared to the previous year (see figure 3).
IP management and administration
Over recent years, the Indian IP Office has been striving towards the digitisation of the Office and bringing about transparency in the maintenance of IP records.
In September 2014, the CGPDTM (Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks) re- leased a new version of the electronic patent register in IPAIRS. The new version comprises an additional tab, namely 'patent e-register', which accepts six-digit patent numbers and displays additional details of a patent such as legal status, due dates, information on the working of patents, and parent or divisional applications.
In January 2015, the CGPDTM launched the design application search utility which enables searches using several parameters such as application number, date of filing, applicant's name, state and country, name of article, IDC class, priority date, journal number and publication date.
Earlier searches could only be conducted through application number only.
In order to promote the online filing of copy-right applications, the Copyright Office stopped the physical filing of applications in August 2014. In March 2015, the CGPDTM launched electronic filing for new design registration applications. From March 2015, GI applications can be submitted online at the portal www.ipindia.gov.in or www.ipindia.nic.in.
The CGPDTM has published a draft manual of trade mark practice and procedure. The manual has been published with the objective of bringing about uniformity in practice and prosecution of trade mark applications in India. The manual brings together the provisions of the Trademark Act and corresponding Trademark Rules along with the office practice followed in the examination and prosecution of trade mark applications.
In March 2015, Shri Rajiv Aggarwal, joint secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion took charge as the new Controller General of the Indian IP Office.
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Previously published on www.managingip.com
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