Almost every morning most of the dailies these days carry at-least one article on intellectual property, whether it is about scriptwriters fighting producers on copyright for their stories or celebrities registering their names as trademarks, or the major issue of patents and drugs. As an IP lawyer, it’s great to see that there is some mention of my line of work, despite the fact that most journalists interchange the use and concepts of trademarks, copyright, patents and designs. Nonetheless it is better than not covering them at all.

With the Prime Minister travelling the globe and hoping to woo international businesses to “Make in India”, one of the main points of discussion has always been about the protection of intellectual property and more importantly about enforcing those rights. In line with these discussions, the Government, through the Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy (DIPP) constituted a Think Tank to draft a National Intellectual Property Rights Policy on October 24, 2014.

The IPR Think Tank according to the notification has been tasked with the following:

  • To draft National Intellectual Property Rights Policy.
  • To identify areas in the IPRs where study needs to be conducted and to furnish recommendations in this regard to the Ministry.
  • To provide views on the possible implications of demands placed by the negotiating partners.
  • To keep the Government regularly informed about the developments taking place in IPR cases which have an impact upon India’s IPR Policy.
  • To advise the Government on best practices to be followed in Trademark Offices, Patent Offices and other Government Offices dealing with IPR in order to create an efficient and transparent system of functioning in the said offices.
  • To prepare periodic reports on best practice followed in foreign countries.
  • To highlight anomalies in the present IPR legislations and to advice possible solutions to the Ministry.
  • To give suggestions on the steps that may be taken for improving infrastructure in IP offices and Tribunals.
  • To examine the current issues raised by industry associations and those that may have appeared in media and to give suggestions to the Ministry on such issues.

The IPR Think Tank is headed by Retired Justice Prabha Sridevan the Former Chairperson of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and a group of 5 others. Of late, going by the news reports there have been a few questions as to how the members have been chosen and in particular the appointment of a member from Cadila Pharmaceuticals, when they have been at loggerheads with foreign drug makers in the past. According to the news reports, the USTR and other pharma groups are concerned that the IPR Think Tank comprises of people who are generally pro Indian generic drugs makers and that it may be biased.

The response to this however has been that while the core group has been decided, anyone is welcome to contribute and put forth their suggestions on what the policy ought to be like. As per the latest DIPP Public Notice of November 13, 2014, interested persons may submit their comments directly by email to ipr@nic.in before November 30, 2014.

So if you have an idea on what the policy ought to look like, you can email the government.

If however you don’t feel like getting into the policy drafting level but have something to share about your experience with IP in India, either good or bad, please comment in the section below! We’d be happy to hear from you!

This article has been authored by Navarre Roy, an IP Law practitioner.