New Delhi: The Government today spelt out the various initiatives to strengthen Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) ecosystem in the country.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Som Parkash, said the initiatives included the following:
- Modernization of Intellectual Property Rights offices
- adopting e-service delivery system
- real-time public dissemination of dynamic intellectual property (IP) knowledge
- manpower augmentation
- setting up of feedback mechanism
- amendments in specific IP legislation for simplification of procedures, such as reduction of forms, incentivizing e-filing and reducing compliance burden
The Patents Rules, 2003 were amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2021 which came into force on September 21, 2021. Vide the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2021, the term ‘educational institution’ was defined in sub-rule (ca) of rule 2 of the Patents Rules, 2003 and the First Schedule of the Patents Rules, 2003 was also amended. Consequently, the said educational institutions will be eligible for benefit of reduced fee which is around 80% lower than the fee that is payable by other entities.
The scheme for facilitating Startups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP Scheme) was initiated, on a pilot basis, in 2016. The SIPP Scheme was run for the benefit of Start-ups, by providing for facilitators (registered patent agents, registered trademark agents, lawyers, government organizations like TIFAC, NRDC, etc.) who would provide their professional services to the Startups but claim their fees from the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM). Based on the experience gained, the SIPP scheme was extended for a period of three years with effect from 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2020 and further from 1st April 2020 till 31st March 2023. With effect from April 1, 2020, applications filed through Technology and Innovations Support Centres (TISCs), established by collaboration between World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), can also avail the benefit of the SIPP Scheme.
-global bihari bureau
