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(Updated on 1st August 2007)

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3 The term Intellectual Property (IP) reflects the idea that its subject matter is the product
of the mind or the intellect. These could be in the form of Patents; Trademarks;
Geographical Indications; Industrial Designs; Layout-Designs (Topographies) of
Integrated Circuits; Plant Variety Protection and Copyright. ?
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3 IP, protected through law, like any other form of property can be a matter of trade, that
is, it can be owned, bequeathed, sold or bought. The major features that distinguish it
from other forms are their intangibility and non-exhaustion by consumption. ?
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3 IP is the foundation of knowledge-based economy. It pervades all sectors of economy

and is increasingly becoming important for ensuring competitiveness of the enterprises.?

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3????????? A UN agency, namely, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) based in

Geneva administers treaties in the field of intellectual property. India is a member of
WIPO.

3????????? Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion is the nodal Department in the
Government of India for all matters concerning WIPO.

3?????????India is also member of 2 major treaties, namely, Paris Convention for the Protection of
Industrial Property (relating to patents, trademarks, designs, etc.) of 1883 and the
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (relating to copyright)
of 1886. Apart from these, India is also a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty
(PCT) which facilitates obtaining of patents in several countries by filing a single
application.

3 India is also a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO agreement,
¦
¦, contains an agreement on IP, namely, the Agreement on Trade Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). This Agreement made protection of intellectual
 property an enforceable obligation of the Member States. TRIPS Agreement sets out
minimum standards of intellectual property protection for Member States. ?

3????????? India has complied with the obligations contained in the TRIPS Agreement and
amended/enacted IP laws.
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3????????? DIPP is concerned with legislations relating to Patents, Trade Marks, Designs and
Geographical Indications. These are administered through the Office of the Controller
General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM), subordinate office, with
headquarters at Mumbai, as under: ?
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a)?????? The Patents Act, 1970 (amended in 1999, 2002 and 2005) through the Patent
Offices at Kolkata (HQ), Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi.?
b)?????? The Designs Act, 2000 through the Patent Offices at Kolkata (HQ), Mumbai,
Chennai and Delhi.?
c)?????? The Trade Marks Act, 1999 through the Trade Marks Registry at Mumbai (HQ)
Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.?
d)?????? The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999
through the Geographical Indications Registry at Chennai.?
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3?????????The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) is also in-charge
of the Office of the Patent Information System, Nagpur and the Intellectual Property Training
Institute, Nagpur. The office has 446 personnel in the patents and designs Offices and 291
personnel in trademarks and geographical indication Offices.?

3????????? Necessary safeguards have been built into the IP laws, in particular in the Patents law, for
protection of public interest including public health.?

3?????????Along with the legislation, rules have also been amended to install a user-friendly system for
processing of IP applications. All rules and forms are available on the website:
http://www.ipindia.nic.in?


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3????????? An Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has been set up at Chennai to hear
appeals against the decisions of Registrar of Trademarks, Geographical Indications and
the Controller of Patents.

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3????????? Copyright is protected through Copyright Act, 1957, as amended in 1999 - administered by
the Department of Higher Education. ?

3????????? Layout of transistors and other circuitry elements is protected through the Semi-conductor
Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000 - administered by the Department of Information
Technology. ?


3????????? New varieties of plants are protected through the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers¶
Rights Act, 2001 - administered by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. ?

3????????? Article 39 of the TRIPs Agreement mandates protection of test data submitted to regulatory
authorities for obtaining marketing approvals against unfair commercial use. A Committee
under the chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petro-chemicals has
examined this issue and submitted its Report to the Government. ?

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3????????? To complement the legislative initiatives, modernisation of IP infrastructure has also been
undertaken and new integrated offices have been established in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai
and Mumbai. A programme costing Rs.153 crore has been implemented in the 10th Five
Year Plan. The programme focused on: Infrastructure development; computerisation;
human resource development; training and awareness. ?

3?????????E-filing facility for patent and trademark applications has been introduced on 20.7.2007. ?

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3????????? Bilateral cooperation agreements (MoUs) have been entered into with UK, France, USA,
European Patent Office and Japan. These focus on human resources development,
capacity building and awareness and outreach activities. ?

3????????? Multilateral Cooperation: India has an active cooperation programme in intellectual property
matters with WIPO. These, inter alia, include organization of joint seminars and workshops
and study programmes besides technical assistance by WIPO experts.?

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3?????????Civil and criminal provisions exist in various laws for dealing with counterfeiting and piracy. ?

3????????? The Department of IPP has set up an Inter-ministerial Committee to coordinate IP

enforcement issues.?

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3????????The filing of patent applications has increased from 4824 in the year 1999-2000 to
28,882 applications in the year 2006-2007. ?

3????????The number of applications examined has gone up to 14,119 in 2006-07 against the
figure of 2824 in the year 1999-2000.?

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4824? 8503? 10,592? 11,466? 12,613? 17,466? 24,415? 28,882?
?

 
2824? 4264? 5104? 9538? 10,709? 14,813? 11,569? 14,119?
$ ?
  
1881? 1318? 1591? 1379? 2469? 1911? 4320? 7359?
% ?

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3????????? The backlog of unexamined applications of approximately 5 lakh cases brought down to
zero. ?

3????????? Renewal of Trademarks certificates being done instantaneously in clear cases and new
applications are examined within one week. ?

3????????? As against only 8,010 registrations in 1999-2000, 13 times more TMs were registered in
2006-07, that is, 109,361. ?

3????????? 3.38 lakh trademark certificates were issued during the last 3 years whereas only 1.65 lakh
marks were registered in 64 years (since 1940 to 2004).?

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66,378? 84,275? 90,236? 94,120? 92,251? 78,996? 85,699? 1,03,419?


$ ? 42,500? 70,115? 1,59,735? 2,49,003? 89,958? 72,091? 79,200? 85,185?

? 8010? 14,202? 6204? 11,190? 39,762? 45,015? 1,84,325?1,09,361?

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3?????????39 Geographical Indications products have been registered since September, 2003. These
include Darjeeling Tea, Chanderi Saree, Pochanpally Ikat, Solapur Chaddar, Mysore Silk,
Kullu Shawl, Bidriware, etc. ?

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3?????????The filing of applications for Design has increased from 2874 in 1999-2000 to 5372 in 2006-
07. ?

3????????? The number of applications examined has also gone up to 5179 in 2006-07 against the
figure of 2067 in 1999-2000. ?

3????????? The number of Designs registered has also increased from 1382 in 1999-2000 to 4431 in
2006-07.?

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3????????? The Government has approved a proposal for establishment of a National Institute for
Intellectual Property Management (NIIPM) at Nagpur. The Institute will perform training,
education, research and think tank functions. ?

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3?????????Further modernisation of IP Offices to provide additional human resources, higher level of
computerisation to support on-line processing, strengthening of data-base and novelty
search facilities, awareness generation activities, accession to international
treaties/conventions is being taken up in 11th Five Year Plan. ?
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3?????????Madrid Protocol, administered by WIPO, is a simple, facilitative and cost effective system for
registration of International Trademarks. India¶s membership of Madrid Protocol will help
Indian companies to register their trade marks in the member countries of the Protocol
through a single application.?

3????????? An exercise to amend the Trade Marks Act is underway to enable joining the Madrid
Protocol. ?

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3????????? A proposal is under consideration to seek recognition for the Indian Patent Office as an
International Searching Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authority
(IPEA) under the Patent Co-operation Treaty. ISA and IPEAs provide search reports on
novelty and examination reports on patentability of inventions. ?
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3????????? Government has set up a technical expert group under the chairmanship of former Director
General of CSIR (Dr. R.A. Mashelkar) to examine the following two patent law issues:?

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(a) whether it would be TRIPS compatible to limit the grant of patent for
pharmaceutical substance to new chemical entity or to new medical
entity involving one or more inventive steps; and?

(b) whether it would be TRIPS compatible to exclude micro-organisms from

patenting. ?

3????????? The Report of the Group is available at

http://ipindia.nic.in/ipr/patent/mashelkar_committee_report.doc?