A strong and balanced IP rights regime encourages domestic innovation, international trade and technology transfer, but there are several improvements required in the Indian system at present, says Ranjan Narula.
Current major IP challenges include the backlog of applications at the Indian Patent Office (IPO), in particular the inordinate delays in examining applications, registering trademark and granting patents.
Infringement cases in court take several years to conclude. There is no special court or bench that hears IP infringement cases. As a result, there can be conflicting views on the same issues, resulting in appeals to higher courts. This further adds to delays.
In the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries, what can be patented and what needs to be shown to meet the requirements of ‘inventive step’ is debatable, and balancing the public interest and IP owners’ interests is also a challenge.
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Indian Patent Office, IP enforcement, Novartis, Ericsson v Micromax
