NEW DELHI: Intellectual Property (IP) will be the most important property in the 21st century and India’s first IPR policy which is in the offing would be the first step towards nurturing and protecting IP rights, said Mr. Rajiv Aggarwal, the newly appointed Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, Government of India. India has to move on and recognize the importance of IPR for the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for ‘Make in India’, he added.
Coinciding with the World Intellectual Property Week, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and Intellectual Property Office (IPO) organized a conference on IP as Frontline Tool for ‘Make in India’. The aim of the conference was to commemorate the contribution that IP would be having in the ‘Make in India’ campaign towards making India a preferred manufacturing destination around the world.
The conference served as a platform for eminent national, international speakers and stakeholders from industry, government and academia to discuss and provide a comprehensive outlook of the industrial importance of intellectual property and the IP landscape in India in light of the recent policy and regulatory developments.
Mr. Aggarwal said that in order to give ‘Make in India’ a fillip, industry has to promote R&D and the government needs to act as a facilitator. He added that there was a proposal for speeding up disposal of patents under ‘Make in India’ regime. Also, there was a need to enhance commercialization of patents, he stated.
Quoting Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, he said that India had made the transformation from a country worried about its ‘brain-drain’, to a country that now thinks of ‘brain-gain’. The need was now to bring awareness about IP rights to the grass root level and hinterland of the country where innovation was taking place but was not being employed for society’s benefit due to lack of knowledge .
Mr. Aggarwal said that India was committed to be in sync with global IPR practices and Indian IPR was Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) compliant. He added that World intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) had appreciated and recognized India’s efforts in the Madrid Protocol.
Mr. Narendra Sabharwal, Chair, FICCI IP Committee & Former Deputy Director General, WIPO,said that India’s Controller General was committed to put in place an IPR Policy which would give national interest of the country the topmost priority and would take into consideration the concerns of vulnerable sections of the country in sectors such as public health, environment and food security. He also urged the industry to take full advantage of India’s IPR regime and utilize it to safeguard their innovations.
Dr. A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI, said that there was now a growing realization that intellectual property and related rights played an important role in strengthening businesses and most enterprises valued their IP as much as they valued their market presence. Dr. Singh said thatthe ‘Make in India’ campaign, in addition to emphasizing on FDI, tax and market entry reforms; must also work towards establishing a vibrant IP regime in the country.
Speaking about the IPR Policy, Dr. Singh said that industry was encouraged by the recommendations set forth in the draft IPR Policy. He expressed hope that these initiatives would eventually lead to an improved IP ecosystem which would encourage innovation in the country and would give a push to the ‘Make in India’ campaign. Mr. Arun Chawla, Assistant Secretary General, FICCI, said the objective of World IP Day was to raise awareness about intellectual property rights, to celebrate creativity and contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the globe and to encourage respect for IP rights.
Also, as part of the World IP Week, FICCI organized a National Online Poster Making Competition for all age groups across the country from April 15 to April 28, 2015. The poster making competition was based on the theme proposed by WIPO for the World IP Day 2015, ‘Get Up, Stand Up. For Music’.
