FICCI working on robust IP ecosystem

The government has accorded the highest priority to capacity building and enforcement of Intellectual Property (IP) laws, said Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

“Without innovation and creativity, India could not hope to become a 10 trillion-dollar economy by 2030,” he said.

Abhishek gave this assurance at a conference on ‘Promoting Innovation, Creativity & IP Generation among Women Entrepreneurs’ on the occasion of World IP Day 2018, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with DIPP.

He highlighted several improvements and new initiatives taken post announcement of the IPR Policy in 2016 and said that patent examination, disposal and copyright applications and registration had seen a dramatic increase in the last two years.

“Around 17,000 patent applications were examined during 2015-16, which improved to around 60,000 applications examined during the last fiscal,” he said.

“Time taken to examine patent applications was also reduced from 13 months to less than a month currently.”

However, a lot more needed to be done to create enabling structures to promote creativity among women.

In a video message to the participants, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu emphasised that IP protection be critical for promoting innovation.

He said the government was committed to spurring innovation by focusing on all aspects of IP protection, including legislative, administrative, enforcement and prosecution measures.

Justice Pratibha M. Singh, Judge, Delhi High Court, underlined the need for aggressively pursuing alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as mediation to settle IP cases.

This would require placement of mediators at IP offices, she said, adding that such a measure would bring down the pressure of adjudication on the courts.

“40-50% of IP cases are settled through mediation. We need more mediators who can help in expeditiously resolving disputes,” she said.

Justice Singh also stressed the need for training of women in sciences so that they could be appointed as mediators.

The sensitisation process concerning the promotion of innovation, creativity and IP generation, she said, needed to be started right from childhood at the school level.

Rashesh Shah, President, FICCI, said that FICCI was intensively working on building a robust IP ecosystem in India and was proud to be a part of this legacy.

He said that although women were progressively taking on the roles of innovators and entrepreneurs, the fact remained that globally fewer women continued to use the IP system than men.

“Women innovators filed less than one-third of International patent applications,” he said.

FICCI President also highlighted the need for having more such schemes like Start-up India and Atal Innovation Mission to help increase the number of women to pursue innovation and creativity-based enterprises.

“The emphasis needs to be on creating more and more platforms & opportunities for this objective,” said Shah.

Narendra Sabharwal, Chair, FICCI IP Committee and former Deputy Director General, WIPO, said that it was essential to have a policy environment that inspired women innovators to thrive in a globalised economy.

Enabling women entrepreneurs to achieve their goals and aspirations would be vital for accelerating innovation and building stronger economies.

He also underlined the need for a robust IP enforcement mechanism to facilitate industrial investment and faster economic growth. fii-news.com