Seal of Exclusivity

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India sure is getting patent literate. Well, not just literate, India is making good use of it too. The numbers prove it. In 2007-08, there was a 21% increase in the number of patent applications filed in the country over that of the previous fiscal. And, the number of patents granted in 2007-08 doubled within the same time frame. So we are walking ahead, just that we might need to run a bit to catch up with the world’s leading countries when it comes to being patent savvy.

Underlining this fact, research and analytics firm Evalueserve, in its recently published report titled ‘Patenting Landscape in India’, said the impressive growth rate of patent filings at the Indian Patent Office (IPO) can be largely attributed to foreign companies and multinational corporations, and not India’s own companies.

The firm, by doing an analysis of patenting activity at the IPO in the last three years, came to the conclusion that was worrying to say the least from India’s point of view. “There are only 22 ‘pure-bred’ Indian companies among the top 200 filers at the IPO,” it said.

Current strategy

In what is an even bigger cause for concern is that at a time when it has become imperative for companies to put together an impressive patent portfolio to be amongst the major global players in their respective sector, even Indian companies with a decent number of patent filings in IPO failed to file a good number of applications in foreign jurisdictions. This, the report said, was due to lack a coherent strategy to coordinate their Indian and foreign filings.

Dipanjan Nag, director (Chicago Office), Ocean Tomo, a Chicago-based firm in the field of IP auctions and trading, threw in another vital aspect. “The awareness of the various platforms for acquisition of intellectual property (IP) to fast track the creation of functional and strong IP portfolio is lacking in India,” he said.