India & the US are focused on enhancing awareness about the pivotal role Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) play in bridging the gap between invention & investment, Beth Payne, US consul general in Kolkata said at a conference on Empowering business entities through IPR on Thursday.
“Critics say IPR is all about protectionism or monopoly, but protection of creative rights is a good thing as it inspires creative thinking. We must have proper laws in place to inspire development of new ideas,” she said.
At present India & US are currently having a dialogue in developing new laws to safeguard intellectual protectionism for the improvement of trade between the two countries.
“We need to come up with new ideas for protection of the rights. These rights are apt for complex business environment. In April 2008, Bollywood-Hollywood initiative was launched to stop piracy & entertainment-related issues. The companies in West Bengal, particularly the tea companies, will benefit once they come under the protection laws,” she said.
These laws will act as the interface between the inventions and the investors in India. “Managing & implementation of the intellectual property is more important than formulating laws about Intellectual Property & there should also be a proper monitoring system in place to stop Intellectual property infringement,” said Alan J Kasper, president-elect of American Intellectual Association.
IPR infrastructure has been recognised as one of the prime infrastructure of India. The government of India has embarked on strengthening of infrastructure & all laws relating to IPR. In this process the Centre has sanctioned Rs 750 crore for the creation and upgradation of infrastructure in the 9th & 10th five-year plans. So far, there are 339 patents registered in India.