IPR & Patents

Intellectual property rights are like any other property rights. They allow creators, or owners, of patents, trademarks or copyrighted works to benefit from their own work or investment in a creation. These rights are outlined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides for the right to benefit from the protection of moral and material interests resulting from authorship of scientific, literary or artistic productions.

A holder of any Intellectual Property acquires a monopolistic right over his intellectual properties. These rights are awarded by the state and the user can exercise these rights to restrain others from using them without his consent. Any violation of such rights leads to infringement. Antitrust laws, in turn, ensure that new proprietary technologies, products, and services are bought, sold, traded, and licensed in a competitive environment. In today‘s dynamic marketplace, new technological improvements are constantly replacing those that came before, as competitors are driven to improve their existing products or introduce new products in order to maintain their market share. The competition law aims to prevent the misuse of dominant position or stockpiling of market power while patent law grants monopoly rights with certain exceptions to prevent abuse of such rights.

The Intellectual Property Rights regime in India underwent significant change after India‘s accession to TRIPS in 1995. Various amendments were carried out in the Patents Act, 1970 and the Trade Marks Act, 1999 to make these laws TRIPS compliant. In mean time, the Designs Act, 2000 as well as the Geographical Indications of Good (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 were also enacted. Since then, IPR regime in India has passed through various phases, facing new challenges and finding solutions to them.

Ministry of Commerce and Industry

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry administers two departments, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion. The head of the Ministry is a Minister of Cabinet rank supported by Minister of State.

Department of Commerce

The department is entrusted with formulating and implementing the foreign trade policy and responsibilities relating to multilateral and bilateral commercial relations, state trading, export promotion measures, and development and regulation of certain export oriented industries and commodities. In order for the smooth functioning, the Department is divided into eight divisions:

• Administrative and General Division
• Finance Division
• Economic Division
• Trade Policy Division
• Foreign Trade Territorial Division
• State Trading & Infrastructure Division
• Supply Division
• Plantation Division

The subjects under the administrative control of the Department include:

• International trade
• Foreign Trade
• State trading
• Management of Indian Trade Services
• Special Economic Zones

Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion

This department was established in the year 1995, and in the year 2000 Department of Industrial Development was merged with it. This department is responsible for formulation and implementation of promotional and developmental measures for growth of the industrial sector, keeping in view the national priorities and socio-economic objectives. While individual administrative ministries look after the production, distribution, development and planning aspects of specific industries allocated to them, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion is responsible for the overall Industrial Policy. It is also responsible for facilitating and increasing the FDI flows to the country.

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion is also responsible for intellectual property rights relating to patents, designs, trademarks, and geographical indication of goods and oversees the initiative relating to their promotion and protection.

Intellectual Property India

The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM) is located at Mumbai. The Head Office of the Patent office is at Kolkata and its Branch offices are located at Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai. The Trade Marks registry is at Mumbai and its Branches are located in Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad and New Delhi. The Design Office is located at Kolkata in the Patent Office. The Offices of The Patent Information System (PIS) and National Institute of Intellectual Property Management (NIIPM) are at Nagpur. The Controller General supervises the working of the Patents Act, 1970, as amended, the Designs Act, 2000 and the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and also renders advice to the Government on matters relating to these subjects. In order to protect the Geographical Indications of goods a Geographical Indications Registry has been established in Chennai to administer the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 under the CGPDTM.

• Patents
• Designs
• Trade Marks
• Geographical Indications
• National Institute of Intellectual Property Management(NIIPM)
• Patent Information System