China has the world’s largest number of patent filings, as it encourages ‘utility model’ or ‘petty’ patents. The requirements for obtaining these short-term rights to commercialise inventions or innovations are less stringent than those for patents.
“The patent ecosystem in China is innovative. The Chinese government is reportedly offering sentence reductions to convicts if they come up with major technical innovations. Though it is not fair to expect a similar system here, the Indian patent regime has a lot to change, particularly the way patents are to be commercialised,” said IPR Attorney Ashok Ram Kumar of Wordict IPR Legal Services, Hyderabad.
Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a workshop on IPR at V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College here on Friday, Mr. Kumar said India should look beyond patents i.e., at other forms of protection of original innovations / works namely copyrights, designs and trademarks which offer longer term protection. “Adequate funding and logistics have to be provided to research being done in universities. In the US, for instance, 75 p.c. of patents originate in universities, and some of them thrive on the just royalties paid by users,” he observed.
Indian patent regime has a lot to change though good progress has been made
