Patent - a brief scenario in India.

Abstract

Intellectual Property Right (IPR) is a lawful right given by government to inventors for their intellectual work. IP rights are necessary to prevent copying and misuse of original work. IP includes Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks, Plant varieties, Trade secrets, Industrial designs and Geographical indicators. In India in the year 2013-14 maximum numbers of applications filed and granted were for Trademarks. More than 42000 applications were applied for patent while only 10% (4200) got the approval. IIT tops the list in patent filing while CSIR is leading organization in getting maximum number of patent grants. Indian government has taken various initiatives to make the patenting process easier. Patent can be filed in all four metro cities. For international patenting, patent cooperation treaty (PCT) and convention application filing is done to protect the invention at international level and India is one of the member countries of these group. IP rights provide monetary benefit to inventors, further it creates environment of competition which is good for the growth of the economy. As India is a growing economy and competing with many countries out of which some are involved in reverse engineering and copying many of the original work, hence the role of IPR becomes even more crucial. It is also believed that IPR creates monopoly and could increase the price of essential commodities thus affecting poor people. All in all IPR is needs for today’s world. A balance is required for its use to misuse which will only be made by making careful law and its effective implementation.