Intellectual Property (IP) intensive industry is not defined, however, this Department has taken various initiatives to strengthen Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Regime in India like legislative improvements, modernisation of IP offices, manpower augmentation, use of IT and technology, e-filing of applications, acceptance of email in all IPO transactions, online delivery of certificates of grant/registration of patent, trademark and designs in digital format, use of video-conferencing for hearing of IP applications, SMS alert to get updates, expedited examination of IP applications, spreading awareness in IPR, India’s accession to WIPO administered treaties, signing of pilot Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) project with Japan in the month of December 2019.

• Impacts of the initiatives taken during last 5 years are as under:
• Period of examination of new Trademarks applications has been reduced from  13   months to less than 30 days.
• Trademark is registered in less than 7 months, if there are no objections or opposition filed, as compared to 3-5 years required earlier.
• 11.25 lakh trademark registrations in just four and half years (2015 to 2019) as compared to 11 lakh registrations during 75 Years (1940-2015).
• Patent examination increased from 22631 in 2014-15 to 85426 in 2018-19.
• Time required for patent examination reduced from average 72 months in 2014- 2015 to average around 36 months in 2019.
• Grant of patents has increased from 5,978 in 2014-15 to 15,283 in 2018-19.

The Government of India has been working steadily to improve India’s ranking in Global Innovation Index (GII) and this is evident from the fact that India has been consistently moving up on global ranking in past few years. India’s ranking has improved from 81 in 2015 to 52 in 2019 in GII.

Amendments in IP Acts are considered by the Government of India as and when deemed necessary.

This information was given by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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YKB/ AP

Intellectual property strengthening speeds prosecution and modernises IPR administration across sectors, improving registration and examination efficiency. The Department implemented legislative, institutional and IT measures to strengthen Intellectual Property Rights, including e filing, digital certificate delivery, video conferencing for hearings, expedited examination and international cooperation such as WIPO accession and a pilot Patent Prosecution Highway, resulting in reduced prosecution timelines and increased trademark registrations and patent grants.