Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

05-September-2012 16:37 IST

Circulation of Draft IPR for Inter-Ministerial Consultation

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has prepared a draft National IPR Strategy. The draft has been prepared on the basis of the comments received from the members of the Sectoral Innovation Council on IPRs. However, the same has not been circulated for inter-ministerial consultation.

Consequent to the TRIPS Agreement; India’s IP laws were amended to incorporate the provisions of the said Agreement. Subsequently, in 2010, the Trademark Act was further amended to enable accession to the Madrid Protocol which is a filing treaty and will allow companies to register their trademark in the Member-countries of the Protocol through a single application. The Copyright Act, 1957 was amended in 2012. The amended Act which came into force from 21st June 2012, inter alia includes provisions of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT).

The financial assistance of Rs. 25,000/- for grant of domestic patent and Rs. 1 lakh for grant of international patent is provided to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises under the scheme “Building Awareness on IPR for MSME” of Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

This information was given by the Minister of State of Commerce and Industry, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

DS/GK

Intellectual property law reform: draft national IPR strategy circulated for consultation and MSME patent support outlined. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion prepared a draft National IPR Strategy but has not circulated it for inter-ministerial consultation; India has amended IP laws to comply with TRIPS, enabled accession to the Madrid Protocol via Trade Marks amendments, and incorporated provisions of the WIPO Copyright Treaty and WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty into the Copyright Act. The government also provides targeted financial assistance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises under the 'Building Awareness on IPR for MSME' scheme to support patent grant processes.