Thank You, Shri Amitabh Kantji

 Thank You, Shri Amitabh Kantji

 

 

What for ?

 

For delivering on his commitment on expediting the process of granting of Patents

 

 

 

Can you be specific ?

 

Here is the PATENT REGIME REFORMS journey :

 

[ A ]  10 YEARS ago :

----------------------

Want a Patent ? Be patient ! ……………………………….[ 26 Feb 2012 ]

Extract :

No of patent applications pending …………………………………100,000
Which will take to clear ………………………………………………….3 years
No of requests being examined / year ………………………….12,000
Additional Patent Examiners being trained …………………….250
Which will help clear no of applications / year …………………40,000
New requests being received / year …………………………………25,000 +
Annual growth-rate of requests ………………………………………  20 %

I would not be surprised if Indian scientists working in foreign labs are filing more patent applications abroad than the Indian scientists working in Indian labs !

Innovation will get a huge boost if Patents can be granted – or even rejected – in 6 months !

 

 

[ B ]  7 YEARS ago :

----------------------

Innovation , a distant dream ? ……………………….[ 18 July 2015 ]

 

Extract :

No of patents filed last year

 

     *  Whole World..................... 214,500

     *  USA................................    61,492

     *  Japan..............................    42,459

     *  China...............................   25,539

     *  India...............................      1,349

 

>    Only one Indian entity features on the list of the top 10 recipients of Indian patents

     

>   Collectively, the IITs filed 342  patents

 

True, but while lamenting this poor state of affairs, we should also examine what causes this poor state

 

 

Here are my guesses :

 

>   PATENT - FILING  TIME

 

     Whereas, it takes months to get a patent approved in Developing Countries, it takes years in India ( see my

     old blog below )

 

>   PATENT- FILING  COST

 

     In India, it costs lakhs of rupees ( fees of Patent Attorney ). Abroad , it takes lakhs of dollars

 

>   PATENT  PROTECTION  COST

 

     It costs a fortune ( whether in India or Abroad ) , to protect your patent in a court of law. Often, more

     than the monetary benefit derived from it  !

 

     And with never-ending appeals, it takes years to settle the matter

 

     For Indian Innovators , fighting a patent litigation in Foreign Courts , is an impossible task

 

 

>   PATENT  REGIME

 

     India's Patent Laws are considered " weak " , especially , in case  of Pharma / Chemical patents , in respect

     of " Product Patent "  vs  " Process Patent "

 

     There is also a provision whereby, Government of India can force a Foreign Patent holder to " license " it

     compulsorily, to an Indian applicant who wants to exploit that patent ( of course , on reasonable licensing

     fees  ! )

 

 

>  PATENT  BENEFITS

 

    Abroad, when a scientist working in a Educational Institute or a Research Lab , invents something for which

    ,even if a patent gets applied for in the name of that Institute , he too gets a percentage of future royalties ,

    when that patent gets licensed for commercial exploitation

 

    I don't think , Indian Inventors , benefit in this way . That takes away the incentive

 

>   PATENT  PRESTIGE

 

     If the inventing scientist's name does not figure on the patent and gets replaced by the name of his boss ,

     innovations will remain buried !

 

 

When I brought this “ State of Affairs “ to notice of Shri Amitabh Kant, he replied :

 

 

From: Amitabh Kant [mailto:amitabhk87@gmail.com]

Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2015 10:49 PM

To: Hemen Parekh

Subject: Re: INNOVATIONS AND PATENTS

 

Dear Hemen,

 

Thanks. I am working on it. Recruiting 1000 additional examiners on war footing .

Will bring pendency to 6 months in  18 months time. 

 

Ak 

Sent from my iPad

 

 

This made me send following e-mail to Shri Kant :

 

 

INNOVATIONS AND PATENTS

 

Amitabh Kant amitabhk87@gmail.com

 

 

Dear  Amitabh ,

 

This is indeed heartening  !

 

As per Patent Office Annual Report ( 2013-14 ), 196 patent examiners managed to " dispose off " ( grant + refusal ), some 11,411 applications ( 58.2 / examiner / year )

 

If this number goes up 6 times ( 200 + 1000 ), may be they could dispose off 36,000 applications in 6 months - as against 42,951 applications filed during 2013-14

 

I wish you all luck with such a massive recruitment drive

 

But with just ONE employer in the entire country, it would be extremely difficult to find so many suitable / experienced examiners

 

I suppose, Patent Office will, simultaneously launch an equally massive " Training " program

 

It may be worth considering outsourcing of preliminary internet-based search of existing " Prior Knowledge ", without revealing to the " Subcontracted Party ", any finer details of the applications

 

with regards,

 

hemen

 

 

[ C ]   TO DAY :

 

 

PM to Start-ups : Don’t just keep your dreams local, make them global  /  BL  /  16 Jan 2022

 

Extract :

 

He highlighted that :

 

#  in 2013-14, 4,000 patents were approved, which rose to

#  28,000 in 2020-21.

 

 

Similarly :

 

#  in the year 2013-14, where about 70,000 trademarks were registered,

 

#  in 2020-21 more than 2.5 lakh trademarks have been registered.

 

 

Again,

 

#  in the year 2013-14, where only 4,000 copyrights were granted,

 

#  last year their number has crossed 16,000.

 

 

The Prime Minister pointed out that India’s campaign for innovation has resulted in improvement of India’s ranking in Global innovation index where India stood at 81st rank but now India stands at 46th rank in the index.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Amitabh

 

You have more than lived up to a commitment that you made to the Nation

 

 

With regards,

 

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  16 Jan 2022