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The government has undertaken an ambitious programme to modernise the intellectual property Rights (IPRs) administrative infrastructure with a view to making the system efficient, IT-enabled and more user-friendly. In the inaugural address read out on his behalf at the National Seminar on the Promotion, Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights being organised by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion) in association with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)/Geneva and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), here today, Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, said that with the Indian economy having a huge technical and scientific manpower, what it now required was to effectively harness the potential of intellectual property to meet the emerging challenges and “this challenge is critical for making India a knowledge super power and creating wealth from intellectual property”.
“The modernised patent law is expected to provide a secure and conducive environment to investments. Combined with the market potential of India, a modern IP system will impact favourably on efforts to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), technology transfer, etc., thereby contributing to faster economic and technological development. Other benefits of the product patent regime could be: Indian companies will push for more R&D as drivers of future growth and profitability; India could be new destination for contract manufacturing and contract research since India has cost/capabilities advantages, and has emerged a leading supplier of quality and cost effective drugs in the world”, he added.
The two-day (17-18 February) programme is being attended by 100 participants representing senior officials concerned with policy making and implementation, enforcement agencies such as police, customs, music industry, publishing industry, attorneys, legal profession, etc. Eminent international and national speakers are making the presentations in order to share experiences and understand the implications of the emerging issues in the context of effective enforcement of intellectual property rights. Amongst speakers today were: Mr. Wolfgang Starein, Director, Enforcement & Special Projects division, WIPO and Mr. Yuji Okuma, Director, Regional Policy Office, International Affairs Division, Japan Patent Office (JPO), Japan.
The speakers emphasised the necessity of intellectual property protection, its effective use in enhancing enterprise growth and competitiveness in the context of developing countries and the need for an effective mechanism of enforcement of IPRs through competence building and modernisation in terms of approach and content so as to ensure promotion of creativity and innovation, thereby sustaining cultural, scientific, technological and industrial development.
SB/MRS
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