Are big changes coming in India?
Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Are big changes coming in India?

Narendra Modi, the new Prime Minister of India, and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have promised to “embark on the path of IPRs and Patents in a big way”. What will this mean for rights owners?

modi.jpg

The success of Modi (right) and the BJP is built on part his reputation for cutting red tape and fostering economic growth in the state of Gujarat, where he had been serving as chief minister. During his term, Gujarat saw double-digit annual growth that outpaced the rest of the country. In 2011, The Economist dubbed Gujarat “India’s Guangdong”, the southern Chinese province that serves as not only the country’s major manufacturing region, but also the home of IP-savvy companies such as Tencent, ZTE and Huawei.

Big plans

The BJP’s plans for strengthening India’s economy may be of interest to IP owners. In its election manifesto, the BJP lists several IP-related plans, such as nurturing universities that specialise in fields such as intellectual property. There is also a plan to create specialised IP courts, which seems to be increasingly popular among countries looking to modernise their IP systems. The BJP also promises to “establish an Intellectual Property Rights Regime which maximizes the incentive for generation and protection of intellectual property for all type of inventors”, and, perhaps with a dash of bravado, hints at a plan to “embark on the path of IPRsand Patents in a big way”.

The manifesto also speaks of an ambitious plan to increase judicial efficiency that touches on a number of goals that if reached should benefit IP owners. Some highlighted tasks include filling judicial vacancies and addressing case backlogs, and a plan to double the number of lower level courts and judges. There are also plans to dedicate funds to modernise and increase the use of IT in the courts, create specialised fast-track commercial courts and devise a national litigation strategy to reduce pendency times.

Issue spotting

The promises of politicians often outstrip the realities of the final results, but at the very least, Modi and the BJP are aware of some of the issues facing businesses when using the judicial system. Some of the plans, such as those looking to modernise the courts and the creation of more electronic resources for lawyers, sound similar to the improvements that the India trade mark office has implemented. Similarly, the plans to reduce pendency through increasing manpower, including the very ambitious goal to double the number of lower court judges, echo the challenges faced by both the trade marks and patents registrars. Even if the improvements in manpower and modernisation fall a bit short of the stated targets, they may still yield very real improvements.

Mending fences

Another issue for India is its increasingly cantankerous relationship with the US over IP policy. Though multinationals are increasingly vocal in its criticism of India’s patentability standards and its granting of a compulsory licence for Bayer’s Nexavar, the US did not downgrade India in this year’s Section 301 Report. In fact, in early May, Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said that India will continue talks with the US on this issue after the election. Kher is expected to stay on despite the change of government and should offer some continuity in the discussions, though it is unclear if the BJP will ultimately take a much different tack from the previous government’s.

What do you think? Will the new government bring about big changes to India’s IP policies?

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Ireland joining the UPC would offer plenty of opportunities to local attorneys but there are fears that upcoming referendum could get ‘lost in the noise’
Attorneys at four firms reveal the business opportunities that stem from patent licensing agreements in the life sciences sector
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
Counsel at four firms explain their lateral hiring policies and how they retain existing lawyers
Lori Gordon, who has joined from Perkins Coie, says she hopes to turn Goodwin into a 'premier' destination for PTAB work
The LMG Life Sciences Awards is thrilled to present the shortlist for the 2024 EMEA Awards.
Partners at LeanWill Law Firm, a newly launched domestic firm in China, discuss IP opportunities and which clients they plan to target
Each week Managing IP speaks to a different IP lawyer about their life and career
A survey of more than 25,000 in-house lawyers reveals that embracing technology could help law firms win new business
John Mulgrew, vice president of IP at Lenovo, says the EU's proposed regulation will readdress imbalances in the bargaining power of SEP owners and implementers
Gift this article