The Hindu Business Line : Indian Patent Office gets global recognition

Mr Kamal Nath (right), Union Minister for Commerce and Industries, with Mr Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Industry, addressing a press conference on the country being recognised as International Searching Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA), in the Capital on Tuesday.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Dec. 18 The Indian Patent Office has been recognised as the International Searching Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) consisting of more than 170 member countries.

This would enable Indian companies to apply for global patents by filing their applications in India only. As an ISA, major functions of the Indian Patent Office will be to approve or establish the title and conduct international searches.

The patents granted would be applicable in all the WIPO member countries.

“The recognition of India as an ISA and IPEA puts India in a coveted league of only 15 nations and organisations currently recognised at a global level,” the Minister for Commerce and Industries, Mr Kamal Nath, told newspersons here on Tuesday.

Generate revenues

Apart from the international recognition, the new status would also generate revenues in the form of fees that would be provided to Indian Patent Office for functioning as an ISA and IPEA, he said.

Being the only English speaking country in the Asian region to be recognised as an ISA and IPEA would mean that several other international applications filed received by the WIPO under the Patent Cooperation Treaty would be sent to India for search and preliminary examination, the Minister said.

FDI in SSI sector

The Government has decided to do away with the 24 per cent equity participation cap in small scale industries by large industrial undertakings and foreign investors.

The prescribed process has commenced by laying the draft order in both houses of the Parliament. The move will enable large industrial undertakings and transnational companies to pass on the benefits of the modernisation, technology and management practices to the SSI sector that would make them more competitive and generate more employment.

The present assistance schemes for the promotion of the SSI sector would also continue.