What the article is about:
- The article talks about about reforms required in the patent system of India.
Relevance:
- GS2: Government policies and interventions.
- GS3: Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
Analysis:
- The recent report of Economic advisory council to the Prime Minister(EAC-PM), “Why India meeds to urgently Invest in its patent Ecosystem?’, Highlighted the significance of a robust patent system for a knowledge economy.
Share of Indians in patents applications filed:
- According to reports of EAC-PM share of residents in the total number of patent applications has more than doubled.
- The economic survey 2022-23, highlighted the rising share of Indian residents in patent applications.
Concern expressed by the EAC-PM report:
- The long pendency of processing patent applications in India in one of the major concerns, therefore the report has suggested several measures to reduce this. Such as:
- Increasing the efficiency of processing patent applications will certainly improve the patent ecosystem in the country.
- We need to investigate the patent ecosystem more closely to connect the dots, so that appropriate measures are adopted to improve the patent ecosystem, keeping in view the national innovation ecosystem.
Other key issues:
- The latest annual report (2019-20) of the office of the controller general of patents,Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications (CGPDTM) shows that the number of abandoned patent applications, on the account of not meeting the requirements under section 9(1) and 21(1) of the patents act, grew around 350%.
- Low score for the indicator, industry-academia collaboration in global innovation index (GII).
- The draft of the National Auto policy 2018 points out that collaboration between industry and academia in India has been limited to niche research areas that have low commercial significance.
Way ahead:
- As the patent system is a critical aspect of the national innovation ecosystem, investing in the patent ecosystem will help in strengthening the innovation capabilities of India.
- The right intervention should be made for the promotion of the quality of patent applications and collaboration between academia and industry.
