India joins elite league of 15 nations on intellectual property

New Delhi, Dec 18 (UNI) Announcing India's recognition as an International Searching Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) by the World Intellectual Property Organisation(WIPO), Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today said with this India will become a producer instead of user of intellectual property in a decade.

''The recognition of India as an ISA/IPEA puts India in a coveted league of only 15 nations and organisations which are currently recognised at global level by WIPO,'' he told the media here.

WIPO is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for promotion and protection of intellectual property throughout the world.

The 170-plus member-state body WIPO had granted the recognition to India at a nmeeting of its general assemblies recently, the Minister said.

He said, besides India's intellectual property (IP) system getting international recognition, ISA/IPEA status will also generate revenue in the form of fees for the country for functioning as the twin-authority.

Being the only English speaking nation in the Asian region recognised as ISA/IPEA, India's patent offices will attract a lot of international applications through WIPO under the Patents Cooperation Treaty for search and preliminary examination purposes, he added.

India had amended its Patent Act in 2005 to meet international obligations, while electronic filing facitities were introduced in July this year.

Foundation stone of National Institute of Intellectual Property Management was laid by Kamal Nath in August this year at Nagpur.

This institute would train manpower for the IP system and undertake research to act as IP think-tank of India.

After a Rs 153-crore modernisation programme for augmenting the infrastructure and human resources in intellectual property system, the government propose to spend another Rs 320 crore during the 11th plan to further update the IP system to make it of world standard.

UNI