India to file application for ISA and IPEA recognition soon

New Delhi, July 20 (UNI) Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today launched the e-filing of Patent and Trademark applications, at a function organised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) here.

With the launch of e-filing facilities, the Minister stated the applicants could file their patent and trademark applications according to their convenience through Internet.

Payments can also be made through the Payment Gateway of authorised bankers, which would save time and money and the hassles involved in visiting and filing the applications in the offices.

Dr Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Industry and Dr Ajay Dua, Secretary (DIPP), were also present on the occasion.

Dwelling on the future initiatives, Mr Nath said the next step would be to make the Indian Patent Office (IPO) an International Search Authority (ISA) and an International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Application for the same would be filed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) this month itself, he informed. Currently, there are only 12 such authorities.

Recognition such as ISA and IPEA will enhance the prestige of the IPO and may attract work from abroad. ''India is also at an advanced stage of joining the Madrid Protocol on trademarks. The Bill for making the necessary changes in the Trademark law will be introduced in the forthcoming session of the Parliament.

Madrid Protocol is a simple, facilitative and cost-effective system for the registration of International Trademarks. India's membership of the Madrid Protocol will help Indian companies to register their trademarks in the member countries of the Protocol through a single application,'' the Minister said.

Providing details of the programme, the Minister informed that a major programme of modernisation of the infrastructure of Intellectual Property Offices of India costing Rs 153 crore was implemented during the 10th Five Year Plan.

Computerisation has been one of the key components of the modernisation initiatives. As part of this, facilities have been created for e-filing of Patent and Trademark applications.

There are only a dozen or so countries, which have e-filing facilities at present and India will now be a part of the elite group consisting the likes of the US, Japan, South Korea, China and the European Patent Office.

He expressed hope that eventually the complete process of the grant of patent or registration of trademarks will be online and the Indian Patent and Trademark Offices will function almost as paperless offices. This will be achieved in a timespan of about two years.

The modules for the e-filing and online processing have been developed by the National Informatics Centre. The payment gateway is currently provided by the State Bank of India.

Speaking about the legal aspects, Mr Nath said that all IP-legislations have been amended to make them compatible with India's treaty obligations. Necessary safeguards have been built into the IP-laws, particularly for the Patents law, for protection of public interest including public health.

Along with the legislation, rules have also been amended to install a user-friendly system for processing of the IP applications, Mr Nath added.

The Minister quoted, from the recent observations from WIPO, ''The Indian Patent Office has been dramatically transformed in recent years. New building, an effective and supportive new IT system and an enthusiastic and well-qualified staff provide the essential base for a high quality examining office.'' India had embarked on introducing a world-class Intellectual Property (IP) regime from the beginning of this century. It first updated the IP legislations on patents, trademarks, designs, etc and then revised the procedures for grant of various IP-rights making them simple, transparent and user-friendly; and simultaneously updated the infrastructure.

With the launching of the e-filing facility the first phase of the modernisation drive comes to an end. This phase has seen the establishment of a balanced IP-regime, which protects the rights of IP-owners and safeguards public interest particularly in public health.

UNI