Intellectual property in India

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Intellectual property in India refers to the patents, copyrights and other intangible assets in India.

Contents

India's colonial history has significantly influenced its intellectual property (IP) laws. During British rule, India adopted several legal frameworks based on British laws, including those related to intellectual property. The first copyright law in India, for example, was the Copyright Act of 1847, which was essentially an extension of the British Copyright Act of 1842.

After gaining independence in 1947, [1] India began to develop its own legal systems and policies, but the foundation laid during the colonial period continued to shape its approach to intellectual property. [2] The Indian Patent Act of 1970 and the Copyright Act of 1957, for example, were influenced by earlier British laws but were modified to suit India's socio-economic needs and priorities.

India's colonial history also influenced its approach to IP in terms of balancing the rights of creators with the needs of the public. The emphasis on access to knowledge and affordable medicines, for example, can be traced back to the colonial experience of dealing with monopolies and restrictive practices. [3]

Government Policy

Indian government approved its first Intellectual Property Rights Policy in May 2016. [4]

Laws

Copyrights

The "Copyright Act, 1957" (as amended by the Copyright Amendment Act 2012) governs the subject of copyright law in India. [5] The history of copyright law in India can be traced back to its colonial era under the British Empire. [6] The Copyright Act, 1957 was the first post-independence copyright legislation in India and the law has been amended six times since 1957. [7] The most recent amendment was in the year 2012, through the Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012. [8]

Trademarks

"Indian trademark law" statutorily protects trademarks as per the Trademark Act, 1999 and also under the common law remedy of passing off. [9] Statutory protection of trademark is administered by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, a government agency which reports to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. [10]

Patents

The Patents Act, 1970 [11] was brought into force on 20 April 1972, and further amendments were carried in 1999, 2002 and 2005. [12] The Patent Rules, 2003 was introduced along with the Patent Act (amendment), 2002 on 20 May 2003, [13] and recent amendments were carried in 2016, and 2017. The Patents (Amendment) Rules 2016 mainly focused on expediting the grant process, benefits to startup, and increase in official fees. [14] Patent filing has increased drastically, with over 138,000 patents filed between 2015- 21, with over 85,000 filed in emerging technologies. [15]

Authority

The Intellectual Property India is administered by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM). This is a subordinate office of the Government of India and administers the Indian law of Patents, Designs, Trade Marks and Geographical Indications. [16]

Economic Effects of Intellectual Property Reform

The economic effects of intellectual property reform in India is a complex subject area, and would require a separate detailed article. A beginning may be made by referring to Sunil Kanwar and Stefan Sperlich (2020), [17] who study the effect of intellectual property reform on technological advancement and productivity increases in manufacturing industry in the emerging market context of India.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copyright</span> Legal concept regulating rights of a creative work

A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself. A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States and fair dealings doctrine in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intellectual property</span> Ownership of creative expressions and processes

Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. The modern concept of intellectual property developed in England in the 17th and 18th centuries. The term "intellectual property" began to be used in the 19th century, though it was not until the late 20th century that intellectual property became commonplace in most of the world's legal systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WIPO Copyright Treaty</span>

The World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty is an international treaty on copyright law adopted by the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996. It provides additional protections for copyright to respond to advances in information technology since the formation of previous copyright treaties before it. As of August 2023, the treaty has 115 contracting parties. The WCT and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, are together termed WIPO "internet treaties".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Intellectual Property Organization</span> Specialised agency of the United Nations

The World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO was created to promote and protect intellectual property (IP) across the world by cooperating with countries as well as international organizations. It began operations on 26 April 1970 when the convention entered into force. The current Director General is Singaporean Daren Tang, former head of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, who began his term on 1 October 2020.

A software patent is a patent on a piece of software, such as a computer program, libraries, user interface, or algorithm.

A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing patent applications and oppositions to granted patents.

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have been acknowledged and protected in China since 1980. China has acceded to the major international conventions on protection of rights to intellectual property. Domestically, protection of intellectual property law has also been established by government legislation, administrative regulations, and decrees in the areas of trademark, copyright, and patent.

Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK), folk knowledge, and local knowledge generally refers to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities.

The Copyright Act 1957 as amended governs the subject of copyright law in India. The Act is applicable from 21 January 1958. The history of copyright law in India can be traced back to its colonial era under the British Empire. The Copyright Act 1957 was the first post-independence copyright legislation in India and the law has been amended six times since 1957. The most recent amendment was in the year 2012, through the Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012.

The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks(CGPDTM) generally known as the Indian Patent Office, is an agency under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade which administers the Indian law of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berne Convention</span> 1886 international assembly and treaty

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, was an international assembly held in 1886 in the Swiss city of Bern by ten European countries with the goal of agreeing on a set of legal principles for the protection of original work. They drafted and adopted a multi-party contract containing agreements for a uniform, border-crossing system that became known under the same name. Its rules have been updated many times since then. The treaty provides authors, musicians, poets, painters, and other creators with the means to control how their works are used, by whom, and on what terms. In some jurisdictions these type of rights are referred to as copyright; on the European continent they are generally referred to as authors' rights or makerright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trademark</span> Trade identifier of products or services

A trademark is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a product or service from a particular source and distinguishes it from others. Trademarks can also extend to non-traditional marks like drawings, symbols, 3D shapes like product designs or packaging, sounds, scents, or specific colors used to create a unique identity. For example, Pepsi® is a registered trademark associated with soft drinks, and the distinctive shape of the Coca-Cola® bottle is a registered trademark protecting Coca-Cola's packaging design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TRIPS Agreement</span> International treaty on intellectual property protections

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by national governments of different forms of intellectual property (IP) as applied to nationals of other WTO member nations. TRIPS was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between 1989 and 1990 and is administered by the WTO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intellectual property in Iran</span>

Iran is a member of the WIPO since 2001 and has acceded to several WIPO intellectual property treaties. Iran joined the Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1959. In December 2003 Iran became a party to the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks. In 2005 Iran joined the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, which ensures the protection of geographical names associated with products. As at February 2008 Iran had yet to accede to The Hague Agreement for the Protection of Industrial Designs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian trademark law</span>

Indian trademark law statutorily protects trademarks as per the Trademark Act, 1999 and also under the common law remedy of passing off. Statutory protection of trademark is administered by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, a government agency that reports to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WIPO Lex</span>

WIPO Lex is an online global database launched in 2010, which provides free public access to intellectual property laws, treaties and judicial decisions from around the world. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) maintains and develops the database.

The protection of intellectual property (IP) of video games through copyright, patents, and trademarks, shares similar issues with the copyrightability of software as a relatively new area of IP law. The video game industry itself is built on the nature of reusing game concepts from prior games to create new gameplay styles but bounded by illegally direct cloning of existing games, and has made defining intellectual property protections difficult since it is not a fixed medium.

Prathiba Maninder Singh is a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court, in India. She has made significant contributions to academic literature and legal developments in Indian intellectual property law, as a practicing lawyer, and as an advisor to several legislative committees concerned with drafting related legislation.

References

  1. ↑ "1947 Indian Independence Act". Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  2. ↑ Saikia, Nandita (17 February 2015). Art and Indian Copyright Law: A Statutory Reading. . p. 4.
  3. ↑ 't Hoen, Ellen (1 April 2002). "TRIPS, Pharmaceutical Patents, and Access to Essential Medicines: A Long Way From Seattle to Doha". Chicago Journal of International Law. 3 (1). ISSN   1529-0816. Archived from the original on 18 February 2024. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  4. ↑ "Cabinet approves Intellectual Property Rights policy", The Hindu , 13 May 2016, archived from the original on 13 May 2016, retrieved 13 May 2016
  5. ↑ "Copyright Office". Archived from the original on 13 June 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  6. ↑ Arul George Scaria, Piracy in the Indian Film Industry: Copyright and Cultural Consonance (Cambridge University Press 2014) 47-53
  7. ↑ Jatindra Kumar Das, Law of Copyright (PHI Learning Private Ltd. 2015) 88
  8. ↑ http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/details.jsp?id=13230 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine (WIPO Lex)
  9. ↑ Narayanan, P. (2004). Law of Trade Marks and Passing off (6th ed.). Kolkata: Eastern Law House. p. 3. ISBN   9788171772322.
  10. ↑ "DIPP under Ministry of Commerce and Industry". Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  11. ↑ "History of Indian Patent System | About Us | Intellectual Property India | Government of India". www.ipindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  12. ↑ "AMMENDMENTS IN PATENT ACT- 1999,2002 AND 2005- OVERVIEW AND COMPARISON". PharmaTutor. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  13. ↑ "WIPOLex". wipolex.wipo.int. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  14. ↑ "The Patents (Amendment) Rules 2016" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  15. ↑ "Economic Survey 2022-23" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 March 2023.
  16. ↑ "About Us | Intellectual Property India". www.ipindia.nic.in. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  17. ↑ Kanwar, Sunil & Stefan Sperlich, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00181-019-01707-3


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