India boosts intellectual property infrastructure

India's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the extension of strategies to modernise and strengthen intellectual property (IP) offices during the period of the 12th Plan, which runs from 2012 to 2017. The overall project cost would be Rs309.6 crore*, of which Rs258 crore will be spent during 12th Plan and Rs51.6 crore in the 13th Plan.
The move was driven by the growing importance of intellectual property in a globalised economic environment, India’s accession to the Madrid Protocol in April 2013 and the operationalisation of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) as the International Search Authority/International Preliminary Examining Authority (ISA/IPEA) under the Patent Cooperation Treaty from October, 2013.

In the 12th five year plan the focus will be on the enhancement of human resources, upgrading of IT and databases, building construction, improvement of library facilities and awareness building of intellectual property rights.

During the 11th five-year plan, a new complex for IP archives and the TM registry at Ahmedabad were constructed, as was the ISA/IPEA building in New Delhi. An ICT infrastructure was created including a data centre, servers, digitisation of IP records, and e-filing for patents and trademarks.

*10 million.