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Advancement and Awareness of IP Laws in India

With the ever-growing need for invention & creation which ultimately accelerates the growth of a country’s economy, there arises a necessity to protect our intangible assets from being exploited. Although Intellectual Property laws had come into force years ago but very few people knew the value of Intellectual property protection and its significance for their business. Be it a research organization or educational institution, the population from some parts of the country is still not aware of the monetary benefits they can be rewarded with by protecting their Intellectual property. The field of IP is evolving with time as patent office of India and other IP professionals from across the country have taken the plunge of spreading the IP awareness by conducting seminars and learning sessions.  Not only that, in this booming trend of Startup, it becomes mandatory to safeguard the business with the best possible strategy called IP asset and its protection. Before starting off the business, it becomes imperative for the entrepreneurs to patent the idea or register their brand, logo, tag line, creation or artistic work their whole entity is based on. Search for existing art should be the first step before one opts for IP protection because there are chances that unknowingly, you might be using someone else’s idea or creation which may lead to unnecessary litigation fees and that will be way more than the charges of normal searching and filing. The entity should fall under the set criteria and if it qualifies to be a Startup then it can avail following benefits provided by the Government of India to promote its growth :
  1. If you hold a Micro Small Medium Enterprise (MSME) or Udyog Aadhar Certificate then according to amended Trademark rules 2017 & Patent rules 2016 the cost for the registration of a trademark or patent will be half of what is paid by normal applicants.
  2. After filing the patent for your invention, you can pick a path of Fast Track/Expedited examination; cost for a Startup is slightly higher than the conventional route of examination but the time taken for the grant of a patent would be less. To  know more on Expedited examination, see the article. 
Also, the government has appointed the IP professionals as Facilitators to file the application for their Intellectual property such as patent, trademark and design. Such facilitators provide assistance to Startup right from the filing to the final disposal of the application. The fees for this assistance would be paid by Central Government directly and not by Startup.  Such and lot more initiatives have been taken by the Government towards fostering the IP ownership. Recognizing the potential Intellectual property and managing the portfolio of the same can be helpful to attract the Investors.  Proper guidance from well trained and qualified IP professional should be taken at the very initial stage of starting a new business or commercializing a new product to avoid future complications.