Government of India announced a new intellectual property policy for speeding up the online registration of patents and trademarks. India has resisted pressure from the US and other Western countries to modify its patent laws. In recent times India also announced New Quality Assurance Certification System for Medical Devices.

The following are the points explained about India’s New Trademark, Patent and IPR Policy,

• Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, global drug brands led by United States companies have been pushing for changes to India’s IPR rules.
• India’s previous patent and intellectual property administration of India has failed to keep pace with growing technological advances. Global pharmaceuticals players frequently complained about price controls and marketing restrictions of India.
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India would retain the right to issue compulsory licenses to its drug companies, under emergency conditions, and should not immediately need to alter patent laws that were already fully WTO -compliant. He also said, the policy aims to spread awareness among public about trademarks, copyrights and patents to advance innovation within the country.
• Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said lawmakers last month, in India’s four patent offices over 237,000 applications were pending.
• Industrial Promotion and Policy department will be the agency in charge of regulating IPR in the country.
• Last month, Trade Representative of the United States kept India, China and Russia on its Priority Watch List for inadequate improvement in IPR.
• India however says, it is party to the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), a World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement that sets minimum standards for intellectual property (IPR) regulation.