Why India Needs to Urgently Invest in Its Patent Ecosystem? a recent report from the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) underlines the importance of a strong patent system for the advancement of technological innovation and a knowledge economy.

It draws attention to the rising proportion of residents in India's overall number of patent applications, which has increased by more than double over the past ten years.

Additionally, during the final quarter of the fiscal year 2021–2022, domestic patent applications for the first time outnumbered those from outside.

The research draws attention to the rising proportion of residents in India's overall number of patent applications, which has increased by more than twofold over the past ten years.

The Economic Survey 2022–2023 made a similar observation.

Additionally, during the final quarter of the fiscal year 2021–2022, domestic patent applications for the first time outnumbered those from outside.

Between 2010–11 and 2020–21, the overall number of patent applications filed with the Indian Patent Office increased by 48 per cent, primarily due to applications from Indian citizens.

Comparably, between 2016–17 and 2021–22, the number of patents granted in India increased from 9,847 to 30,074.

According to UNESCO data on science, technology, and innovation, the higher education sector's proportion of gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) climbed from 5% in 2013 to 7% in 2018.

The top 10 academic institutions and universities in India increased their number of patent applications by three times in just four years, from 838 in 2015–16 to 2,533 in 2019–20.

During the same time span, their proportion of resident patent applications quadrupled from 6.4 to 12.2 percent.

From 13.6 per cent in 2010–11 to 48 percent in 2019–20, the percentage of patents that have been abandoned in all patent applications has increased dramatically.

According to the most recent Annual Report (2019-20) of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications (CGPDTM), there were 23,291 abandoned patent applications in 2019–20, an increase of nearly 350% from the 5,186 applications that were abandoned in 2010–11.

This was because the Patents Act's Sections 9(1) and 21(1) conditions were not met.

According to Section 9(1) of the Patents Act, applications that are supported by provisional specifications must be accompanied by complete specifications within a year.

In accordance with Section 21(1) of the Patents Act, applicants for patents must resubmit papers if the patent examiner determines that they do not fit the requirements.

Reasons for abandonment of applications

Applications may not be pursued by applicants if they lack confidence that they will be accepted after review.

The prolonged waiting period deters applicants from following through on their applications, particularly in the case of innovations with brief lifespans.

Delays in approval

The global best practice calls for disposal to happen within two to three years, while in India, it can take anywhere from five to nine years on average, depending on the category (such as biotech).

HR Shortage

At the end of March 2022, the Indian patent office only had 860 employees, including controllers and examiners, as opposed to 13704 in China and 8132 in the US.

Procedural delays

For instance, the absence of set deadlines for opposing any patent application and onerous compliance requirements cause backlogs and delays in the processing of patent applications.

Withdrawal of applications

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) mentioned in its annual report that India had one of the highest percentages of withdrawn patent applications.

Although it is still among the highest in the globe and far greater than its international counterparts including the US, Japan, Korea, and China, the withdrawal share decreased to 54 percent in 2019 and 38 per cent in 2020.

Other Issues

The higher education sector's greater emphasis on the R&D's development component indicated that there would be more R&D collaboration between business and academics.

However, over the past few years, India's ranking for industry-academia partnership in the Global Innovation Index (GII) has fallen. India's position in this indicator of the GII dropped from 48 to 65 between 2015 and 2021 as a result.

India's total position in the GII rose from 81 in 2015 to 46 in 2021, thanks to gains in a few other metrics.

The National Auto Policy 2018 draught notes that industry-academia partnership in India has been restricted to specialised research fields with little commercial impact.

It also points out that India hasn't produced many ideas that have been applied and commercialised in the automotive and other industries.

Eliminating irrational incentives: The submission of patent applications has received a lot of attention ever since the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy of 2016 was adopted.

It is important to look into whether the process has produced any irrational incentives that encourage the filing of patent applications even when the inventor is aware that their claims won't hold up to inspection.

Eliminating these incentives will contribute to enhancing India's patent environment.

Increase in HR: In the next two years, the patent office's staff should roughly double from its current 860 employees to 2800.

Independence: The Ministry of Commerce currently oversees the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks as a subordinate office. The office needs more autonomy, which can be achieved by giving it more financial and personnel freedom.

Deadline Compliance:  For instance, in the United States, any party has six months from the day the patent application is initially published to submit any material that may be relevant to the investigation of the application.

Bringing in utility model of patents: A utility patent is a unique type of patent property given by a state to an inventor for a certain length of time. These patents have fewer requirements for eligibility, a shorter duration of protection, and lower acquisition costs. These inventions are essentially "jugaad" ones created by novice innovators.

This encourages creativity, particularly for lone inventors and small-scale innovators, who don't need to meet the high novelty and invention requirements imposed by patent law.

This type is used in numerous nations throughout the world. 3 million utility patent applications were made worldwide in 2020.

Other Recommendations:  It might be thought about outsourcing the administrative portion of the process to a third party so that the examiners and controllers can concentrate on the technical work at hand. It might also be thought about making improvements to the portal and filing process to help India's overall patenting ecosystem.

Source: The Hindu

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/connecting-the-dots-to-boost-the-patent-ecosystem/article65887012.ece