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Steady Flow Of Patent Application In India December 7, 2006

An Indian Law firm Lex Orbis analyzies the trend in patent application in India.

The revival of the Indian economy and globalization of markets have thrown open new opportunities in the field of foreign investments and a strong patent regime is a key driver for foreign investment in India, particularly when other competing countries in South East Asia, including China offer better investment climate. As technological innovation is facilitated by healthy IPR protection, the onus is on the policy for correct balance between industrial development goals and protection of national interest.

The number of patent filing rate in India had tremendously grown in recent years and it has been growing 30% annually since 2002-03. The accession to PTC and the amendment of the Patent Act and Rules are the contributory factors. But the Indian Patent office infrastructure is still undergoing a change. The IT infrastructure is improving and the government realizing the advantages is planning a 1,300 crore-modernization plan. Currently India is ranked 12^th in the world in patent filing. It has been reported that the numbers of applications have increased 400 percent over the past 15 years. Nearly 800 companies submitted international applications to the WIPO in 2004, which is more than a double of what has been filed in 2000. An increased patent filing was witnessed in the year 2005-2006 due to the changes brought about in the Patent Act where the product patent was introduced for the first time in pharmaceutical sector.

Currently, the patent office expects the growth to be maintained at 30% this year also. Delhi office has recorded the largest number of application around the country and majority of the application continues to be from foreign countries and is from the chemicals and pharmaceutical segment, which account for half of the applications filed followed by Information Technology and Electronics.