Patent procedure in India is quite complex and rigid. Over the years the efficiency of examiners has improved a lot, however, since the efficiency of the Controllers hasn’t increased proportionately, there are a lot of pending applications, to be precise 1.7 lakh applications.
The human mind is extremely creative and people keep inventing products and thus, to protect their innovation and allow them to reap the fruits of their hardwork the Government came up with the concept of granting Patents! Patents are granted for a period of 20 years, during those 20 years the registered owner has complete rights over the use and sale of the patented product, and anyone who uses or sells it without the permission of the patent owner will be infringing the patentee’s rights.
Sanjeev Sanyal who is a member of the Economic Advisory Board of the Government has recently announce that there is much needed concern over the pending applications for patenting. He has said that he will personally look into drafting or amending the legislations related to patents. In his statement he also mentioned about China and US who are leading in the grant of patents and how their number of grants/ rejections of patents have been higher because of the number of Controllers appointed. Therefore, he concluded that the number of controllers in India must be increased. As a result, the hiring process was done in a speedy manner and about 340 existing officers were promoted to being Controllers.
Every year the application filed for patents is increasing, thus, the requirement to increase manpower, to refine the complex procedure and ensure that people are able to enjoy the fruit of their hardwork is very important.
In conclusion, the patent procedure needs to be simplified so as to make it more efficient. Patenting is an important aspect even from the government’s point of view, as they grant patents on the condition that the inventors have to disclose their invention details. This encourages new inventors, which in turn leads to growth of the economy.
Written by- Gunjan S Jain, 5th Year BBA LLB, St. Joseph’s College of Law intern under legal vidhiya
