Due to the rapidly
growing technology making it easy to generate new ideas, create unique
products, and enhance creativity, almost every individual and organization is
striving to come up with something that can profit them. Nevertheless, this
phenomenon results in increasing the competition that, in turn, leads to issues
like copying and infringement of one another’s valuable assets. In this
instance, Intellectual
Property Protection appears as the best source to keep a person’s assets secure, and
this is why Intellectual
Property (IP)
filing activities are continuously growing. Indeed, almost every nation in the
world is witnessing an increase in IP filings. For instance, India, with a
remarkable rise in trademark, industrial design, and patent filings, has
achieved the top tenth rank among 49 countries positioned based on the total IP
filing (resident and abroad) activities. As per the reports, the nation saw a
hike of more than 20% in trademark filings, 13.6% in the industrial design
fillings, and 7.5% in the applications for getting Patent Protection.
When it comes to
overall, i.e., global upsurge in the IP filings, patent applications exceeded
3.3 million, which represents a growth of 5.2% in comparison to 2017. Trademark Applications totaled 14.3 million, up 15.5%,
and Industrial
Design filing
projects amounted to 1.3 million. With around 50% of the total IP filings,
including trademarks, designs, and patents, China has made the maximum increase
in the global IP filings. In comparison to the IP applications filed in 2017,
China observed over 160,400 more filings in the year 2018.
Though the second rank
achiever – the US saw trademark filing activities rise by 4.3% yet a 1.6%
decline in patent filings in 2018 is a concerning fact. It is the first fall
that the country came across in the previous decade.
Asia has been
developing as the universal hub for IP applications, according to Francis
Gurry, WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) director-general.
Domestic Patent Applications, in India, reached 34% in 2018-19
from just 22% in 2013-14. As per the Department of Promotion of Industry and
Internal Trade (DPIIT) report – including, information technology (IT),
computer science, and science, almost every industry is adding to the
significant rise in overall IP filings of the country. For example – Wipro and
TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) – the two IT firms were positioned at first and
second place respectively while the seven-year-old-startup Hike was ranked
third in terms of applying for patents in the field of IT. Moreover, the
India-based Kalvin Bharti Mittal-led firm has filed 66 patents. Although the
company till now has not revealed the reason behind filing such a wide range of
patent applications, it has been working in the field of research and
development (R&D), encompassing Computer Vision, Social Network Analysis,
and Natural Language Processing (NLP). The recently launched Hike Patent
Program by the firm focus on incentivizing its employees with grants and
rewards besides giving legal and market directions to patent filers.
In addition to the
firms mentioned above, several other enterprises and entrepreneurs are actively
participating in patent filings in India. It puts light on the fact that the
individuals, as well as companies, comprehend the crucial role intellectual
property fillings play in their professional lives. Well, it enables them to
knowingly or unknowingly contribute to the growth of the nation’s IP filings.
Furthermore, the government is also realizing the importance of encouraging the
citizens to come up with new inventions, designs, etc., and thus, go for more
and more IP fillings. And to make this happen in large numbers, the departments
are continuously making efforts; for example – the Ministry of Commerce and
Industry has recently proposed a reduction to Rs. 1,600 from Rs. 4,000 in
Patent filing fees for startups and MSMEs.
Finally, with the
growing usage of the internet and technology and nearly 60% of the Indian
population to be young minds, it is possible to bring the nation among the top
five IP fillings countries in the world in the future. Nonetheless, as the
boost in the innovations will increase the IP filings and vice-versa, it is not
at all the responsibility of the government or citizens alone to make efforts
for this. Instead, both should help each other as it is the matter of securing
the entire country’s IP assets and filing ranking. ✅ For view source: https://bit.ly/2O83m36
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