Centre committed to bolster the ecosystem of patents, design, trademarks, GI systems: Piyush Goyal
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New Delhi. Efforts have been underway to make India as a Global Innovation Hub and towards that the Union Government is committed to bolster the ecosystem of patents, design, trademarks, GI systems; to encourage innovation, research & development in the country and bring newer inventions & knowledge from India's heritage systems to global platform.
The Union Minister Shri Piyush Goyal reiterated this during a recent review meeting at the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDT) in Mumbai. The Minister took review of the various initiatives undertaken by the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks.
Union Minister while speaking about the CGPDT’s speedy disposal of applications informed that, “The pendency in the IPR department has come down drastically. It has also been decided that any pending application should be completed within days and not months.”
Shri Goyal also mentioned about the reduction in fee allowed by the department in order to help and support startups and women entrepreneurs in the country. “Filing fees for Startups, MSMEs, Female individual has been given a provision of 80% discount to help the youth of the country. Also, most of the process are made online for their convenience. Earlier people from far off places had to spend money from their pockets to reach the office in person which has now been made easier. This ensures hassle free administration,” he said. He also appreciated the officers in achieving this task. “All these steps will encourage research, innovation, development and scientific thinking in the country,” he added.
Shri Goyal also made a few suggestions to make the whole process more user friendly. He made suggestion to make a plan to increase awareness of GI and also to consider instituting scholarships for students studying the IP law as well as engage faculty from renowned institutions on a part time basis to help with examination.
Processes Simplified
According to a PIB release, officials of CGPDT briefed how the IP process has been simplified and streamlined than before and also about the re-engineering of the whole process. In the amended Patent & Trademark Rules many new features have been introduced including speedy disposal, special provisions for start-ups and MSMEs, encouragement to e-filing, and removal of procedural inconsistencies and undue blocks in speeding up disposal.
CBDTM further elaborated on the various steps taken to ensure ease of access, and transparency as well as prompt dissemination of information regarding IPRs. The steps include login-free online data availability for all IPRs in IPO website, real-time basis status of IP applications, Indian Patent Advanced Search System (InPASS), Weekly publication of online journals for all IP applications, launch of Mobile Application for IPR, SMS Alert to help applicants on updates regarding deadlines in r/o office actions etc.
Timelines for Expedited Examination
It was also mentioned that special care is being given to expedite examination of patents filed especially for applications filed by Startups, Female individual, Small entity and applications pursuant to bilateral agreement with foreign Patent Offices etc.
India has been progressively going up in Global Innovation Index (rank from 81 in 2015 to 48 in 2020). While assessing impact of measures taken, it was noted that - 96% of the patents are done through e-filing. E-filing has increased from 30 % to more than 95 %. Examination of the same has gone up by 223% in 2020-21 when compared to 2014-15. Domestic Filing accounts of 42% of the total patents and the percentage of domestic filing in comparison to the total filing has risen from 9911 in 2012-13 to 24303 in 2020-21.
Joint Secretary, DPIIT (CGPDTM) Rajendra Ratnoo; Director, Ms Poonam Singh; Deputy Controller of Patent and Design, Dinesh Patil; Deputy Secretary, Kalyan Revella; Deputy Controller of Patent and Design, Amerandra Samal; Joint Registrar of Trade Marks, Satyendra Pandey and Deputy Registrar of TM & GI SD Ojha were also present.
BI/Source - PIB
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The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores.
As the economy comes to a standstill amid the coronavirus-led lockdown, India’s agriculture sector has taken the baton of economic growth in its hands. The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores, according to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The government said that self-reliant agriculture is critical for the goal of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and for this, agricultural export is extremely important as besides earning foreign exchange for the country, the exports help farmers, producers, and exporters to take advantage of the wider international market and increase their income.
The surge in exports has also resulted in increased production in the farm sector by increasing coverage area and productivity. The share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27 percent and 1.90 percent, respectively. Even during the difficult time of pandemic lockdown, India took care not to disturb the world food supply chain and continued to export, the government said.
Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a comprehensive action plan for the promotion of Agri trade; the twofold approach focuses on boosting Agri Export with emphasis on value addition and action plan for Import Substitution. Recently, the Agriculture sector has witnessed a series of reforms, giving more choices to the farmers to sell their produce at competitive rates.
To mention a few, the Export strategy focuses on the export promotion of fast-evolving niche markets of Wellness food/ Health-conscious food/nutraceuticals, Development of “Brand India” in campaign mode to help penetration into new foreign markets and of new products which automatically translates into higher value realization, Gulf countries have been identified as focus destination to increase the market share which is a strong market for India though presently India caters to only 10-12% share of their total imports. A product-market matrix has been made containing a list of products of strength that could be expanded in new geographies and a list of known markets which can be introduced with newer products.
At the behest of the Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, product-specific Export Promotion Forums have been created to lead Agri exports to new heights. Each Export Promotion Forum shall be having exporters of the related commodity as its members along with official members representing concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central and State Governments. Chairman APEDA shall be the chairman of each of these forums. The forums will meet at least once every two months, to discuss recommendations on issues pertaining to the export.
The recommendations of the forum will be placed in the product committee / Authority of APEDA. The Forum will keep in close contact with the concerned organization of the Ministry of Agriculture such as MIDH, Extension, NPPO, etc., DGFT, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoFPI, etc. to further the interest of agricultural export.
