Bring High Levels Of Transparency, Integrity, Efficiency & Speed In Our IP Ecosystem: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal asked IP professionals to cultivate sensitivity in their work so that the Intellectual Property ecosystem does not disrupt good work by denying patents to those who have worked hard on their innovations and truly deserve parent protection.

He was addressing the Valedictory Session of the National Intellectual Property Conference 2022 on ‘Strengthening IP Ecosystem for catalysing the growth of Knowledge Economy’ in New Delhi today.

Goyal said that innovation is that one defining characteristic that had always pushed mankind forward and the key factor that would determine the fate of the country. Innovation is what will help us remain ahead of times, he added.

The Minister observed that Innovation is nothing but finding simple solutions to the day-to-day problems of life. He said that innovation is doing things better, smarter, faster, more efficiently, cost-effectively and sustainably. In this context, he called upon the innovators of the nation to find low cost, high efficiency technologies to power cycle rickshaws and thus augment the income and make life much easier for those who make their living through these rickshaws.

He expressed confidence that India had the potential to become number one in the Intellectual Property arena. He lauded Patent Office for truly re-orienting themselves in the last couple of years but said that further reforms were needed.

Goyal stressed that the middle-men who operate on the peripherals of the patent ecosystem, promising applicants help with paperwork, are to be actively discouraged. To achieve this goal, he asked for daily, open interactions of patent offices with applicants and stakeholders through Video Conferencing. These recorded VCs should serve as forums to flag grievances and collect suggestions for improvement, he said.

Goyal also emphasized that applicants must not be asked to come to offices. He asked that all processes related to application, filing and grant of patents be driven online as soon as possible. He said that the government was already in the process of modifying the law and asked stakeholders to send suggestions, which he said, would carefully be considered and objectively assessed.

The Minister called for streamlining of patent offices and processes and said that nothing should stop us from achieving timely grant of patents and trademarks. He urged that technology be used to the best possible extent and called for complete digitization of all files and creation of smarter IP Offices.

Minister said that the government was seeking to expand number of Comptrollers and appealed to former Comptrollers and retired experts to volunteer to work for a few years to help clear backlogs and historical pendency. He also said that the government was mulling over changing rules to make sure that repeated requests for adjournments are discouraged.  We have to being in high levels of transparency, integrity, efficiency and speed in our IP ecosystem, he underscored.