Grant of patents up 12 per cent during April-December FY'19: DPIIT

NEW DELHI: Grant of patents during April-December 2018-19 rose 12 per cent to 10,036 due to various measures taken by the commerce and industry ministry to streamline patent examination process, according to an official data.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the ministry, said Indian IP (intellectual property) office has undergone a revamp in terms of increasing manpower and making the process paperless.

"Streamlining of patent examination processes and increased manpower increase grant of patents by 12 per cent between April-December 2018-19 as against the same period of 2017-18," the department said in a series of tweets.


It said the country had granted 8,940 patents in the year-ago nine-month period.

Examination of patent applications during the period under review also witnessed an increase of 51 per cent to 61,768 as compared to 40,790 during April-December 2017-18.

Patent is a legal right granted by a country under which the holder has exclusive rights on the product for 20 years. It prohibits other individual and company from manufacturing, using, and selling of the same item. Trademarks are however granted for 10 years.

Similarly, trademark filings too soared by 27 per cent to 2,47,615 during the nine-month period of the current fiscal as against 1,95,705 in the same period of 2017-18.

An official said the continuous efforts by trademarks registry and Indian Patent Office to streamline the process and clear pendency are reaping healthy results.

The ministry is taking several steps including hiring more people and training them to reduce the time and pendency of patents and trademark applications.