IP reforms not enough to push India out of US’ watch list

NEW DELHI: India’s reforms to reduce patent pendency and expedite trademark backlogs are unlikely to steer it out of the US’ Priority Watch List even this year as legacy issues of compulsory licensing and curbs on patent eligibility weigh heavily on its intellectual property regime, a senior
official of the US Chamber of Commerce said.

The list, as part of the US’ annual Special 301 report, identifies trade barriers to US companies due to intellectual property laws of other countries.


“There has been a significant jump in India’s IP ranking but it is unlikely that this will change its coverage in the 301 review this year,” Patrick Kilbride, vice president, international, Global Innovation Policy Center at the US Chamber of Commerce Chamber of Commerce told ET.

The US has been placing India in the ‘priority watch’ list in its annual Special 301 report for a couple of years.

The centre’s international IP index acts as a precursor to the report.

This year’s index ranks India 44 of 50 economies. India languished near the bottom in the index last year, ranking 43rd out of 45 global economies.

Moreover, for the first time, India has break free of the bottom ten percent of economies measured, and its score represents the largest percentage improvement of any country measured.

India’s work to address patent pendency with 459 additional appointments of patent examiners and the July 2017 Guidelines on the Examination of Computer-Related Inventions significantly improved the patentability environment for technological innovations.

“India is trying to overcome a legacy that disregarded the utility of IP,” Kilbride said.

However, he said that additional, meaningful reforms are still needed to incentivize domestic innovation, attract foreign investors, and improve access to innovation.

As per the index, the IP environment and Innova output in Brazil, India, and Russia has either stood still or deteriorated since 2013.

The problem is critical also because rights holders in India have “long struggled with lack of clarity on the protection for well-known marks” and sometimes conflicting judgments.