What Indian IP Offices Need To Do To Be Among The World’s Best?

On September 18, DPIIT launched the AI Search engine and Chat bot (Saarthi) to ease and help with queries on TM from filing to enforcement and registration. This is indeed a good step and will ease the pressure on officers

The year 2023 was a supersonic one for IP offices with so many applications filed for patents, TM, designs, copyrights, and GI certification and granted with lot of positive vibes and action. This marks a dynamic and robust administrative effort that has kept all the stakeholders happy.

Patents and innovations are the barometer of any country’s economic growth. Indian IP office ranks in the world’s top three as regards TM filings and six in patent filings. Moreover, it boasts of a very efficient and faster disbursal mechanism.

But over the last six months, the news has not been that great for Indian IP office with lot of slowdowns in IT and administration. The All India Patent Officers Welfare Association (AIPOWA) came forward to bell the cat this time. Several lapses were noticed, and many issues were flagged. It was alleged that there have been arbitrary reallocation, withdrawal and abandonment of patent applications.

There were accusations that grants of IPRs were given without following any appropriate system by contractual examiners, who were hired to examine, hear and grant TMs. The question is how can the IP office, being a quasi-judicial body, allow contractual employees to pass orders and take decisions as regards grant or refusal of applications? This is precisely why the AIPOWA challenged this in court and asked for a re-verification of the all the orders passed over the last one year. Almost two lakh TMs and one lakh opposition matters have now been reexamined for their accuracy and orders. This exercise is denting prosecution of TM procedural matters and things are gradually slowing down.

For the past 16-18 months, we have seen how the court reprimanded patent officers for writing incomprehensible judgements, deliberately concealing facts or giving justifiable reasons in orders passed by the controller. These escalated matters to such an extent that a suit was filed against the IP office. Therefore, the recent issue of re-verifying raises another set of complex questions as to what in the Act allows for this ‘re-verification’ process. With all this running in the background, DPIIT has stepped in to take over the day-to-day management of a particular division of the CGPDTM, which in itself is a separate division, to take a deeper look at these ill-gotten developments.

While there has been some chaos with the IP office management, the situation is still not that grim as on September 18, DPIIT launched the AI Search engine and Chat bot (Saarthi) to ease and help with queries on TM from filing to enforcement and registration. This is indeed a good step and will ease the pressure on officers on the basic queries raised by applicants and stakeholders. It will take time for things to be back on track and we are hoping that the patent office will catch up with a 5G pace given that many Indian innovators are filing patents for their 6G innovations. More than 10 per cent of the 6G patents are being filed in India and by Indian companies, hence it is pertinent for the IP office and the law to keep pace and sync with the latest technologies. It is always better to have the numbers on your side for filings and grants but not at the cost of compromising on procedural aspects and practices followed as per Indian IP System and on the quality of the grant of IPRs in India.

We all need to appreciate and understand that a strong IP regime will help create a strong and robust innovation-driven economy where in the role of the IP office is critical in achieving the goal of becoming one of the top IP offices in the world.

(The writer is Head -Legal &IPR-Resolute Group and founder of IPRAS)