Indian government is in the process of formulating
the National
Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) Policy of India and
preliminary formalities have already been completed in this regard. A
group of experts have been brought together in the form of a think
tank that would assist the government in this regard.
We at Perry4Law
and Perry4Law’s
Techno Legal Base (PTLB) welcome this move of Indian
government and we wish and hope that the proposed national IPR policy
of India would be released very soon. With the experts on the board,
the proposed IPR policy would be drafted with best intentions and in
the most appropriate manner.
We also hope and presume that the think tank would
also consider the technology
aspects of intellectual property rights while drafting the
policy document. For instance, issues pertaining to domain
name dispute resolution, cyber
squatting, online
copyright violations and their redressal, pirated
TV broadcasting, industrial
espionage, e-books,
anti
piracy redressal mechanism, online
brands infringements and their management,
international
exhaustion of trademarks, challenges
of new GTLDs, etc must also be considered while
formulating the proposed national IPR policy of India.
Public awareness about IPRs protection and
management in India is very low. At time companies and individuals
take actions that are clearly
illegal. Similarly, many times stakeholders are not aware
that they are actually violating the IPRs of others. In many cases
IPR protection under patent law of India is lost for improper
handling of the product to be patented. Conflict
of laws in cyberspace also requires compliance
with laws of other jurisdictions to get appropriate
relief.
IPR
Helpdesk of Perry4Law has been spreading public awareness
about IPRs in India and abroad since 2005. We believe that there is
an urgent need to reform Indian IP laws keeping in mind the use and
impact of technology upon them. The proposed national IPR policy of
India also needs to cater technological issues of IPR in India. We
hope the same would be achieved for the larger benefit of all
stakeholders.