GI logo along with a tagline has been recently launched to serve as a certification mark of authenticity for the Indian origin products registered as Geographical Indications. To ensure appropriate use of this logo (with the tagline), draft Guidelines (providing terms, conditions, restrictions and procedure to obtain permission for such use), seeking comments from stakeholders (until July 24, 2019), have been published.
Category: News & Updates
Notification on proposed amendments to the Patent Rules, 2003
Draft Rules inviting objections from the public (until June 30, 2019) have been issued, intending to amend the Patent Rules, 2003. These amendments aim to bring out certain crucial changes in the information to be provided in a statement of working of the patent (under statutory Form-27); and further provide clarification to the prescribed timelines in filing an English translation of the priority document of a national phase application, and Form-27. They further clarify that Form-27 need not be furnished for the year in which the patent was granted in India.
India reports increase in trademark, patent and design filings
Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) has published statistics for trends in IP filings in India for the fiscal year 2018-2019. The number of patent and trademark applications filed during the year saw an increase by 5.9% and 24% respectively as compared to the previous year.
While the number of design filings in the year also saw an increase by 6.3%, there was a dip of 22% in the copyright filings made during this period.
An increase of 8.6% in the number of patents granted during the year has also been reported – from 47,695 grants in 2017-18 to 51,781 grants in 2018-19.
Source: http://cipam.gov.in/iptrends/
Time extended to obtain National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) approvals with retrospective effect
The applicants of patent applications (for inventions involving use of Indian bio-resources) that are pending before the Indian Patent Office due to their failure to obtain NBA approvals for the activities undertaken under Section 3, Section 4 or Section 6 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 may apply for and obtain such approvals on or before May 17, 2019.
India ranks 36th position in the 2019 International Intellectual Property Index
India is placed at the 36th position in the 2019 International Intellectual Property Index released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) progressing from its 44th position last year. This development can be attributed to the reforms in India including accession to the WIPO Internet Treaties, agreement to initiate a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) with Japan, and IP incentives for small business and administrative reforms.