WASHINGTON: The US on Thursday welcomed efforts undertaken by India to promote intellectual property (IP) rights within the country and the steps it has taken to strengthen protection and enforcement.
“The United States has welcomed efforts undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to promote IPR within India and the steps it has taken to strengthen protection and enforcement,” the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said in its latest 301 annual report.
The report said high-level national initiatives, such as ‘Make in India’ and ‘Start-up India’ have linked realization of development goals to IP creation and protection.
The 2015 passage of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill may provide an important new tool for right holders in India to efficiently and effectively enforce their rights in the courts, it said.
According to USTR, hiring and training of large numbers of new patent and trademark examiners should help to reduce significant delays new applicants face while also cutting down the backlog of pending applications.
Significant state-level enforcement developments included the establishment of India’s first anti-piracy policy unit in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh’s anti-piracy campaign, which resulted in the arrest of 11 individuals involved in an international piracy ring, the report said.
“The United States also welcomed the deliberate and transparent process employed in India’s evaluation of a compulsory license application in 2015,” USTR said, but quickly noted that these are not enough to remove India from the Priority Watch List, indicating that it will wait for some time before India is excluded from this list.–PTI
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