Patenting in India and Year 2007

Year 2007-08 was a landmark year in the history of Indian patents. This was the first year of India's 11th five year plan. This year Indian patent office was in limelight as only in 2005, India has amended its patent laws to allow product patents. A reasonable time has passed since opening of mail box (or black box) and it was a matter of curiosity to every one that how many patents would be granted as Patent office was under sever work pressure.

In this regard, I came across with an interesting article from EE times, which is as follows:

Concerned by the fact that India lags far behind the world average in patent filings per population, the Indian government pointed to an upswing in the number of patents granted since the launch of a major effort to modernize the patent process here.

The Indian Patent Office granted a record 15,262 patents during 2007-08, the government said, more than double the 7,539 granted the previous year (2006-07) and nearly eight times more than the 1,911 patents granted three years ago, in 2004-05. Historically, the total number of patent filings by residents of India is just three per million population, against a world average of 250.

According to the federal Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the number of patents granted in 2007-08, the first year of India's 11th five-year plan, compares well with the total number awarded during the entire period of the 10th five-year plan, which was just 17,618. The number of patent filings also crossed the 35,000 mark during 2007-08.

The rise is linked to the modernization of the patent and other intellectual-property offices. The Indian government spent more than $35 million in the first phase of the modernization effort, which included setting up integrated intellectual-property offices in four major cities and launching electronic filing of applications.

Another $75 million is to be spent to establish a Trade Marks Registry and Intellectual Property Archives and allied activities. The government has also begun work on a National Institute of Intellectual Property Management to handle training, education, research and think tank functions in intellectual-property rights.

Last October, the World Intellectual Property Organization recognized the Indian Patent Office as an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examining Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.