India preferred over China in IP protection

HYDERABAD: India has been rated the most preferred destination over China and the Czech Republic for Intellectual Property rights (IPR) protection, but is placed behind other countries like the US, the UK, Canada and Taiwan, according to the report on the semiconductor sector competitiveness conducted by Ernst & Young (E&Y) and Indian Semiconductor Association (ISA).

The study highlights the challenges of the Indian Semiconductor Design industry and suggests key imperatives to facilitate a sustainable growth of the industry and make India the preferred destination for semiconductor design activity.

The report, the first of its kind in the country, compares the semiconductor design scenario in India with that of Canada, China, Czech Republic, Israel, Taiwan, the UK and the USA.

The report also raises concern over the rising salary cost in India. With a need to train the engineering graduates the report also calls for the development of IP regulation in India.

The study found that India has the least number of US patent applications and grants to its credit. The study reasons this to the fact that design companies in India are captive arms of multinational companies and third party service providers. They handle some portions of projects rather than execute the entire IP or product development projects on turnkey basis.

There are several small Indian companies who create IP but do not file for a US patent due to the considerable cost involvement, says the report.

The report states that during 2001-2005, US had filed 5,96,447 applications out of which 2,34,725 were granted. The UK follows suit with 15,942 filings and 4,501 grants respectively, Canada had 12,529 applications and 3,559 grants.

India has been placed well below China and Taiwan with 2,145 applications and 621 granted patents.

These patents cover semiconductor devices, basic electronics, printed circuits, electrical communication and information storage.

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