'IPRs developed in India belong to MNCs'

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The IP Academy based out of Singapore is a national initiative of Singapore. It is dedicated to the deepening and broadening of Singapore’s knowledge and capabilities in Intellectual Property (IP) protection, exploitation and management. The IP Academy provides a wide range of continuing education and training opportunities for IP professionals, business organizations, research institutions, and other IP creators and users.

David Llewelyn, the chairperson of the Global Forum on IP and deputy chairman of the IP Academy, Singapore in an interaction with Prasoon Srivastava of CIOL discussed his views on status of IPR in Indian IT industry based on his experience and engagement in Indian market. Excerpts:

How are you looking at the Indian market with respect to IPR in its IT industry?

For the last 16 years a lot of Indian businesses have started realizing the significance of the intellectual property rights. They are IPRs filing for domestic patronage and filing for patronage trademarks outside India. The Indian IT sector is very strong in terms of outsourcing work, but one of the problems is that you look at the R&D sector that have been set up by HP, GE, Microsoft and other multi-national companies. These are all foreign companies. They are developing intellectual property in India. The IPRs being developed in India does not belong to Indian businesses but to these MNCs.

You are based in Singapore. What kind of connect you have with Indian market?

Singapore is a country which wants to establish itself as the hub for intellectual property rights and for internationalization. Singapore attracts India’s businesses to set up intellectual property rights. We organize workshops and seminars on intellectual property and we have people coming to speak from India, China, Japan, Korea, from all across Asia to share their experiences.

I have been a professor for intellectual property law for 28 years. Many Indian students are practicing law in India. I go to give lectures and meet people in India. I get involved in particular transactions.

What are the major hurdles you identify for the development of Indian IPR in IT industry?

What I believe is, there is an issue in India, which even Sam Pitroda is talking about — lack of advanced venture capital industry. The small businesses are looking for capital to expand. There is a need for angel investors and venture capital for small and growing businesses in India for which these segments have to often look outside India.

How do you see Indian legal system for the development of IP in India?

There are some judges in India who have reached the international stage. In India it takes time to get a particular experience to try and grab the issue of the intellectual property. A problem in India is that it takes years and years for an issue to trial and that’s something that court needs to try and improve upon.

Indian companies are more effective in the Indian market than in any other market. This is a rock-on effect if their rights are not protected, because of the slow court systems in India. Therefore Indian companies become less favorable in getting legal protection in IPR.

What are the challenges that international firms face in India?

We need to recognize the reality of the Indian market. International firms cannot set-up in India because of the rules in the country. International firms have to operate with local firms. Off late we have seen that the Government of India has recognized and accepted the importance of creating the intellectual property rights but more needs to be done. This is just the beginning.

If you look at the international IPR front, you can see that last year maximum number of IPRs across the globe was filed by Chinese electronics major Huawei, the electronics company. Many Chinese companies are returning to the international market and are filling for trademarks, patents, are getting registration for designs and starting imports and exports to local companies. Chinese and Indian companies have started to acquire foreign companies and foreign technology. They have started to trade in IPRs.

According to prevailing trend, what is the cost of IP in a product in percentage of its total cost?

It varies. In some cases over 90 per cent of the cost of the product is in terms of the intellectual property cost.

What type of engagement can we expect from the IP academy in the next couple of years for the Indian market?

We will continue to offer courses and conferences where we try to disseminate the best practices of the intellectual property areas in Asia and get people from United States and Europe to share their experiences as well.