An empirical study on India’s progress in intellectual property rights with reference to patent filing and grants in the emerging technological era

Abstract

India is a country of versatility, diverse culture, and complex social dimensions. India has been a country of agriculture, and even in today’s era, the majority of the population relies on agriculture for their livelihood; however, despite all these facts, India has seen a tremendous growth and change in economy, science and technology, education, and so on. In the process of development, invention and innovation have gained immense importance, which have resulted in application of inventions and innovations in the form of technology. In this background, the legal protection for the inventors arises, which is being catered by intellectual property rights (IPR) in the whole world as well as India. In Indian context, the IPR has not yet reached every business organization because the word IPR has always been misunderstood by most of the people that it is meant only for science and scientific inventions, but the fact is IPR’s applicability is much wider and it is applicable even to the smallest businesses. In the entire world, China is a nation which has the highest number of IPR grants, followed by USA. IPR in the present situation is very prominent and relevant because changes in industries like telecommunication, computer science, and so on are in the frontline and India is not lagging in invention and innovations. In 2021, out of the total number of applications received, China has the major contribution, which amounts to 40%. But very shockingly, India is not even in the top 10, which hints us that India needs to be vigilant and needs more attention of IPR. This research article speaks on how India is progressing in applicability of IPR and why India is not extensively using the provisions of IPR. We all know that IPR includes various elements like patents, copyrights, and trademarks; geographical indicators; industrial design; and utility models. But to be more precise and detailed, we have narrowed down our study only to patents in India, and even in that, we have considered patent applications, patent grants, and patents in force. It is to be noted that India’s economy is vibrant and dynamic. An economy like India is truly in need of extensive use of IPR and its provision to protect the rights of the real owner and inventor. But most of the population is ignorant about the IPR, so we are making an attempt to understand what is India’s position in IPR and its applicability. To narrow down our research, we have confined our study to only patents. In a further study, we can analyze how we can improve the awareness, and it may also help us in updating of IPR laws and its provisions.