YOUTH AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  Since 2000 April 26th has been observed as World Intellectual property day by World Intellectual property Organisation (WIPO) every year ,to create awareness about how intellectual property or creations of human intellect  can be utilised into different forms of IP rights like patents, copyright, Trade Marks and designs that affect our day to day life. WIPO this year focus on  the  theme "I P and Youth Innovating For A Better Future ".IP rights are instrumental to encourage innovation and creativity in societies across the globe.IP means the creation of mind which include inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols,  names and images used in commerce. IP is a non physical asset owned by a company or individual. WIPO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is committed to establishing a balanced and approachable international IP system. WIPO plays a significant role in helping young inventors ,creators and entrepreneurs to use IP to achieve their goals, generate income, create  jobs and tackle local and global challenges supporting community and national  development.WIPO was formally established in 1970.important international conventions including the Paris convention (1883) on industrial property (patents, trademarks, and designs),Bern Convention on copyrights (1886),Rome convention on recording of performing arts (1961)Budapest treaty on deposit of new micro organisms for patent procedures  (1977) and the  Washington treaty on integrated circuits layout designs (1989) shaped the working and policies of WIPO. However When WTO was established in 1995 and later TRIPS  Agreement was reached it had inherited almost all provisions of the Paris, Berne and Rome conventions and the Washington treaty. Since WIPO can 'only bark' whereas WTO can "both bark and bite" due to relatively efficient dispute settlement mechanism and provisions for cross retaliation TRIPS under WTO gained more prominence.  In any case WIPO continues to exist as a separate UN agency administering conventions and  IPR agreements of member countries. 

Patents are the most important intellectual property instrument.As per WIPO data an estimated 15.9 million patents were in force across 135 jurisdictions in 2020 an increase of over 5.9% in 2019.In 2020 the highest number of patents 3.3 million were in force in USA followed by China 3.1 million,Japan 2million,Republic of Korea 1.1 million and Germany 0.8 million.In 2020 India occupied the 9th position in patent filing application  with 56267 .The overall filing of IP applications  for 2019-20  in India for various IP rights like patents trademarks Designs Geographical Indications and copyright were 427309 higher than previous year's 405324.Among  the top five countries China saw the fastest growth of 14.5% in patents followed by Germany 8.1%!USA 6.9% and Republic of Korea 4.6% whereas Japan reported marginal decrease of -0.7%.Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) allows applicants to seek patent protection for invention simultaneously in large number of countries by filling a single PCT international application. International patent application filed via WIPO's PCT route  most widely considered as metrics of innovative activity received 68720 PCT applications from China ,59230 from USA,Japan 50520,Republic of Korea 20060 and Germany 18643.

Start up India is a flagship initiative intended to catalyze Start Up culture and build strong and inclusive ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship . launched in January 2016.Our National IPR policy recognizes the abundance of creative and innovative energies that flows in India, and the need to tap into and channelise these energies. The policy shall strengthen the research and development organizations, educational institutions corporate entities MSMEs  start ups and other stakeholders in creation of innovation conducive environment which stimulates creativity and innovation across sectors.  It may be noted here that India has a well established Intellectual property compliant legislative administrative and judicial framework to  safeguard IPRs which meets international obligations while utilizing the flexibility provided. According to the Secretary Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) "We have the third largest start up eco system. We have reached a level of 80 start up being registered every day in our country which is the highest in the world ".

There is a need for increasing IPR awareness among the people especially the Youth.  Already IP has been included in the course of NCERT.lot of engagement with Universities and colleges are undertaken with the setting up of 18 IPR chairs, 135 IPR  cells both in Universities and colleges. The Government has also taken measures to simplify the procedures for applying IP instruments for instance the number of forms required for applying  Trade Marks and patents  have been reduced from 74 to 8 for Trade Marks and for patents now there is only one form.The level of IP protection appropriate for a given country largely depends on the stage of technological development. The main challenge of intellectual property system is that of proper balancing. Over protection of Intellectual creators is just as dangerous as under protection.Knowledge production is  a cumulative enterprise, the store of information does not grow unless creators have the freedom to learn from and build on earlier work. Thus if the system over protects,intellectual  creators will not have adequate access to information and knowledge they need. In contrast if the system under protects Intellectual creators will not have adequate incentive to develop. 

The direction of innovation is the result of interaction of multiple decisions by entrepreneurs, researchers, consumers and policy makers. As observed by world Intellectual Property Report 2022 for more than a century innovation activity has grown tremendously around the globe driven by a series of technological breakthroughs from internal combustion  engine to Information Communication Technologies.Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and internet of things are booming. Emerging technologies provide new growth opportunities for start ups and business and empower people and communities across the world. However addressing the global challenges of  food security, climate change, inequality and prevention of pandemics are public goods and the private sector is unlikely to allocate enough innovation resources to resolve such problems.