SURGING INNOVATIONS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FILINGS I N INDIA

Intellectual property refers to creations of human mind resulting in innovations that eventually leads to material, physical ,artistic or technological creations.The financial or asset  value of it can be protected by means of various IP rights provided as per World Intellectual Property Organisation and Trade related Intellectual Property Rights agreements reached under WTO  from time to time by the member countries countries of the organization .In the global economy recent policy changes are driven by renewed insight into the efficacy of optimally responding to challenges like climate change, supply chain disruptions, national security concerns,and prevailing geopolitical conflicts.Global economy's response to innovation and development is largely governed by not only inventions and innovations but also dynamic use of intellectual property right instruments. Important IP rights that can be claimed and protected are Patents Rights, industrial designs,trademarks, copyrights, Trade Secrets,Geographical Indications etc. Many economists hold the view that one significant strategy to promote economic development is through encouraging innovation capabilities based on scientific technological and production know how of a country that can be ascertained from sources like scientific publications, patent applications and foreign trade and global ranking in Innovation Index and IP protection. In recent years India has made a quantum jump not only in innovations but also in intellectual property protection. Our  Global Innovation Index ranking shot up from 81st position in 2015 to 39th rank among 133 economies.As per innovation capabilities Switzerland is ranked 1st with 67.6 score followed by Sweden 64.2,US 63.54 and UK 62.4 . 

 The Patent right enables the person to make utilise,or sell a product or invention as his official right.As per World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) 2024 report India ranked  6th position in patent applications filed in 2023 numbering 64480, along with major players like China, US, Japan and South Korea.Total number of patent applications submitted globally in 2023 account 3.55 million.During the past two decades Chinese shot up from their 16% specialized technological capabilities to 94% whereas India's scientific specialization increased from 42% to 68% and Colombia from 7% to 21%.Data indicated that India's patent to GDP ratio as a measure of patent activity increased to 149.4%.The number of patent applications filed  in different fields in 2023 in the country comprised of mechanical and engineering 8663,chemicals 6958,computer science& Electronics 3718,Electrical 3489, Communications 3795,biomedical 1165,Biotechnology 903,biochemistry 241 etc.Unlike in the past more than 55% of India's patent applications were currently filed by Indian residents indicating the dynamic innovation capabilities achieved domestically by joint effort of Indian firms,universities and researh institutions. Infact the tie up between industry and academia and researchers are gaining momentum, and in academic circles the traditional approach of  "Publsh or Perish" is replaced by " patent, publish and prosper ".Research institutions play a vital role in generating new technologies and intellectual property. India witnessed 149.4% spurt in number of patents granted between 2022 and 2023.This unprecedented growth can be attributed to various public policy measures like increasing the efficiency and productivity of IP offices, 75% reduction in fees,increasing the  number of personnel in Various IP offices and full digitalisation of IP filing processes and procedures. 

  Another form of IP is industrial design right which safeguards the aesthetic aspect of a product ensuring the unique designs and visual appearance of the product like the shape,configuration or composition of it.India's  industrial designs applications showed record growth by 36.4% in 2023.Approximately 1.19 million industrial design applications were filed globally in which China accounted maximum of 826086 followed by EUIPO116884,UK 81543,US 60022 and South Korea 59454 and India 28168 with 24416 resident and 3752 non resident appllicants.India's  dynamism in creating  designs and manufacturing innovations led to greater emphasis particularly in sectors like consumer electronics, automobiles, health care ,fashion technology etc.Our industrial designs filings are also impacted by sectors like textiles and accessories tools & machines,cosmetics etc. 

The year 2023 witnessed a marginal decline (1.3% ) in the trade mark applications filed globally. Trade Marks and Service Marks are distinctive symbols that assist the consumer to distinguish between competing goods and services and acts as a symbol of goodwill to many firms in the trade and therefore they are protected as intellectual property right. Asia accounted for 66.7% of global trade mark filing in 2023.In India as per Trade Mark Act of 1999 the period  of TM is ten years,registration can be renewed for another 10 years as well. Number of TM applications filed in India increased from 323798 in 2018-19 to 466580 in 2023. and during this period numbers of foreign applicants marginally declined from 13721 in 2021  to 13255 in 2022-23.

Geographical Indications (GI) is a sign on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or reputation that is solely applicable to the place of of origin like  globally GI in force related to mainly wines and spirit (48.1% ),food and agricultural products (44.8%) and handicrafts (4.2 %).In India by 2024 there are 29624 Authorised Users (AU) of the totally Registered  643  GI products.  As on April 2024 among the GI tagged products in India Darjeeling tea is ranked first ,followed by 2nd Aranmula Kannadi  and lastly  the 643th  Kutch Ajrakh.State wise distribution of GI tag showed Uttar Pradesh  with largest number of GI tags followed by Tamil Nadu. 

While number of copy rights fiIed increased 61% during the  period 2018-19 to 2022-23 ,India made spectacular progress in the IP filings of 3 other major categories  namely patents ,Trade Marks and Industial Designs ,that increased  during the last five years with 63%,44%and 80% respectively. Further the number of patents granted witnessed unprecedented rise of 149.4% in 2023 alone.During the five year period from 2018-19 copy rights filed increased from 1825 to 29466.(61 %) in 2022-23. Similarly  Geographical Indications tag  filed showed 559 % increase. In short the filings of all the above IP categories witnessed 61% dynamic spurt during the last five years.It may be noted here that the highly fostered semiconductor industry integrated lay out  Design application filed till 2023  reached 23 with only 5 semi conductor firms already started working . Above all specifically the development criteria of Patent to GDP ratio increased from 144 in 2013 to 381 in 2023 and In Trade Mark India ranked 4th globally with 61% increase over previous period.,In short modern industries cannot survive globally without continuous innovation and use of intellectual property applications. While policy support given to IP training and development is very encouraging and laudable,the oligopolistic and opaque functioning of  big frms in India is a matter of concern which require better  quality regulation and greater transparency,  strongly buttresed by rule of law.However  growing awareness of IP and its u se by Unicorns,  startups, small and medium enterprises do offer tremendous scope and opportunities towards our future dream of becoming a developed economy .