36,000 pending patent cases to be approved within 2 yrs

Additional examiners would be appointed for this purpose, he said.

Implementation of the modernisation of patent offices in Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai got delayed due to litigation in the Calcutta High Court.

In view to this litigation, clearance of pending applications has been delinked so as to expedite it. Calcutta is the headquarters of Patent offices in the country.

An expert mission of the World Intellecutal Property Organisation (WIPO) visited India recently to impress upon the government to clear the backlog of patent applications.

It had recommended taking up all the other activities connected with modernisation to supplement and sustain the backlog clearance initiative.

Following the examination of the WIPO report, the government has decided to lay emphasis on computerising the entire patenting process, linking offices electronically and review the existing work procedures besides decentralisatiion of activities to make the system user friendly.