Patent office within 3 years

MUMBAI, DEC 10: India is planning to set up a National Patent Office in New Delhi within three years at an estimated cost of $ 20 million...

MUMBAI, DEC 10: India is planning to set up a National Patent Office in New Delhi within three years at an estimated cost of $ 20 million — an ambitious programme to modernise and streamline administrative systems, computerise all operations and develop human resources, said Joint Secretary of Department of Industrial Development, Pushpendra Rai.

"The government plans to ultimately make the patent office an international searching and preliminary examining authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system," Rai said while speaking at the national seminar on post Paris Convention – implications to industry’ organised by FICCI.

Singh said the government should free the industry and allow the market force to play a role and give more importance to R&D as Ranbaxy Lab is one of the leading pharmaceutical company in the country and also an international player in 25 countries.

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The provisions of the Paris convention and the PCT became effective in India on December 7. "I see the signing of the PCTas a small step in the right direction," he said.

The PCT, which was administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) effectively, provided a route through which filing of a single patent in a PCT member country could provide priority in all other PCT countries and allowed the patentee an opportunity to select the country of interest.