In the International IP Index 2019 released by U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC), India has surged almost 20 per cent and climbed eight places in the IP Index rankings from 44th to 36th. The report cites the following factors as responsible for India’s performance:
- India has taken several noteworthy steps to improve its IP system in 2018 and also performed well on the new indicators included in the Index this year.
- The Government of India take steps to improve its national IP environment and these efforts continued in 2018 and progress has been made on several important areas measured by the Index.
- Greater efforts were made to align and incorporate India’s IP environment with the international IP system.
- India’s accession to the WIPO Internet Treaties and subsequent agreement with the Japanese Patent Office on a pilot PPH both stand out.
- India also invested considerable energy into decreasing pendency rates for patent and trademark applications by hiring staff and investments in resources for modernising and improving the administrative capacities of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM).
- As a result, the application backlog had been reduced from over 200,000 pending applications in March 2017 to just over 155,000 applications by end of June 2018.
The report notes that substantial challenges persist, particularly regarding India’s patenting and IP enforcement environments nevertheless this improvement is a real accomplishment, and Indian policymakers should be congratulated on their successful efforts in 2018.