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India to strengthen IP protection, ICC conference hears
New
Delhi, 18 March 2004
- Senior Indian government officials have used an ICC-brokered international
conference on intellectual property to underscore their nation's need
for greater IP protection.
Speaking to the International
Conference on Intellectual Property Policy, Indian Secretary of the Department
of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry,
Mr Lakshmi Chand, said laws protecting intellectual property were vital
to stimulating research and development in his natio
n.
"A major initiative of the Indian government must be to strengthen
the IP regime," he said. "The need of the hour is to convert
the opportunities into advantages by leaving behind the traditional approaches
and adopting an innovation route for the prosperity of the industry."
The two-day conference,
hosted by ICC India and co-sponsored by FICCI's Institute for Intellectual
Property Development (IIPD) in India, attracted some 200 government and
industry experts. Participants were encouraged by an apparent change in
mindset regarding Indian IP policy with the government acknowledging the
critical role intellectual property and its protection plays in both economic
development and in increasing competitiveness in global markets.
Urho Ilmonen, Chair
of the ICC Commission on Intellectual Property and director of corporate
relations at Nokia, praised India's progress on IP policy, while cautioning
that, "many details still need to be addressed." He stressed
that the ICC India conference " provided a necessary and useful forum
for business representatives to learn about the evolvement of IP issues
and implementation in India."
Presentations by the
Indian government detailed ongoing changes in the country's legal and
regulatory structures-including amendments to India's Patents Act and
a litany of provisions governing trademarks, copyright, designs, geographical
origin, data exclusivity, and other issues. The government added that
in order to better handle IP applications it was modernizing its supporting
infrastructure and administration and investing in buildings, information
systems and employees.
Such commitments were positively received by the world business community
which saw them as a clear and encouraging signal that India is making
tangible progress in intellectual property protection - progress that
business deems essential to attract foreign investment and R&D to
India's highly-educated, highly-skilled, low-cost economy.
ICC is the world business organization. With its headquarters in Paris,
it works to promote an open international trade and investment system.
It has offices in 130 countries around the world and is often described
as the "united nations of the business world."
For further information
on ICC please visit www.iccwbo.org. In India, contact Ashok Ummat, ICC
India, +91-11-237.38760 or Click here to send a mail.
ICC
Commission on Intellectual Property
Intellectual
Property Roadmap 2004
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