The second workshop, jointly organised by NISSAT and the NICMAP, CMTI was held during 16-17 June 1998 at the Central Manufacturing Technology Institute (CMTI), Bangalore. The programm was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Mr. M.K.G. Pillai, Director General of the Central Power Research Institute, Bangalore. The inaugural function was presided over by Dr. A. Lahiri, Advisor, NISSAT, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research. Mr. S. Vasantha Kumar, Director of CMTI in his welcome address, emphasised the need for creating the awareness about patents in the country. He said that the culture of patenting the new products and processes has to be developed as it is an essential aspect for us to enter into the international market. He insisted on the necessity for the country to be internationally competitive. He wished that the participants would get maximum benefit from this workshop and spread this interest among all sectors of industries.
In his address Mr. Pillai provided an overview of the patents, patent acts and regulations concerning the intellectual property rights (IPR) with reference to our country. Till about late 70's there has not been much concern about the patent rights or IPR in this country. The competition in trade among nations and the economic conditions are creating the concern. Patent is a legal monopoly granted for a limited period to the owner of an invention, granted by the state. This right could be affected by other laws such as health and safety regulations or by food and drug regulations or by other patents. The patent right can be given away, sold, inherited, licensed or even abondoned. As it is conferred by the state, even after granting, it can be withdrawn. There is no universal agency controlling patents all over the world. The invention is protected through claims in a patent. Claims alone construct a fence around the patented inventions to avoid its unlawful usage. Legal protection is given to only what is included in the claims. What is not included is open to others for new inventions.
The IP system in India dates back to 1856 based on the British Patent law of 1852. This law provided certain privileges to the inventor. This was re-enacted with certain modifications as Act XV of 1859. In 1872, the law was modified into Patents and Designs Protection Act followed by further modification by Protection of Invention Act in 1883. Both the above acts were consolidated as Inventions and Designs Act in 1888. This Act was replaced by Indian Patents and Designs Act in 1911. For the first time, a system of patents was established under the management of a Controller of Patents and Designs. This was in force when India became independent but did not promote industrial development. Based on the recommendations of Justice Rajagopala Ayyangar and considering the changes proposed by the Government of India, a revised comprehensive Bill was introduced in the Parliament in 1967. The Patent Act came into effect from 1972.
The laws concerning the IPR operate only territorially and provide protection only within the particular country. The treaties, bilateral agreements and conventions provide the international protection. The prominent ones are Berne convention of 1886, Paris convention of 1883, Patent Cooperation Treaty of 1978, Madrid Agreement of International Registration of Marks, Universal Copy Right Conventions, etc.
Close on the heels of the Uruguay Round of Multinational Trade Negotiations came the much debated issue of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The new laws under TRIPS regulate the conduct of science and education the world over. The need of the moment is to gather or promote world support against discriminatory moves such as preventing dissemination of information which comes in the way of promotion of S & T pursuits. This demands a lot of strengthening at the organisation level. Patent information cells should be established for promotion of R & D programs. Patenting facilities (infrastructure) should be provided on a sustained basis. Watch has to be kept on developments in the area of IPR and important issues should be made known to policy makers, scientists and technologists. Awareness about patents and the challenges and opportunities in this area have to be created through workshops, seminars and conferences.
Dr. Lahiri, in his presidential address, took a stock of the situation prevailing in the country with regard to patenting. He explained the objective of conducting the series of workshops on patent information. He mentioned about the patent offices in India and emphasised the need for their strengthening. He hoped that these workshops will help us understand the state of the art.
The inaugural function was concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr. B. Sudarshan, the coordinator of the workshop from CMTI.
The two day workshop comprised eight technical sessions : basic concepts of patent
information and the national and international sources of patent information; patent system in India; patent information on Internet; Derwent patent databases; national and international patent classification and codes; search methodologies; demonstration of patent searches on CD-ROM databases; case studies of patent information in decision making.
The faculty included personnel from CMTI; Patent Office Branch of Chennai; the National Centre for Science Information, Bangalore; and Informatics India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore. The sessions were chaired by eminent personnel from the fields of industry, academy, business, R & D and Patents.
IT Education Plan
The Government of India will have to spend at least Rs 3,000 crore to set up even an average quality infrastructure for providing information technology (IT) education throughout the country, as envisaged by the Prime Minister's Task Force on IT with108-point Action Plan which was cleared and gazetted by the cabinet in June 1998. To begin with, the plan aims at launching various schemes to enable students, teachers and schools to buy computers on easy instalments, through bulk buying and even through donations, which would require at least Rs 200 crore. Then, setting up around 10 Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) taking the rough estimates available for institutes at Gwalior and Hyderabad (Rs 60-70 crore each), entails a cost of at least Rs 500 crore. Similarly, setting up national and state level digital library projects can cost between Rs 300 crore and Rs 1,000 crore depending on the requirement of a region.
The plan also calls for networking, before 2000, all universities, engineering colleges, medical colleges and other institutions of higher learning in the country as well as R&D organisations. Such a networking can cost anything between Rs 300 crore and Rs 750 crore.
Besides, there are other projects like setting up smart schools, virtual institutes, making IT course a compulsory component of all degree courses and building IT education facilities in UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan and North East—all of which together can cost another Rs 1,000 crore orso.
Sameer Kochhar of Skoch Consultancy Services said that taking into account even the minimum possible expenditure shows that within the first two or three years the government would have to shell out Rs 5,000 crore and over a period of 10 years, recurring expenditure like salaries to teachers, maintenance of educational infrastructure, cost of obsolescene involved in the IT sector and the like could involve funds over Rs 12,000 crore. He said he was doubtful whether a detailed cost, benefit ratio was worked out before finalising the cost of the entire action plan.
Mr. Vijay Thadani, CEO, NIIT was more optimistic and said that once investments begin to flow into education infrastructure, there would be a sharp growth of manpower availability which would benefit the IT sector and the entire economy greatly. With such a low computer base, and just about reasonable availability of IT manpower in the country, if India is able to export software worth $ 2 billion, one can be sure that over the next 10 years there would be tremendous benefits from such a thrust on education.
—The Times of India, 7 July, 1998
