India vaults eight ranks to 36th in US intellectual property index

This is the second year in a row that India’s score has been moving up. The country also recorded the largest gain of any country measured on the index, which covers over 90 per cent of global gross domestic product. Last year, India had ranked 44th of 50 economies in the index.

“The improvement reflects important reforms implemented by Indian policy makers toward building and sustaining an innovation ecosystem for domestic entrepreneurs and foreign investors alike,” the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) stated in the report card released on Thursday.

“The reforms that helped improve India’s ranking include its accession to the WIPO Internet Treaties, the agreement to initiate a Patent Prosecution Highway with international offices, a dedicated set of IP incentives for small business and administrative reforms,” said Patrick Kilbride, senior vice president of GIPC.

The report also highlights some thorny issues like barriers to licensing and technology transfer, strict registration requirements, limited framework for the protection of bio-pharmaceutical IP rights, patentability requirements outside international standards, lengthy pre-grant opposition proceedings and previously used compulsory licensing for commercial and non-emergency situations that as the key problems in India. 

“If India can surmount the serious challenges that remain, including with regard to patent eligibility and enforcement, it can build a robust innovation-led growth model for other countries to emulate,” Kilbride said.

India, however, has been stressing that its intellectual protection rules are in strict adherence to World Trade Organisation’s TRIPS mandate.

The report ranks economies based on 45 indicators covering patent, trademark, copyright and trade secrets protection.