The patents offices across the country are expected to be fully computerised in the next 12 to 18 months. In order to strengthen the patent offices and reduce the time taken in processing applications for patents, trademarks and designs, a recruitment drive to fill posts of examiners is on full swing. As of now 165 posts have been filled and another 35 posts will be filled in due course of time, S Chandrasekaran, controller general, Patents, Trade Marks and Designs, Government of India, told Pharmabiz.

Chandrasekaran participated in a two-day national seminar on Intellectual Property Rights in manufacturing held at Hyderabad on Thursday. The seminar was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Andhra Pradesh Technology Development Council (APTDC).

The growing importance of IPR is seen from the fact that patent application filings in India have gone up almost four-fold in the last five years (from 5000 in 1999-2000 to 17,000 last year). In the last two years alone, about 200,000 trademark certificates have been issued, and another 100,000 certificates are going to be issued in the current year.

India's first state-of-the-art integrated Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Office building at New Delhi became operational during the end of August, 2005. The new office was planned as part of the government's Rs. 124-crore project for the modernisation and strengthening of patent offices in India. This is the first in a series of four virtually interlinked IPR buildings in the metro cities, while the three others are coming up in Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is preparing a revised patent manual to spell out clear cut operational instructions to the patent examiners within few weeks. The DIPP would also circulate the patent rules (second amendment) for public comments soon. The manual is expected to give a better idea of what exactly would be the reasonable royalty to be paid by the makers of generic drugs for medicines that are to be given patent rights under the new law.

The rapid advance in technology and their relation to IPR protection is an important feature of the current day global scenario. Strong IP legislation has to be evolved in order to ensure that no counterfeiting is there. Strong legislation, enforcement of IPR laws would protect, promote and foster inventive and innovative activity.