Lok Sabha Question No. 1355 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-30
Subject: Indian Patent Office
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Shri V K Sreekandan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL TRADE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1355. TO BE ANSWERED ON TUESDAY, THE 30 TH  JULY, 2024. INDIAN PATENT OFFICE

## 1355   SHRI V K SREEKANDAN:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY be pleased to state:

## वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्री

- (a) whether it is a fact that the Indian patent office has granted more than one lakh patents during the last year and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether it is also a fact that this was made possible only because of the steps taken by the Government to further strengthen the intellectual property rights ecosystem and if so, the details therof;
- (c) whether  it  is  a  fact  that  there  had  been  a  notable  surge  in  Geographical Indication registration, demonstrating a threefold increase compared with the last year, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether it is also fact that 573 Geographical Indications are registered in the country and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री ( श्री णिणिन प्रसाद ) THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) & (b): Yes Sir. Patent Office has granted 1,03,057 patents in FY 2023-24. Various steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  further  strengthen  the  Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) ecosystem in India are as under:

1. Modernization  of  IP  offices  using  IT  enabled  and  advanced technologies :

All documents filed before the Patent Office are completely digitized and  are  made  available  online  for  proceedings  leading  to  final disposal. Resultantly, applicants need not visit Patent & Trade Marks Offices  for  filing,  processing  and  getting  Patent  and  Trademark grant/registration certificates.

## 2. Fees Incentives

- (a) Owing to fee concessions in patents applications, there has been a significant  increase  in  Patent  filings  by  Startups,  MSMEs  and Educational Institutes and same is as under:
- (b) Similarly, 75% fee concessions at each stage of prosecution of Design applications are extended to startups and MSMEs and 50% to Trade Mark application filing.

| Year         | Startups   | Startups   | Small Entity (SE)   | Educational institutes   | (EI)    |
|--------------|------------|------------|---------------------|--------------------------|---------|
| (SU)         | Indian     | Foreign    | Indian              | Foreign Indian           | Foreign |
| 2018-19 801  | 10         | 607        | 75                  | Fees Concession          |         |
| 2019-20 1650 | 2          | 576        | 272                 | was given                | in Sep  |
| 2020-21 1598 | 13         | 744        | 53                  | 2021                     |         |
| 2021-22 1482 | 19         | 985        | 384                 | 7405                     | 96      |
| 2022-23 2016 | 25         | 1329       | 429                 | 19155                    | 275     |
| 2023-24 2546 | 25         | 3421       | 128                 | 23306                    | 237     |

## 3. Awareness  in  IPR  and  Recognition  &  Rewards  to  Top  IP Achievers :

National  Intellectual  Property  Awareness  Mission  (NIPAM)  was launched  in  December  2021  to  impart  IP  awareness  and  basic training  in  educational  institutes  across  the  country  and  as  a consequence, more than 2 million persons have been trained about IPRs  so  far.  Also,  IP  awards  have  been  conferred  every  year  to recognize and reward the top achievers and many among them were also invited as special guests to Government of India  in the Republic Day Celebration 2024 to recognise their efforts.

## 4. Scheme for Facilitating Start-Ups Intellectual Property Protection  (SIPP)

SIPP  scheme  was  launched  in 2016  to support startups in safeguarding their IP rights (Patents, Trade marks and Designs) by providing opportunity to avail pro bono facilitation by empanelled IP experts  and  facilitation  fees  of  the  IP  experts  to  be  borne  by  the Government. After the scheme, there has been a significant increase in IP applications by startups. Details about IP filing by startups are as under :-

| IP          | Increase in filing in last 6 years (2017-18 to 2023-24)   |
|-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|
| Patents     | 355%                                                      |
| Trade Marks | 543%                                                      |

## 5. Capacity Building :

To address liquidation of the backlog applications, technical manpower  strength  in  Patent  office  has  increased by  promoting various officers to the post of Controllers in the Patent office, and further, young professionals and technical assistants were engaged on contractual  basis  to  support  Controller's  decision  making.  This has resulted in granting more than 1 lakh patents in a single year 2023-24.

## (c) Yes Sir. The requisite details are as follows:

| Year    |   No. of GI Applications Registered |
|---------|-------------------------------------|
| 2022-23 |                                  55 |
| 2023-24 |                                 160 |

- (d) Yes  Sir.  As  on June  23,  2024,  the  Office  of  Geographical  Indications Registry has registered a total of 643 GI Applications in the country.

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