- Establish an IP policy think tank as soon as possible. Staff it with Indian and foreign IP scholars charged with assessing the likely impact of contemplated IP policies on India’s public.

- Complete the statutory framework for India’s new patent laws as soon as possible.

- Finish modernizing the Patent Office as soon as possible. Enable automated applications and online searching. Launch a prior art database and interconnect these databases and search engines with as many foreign patent offices as possible, as quickly as possible.

- Create a standing expert committee on patent guidelines to consider frequent revisions, amendments, and additions, as part of the new think tank.

- Identify the extent to which the enforcement of court-ordered IP remedies may fall short of general enforcement standards. Provide suitable training for customs and police personnel engaged in enforcing orders related to IPRs.

- Implement the government’s current plan to upgrade IPTI into a full-blown staff training college as soon as possible. Design the curriculum for staff—namely, examiners and enforcers—but encourage private practitioners to enroll as well.

- Adopt the current government proposal to launch a management-oriented education and research facility as soon as possible. Focus its curriculum on issues related to patent exploitation—licensing, negotiating, and litigating to convert patents into revenue streams.

- Launch the TKDL as soon as it is complete and suitable for international consumption. Continue negotiations to generate international respect for traditional knowledge IPRs.

The study’s other recommendations require more thought before the best course of action becomes clear. The discussions presented in this study outline many questions and delineate many tradeoffs, but their resolution must lie with a trusted cadre of IP advisers who combine an understanding of IP theory with a deep, intimate awareness of India’s sociopolitical environment. As the study mentions in several places, the government would be served well by setting up a permanent think tank committed to assessing and advising on these issues—and on others that will arise as India’s IP system matures. Once such an institution exists, the government should charge it with:

- Assessing the relative merits of a patent registration system and a patent examination system.

- Determining the class of patents most likely to serve India’s needs, and drafting detailed substantive and procedural guidelines for the Patent Office oriented toward that class.

- Developing a “workbook,” or catalog of illustrations, drawn from a variety of disciplines, taken from previous foreign experience, to accompany the guidelines.

- Exploring the interrelationships among registration systems, examination systems, and specialized tribunals, and crafting recommendations to ensure that India chooses a judicial configuration for patent litigation consistent with its administrative decisions concerning the evaluation of patent applications.

- Investigating the best ways to promote juridical consistency in patent laws, including the practicality and desirability of creating specialized patent tribunals, appellate courts, or both.

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