Celebrating World Intellectual Property Day in Chennai

On 25 April, I was in Chennai to speak at a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on ‘Leveraging intellectual property rights for a creative and innovative India’. Two reasons made the event momentous. One, celebration of the World Intellectual Property (IP) Day (26 April) and two, launch of a report mapping the intellectual property landscape of the state of Tamil Nadu. The UK Intellectual Property Office supported this project with a view to helping UK companies understand Tamil Nadu’s innovation potential.

The project was led by the Tamil Nadu Technology Development and Promotion Centre – a joint initiative of the government of Tamil Nadu and CII.

The report was jointly launched by the British Deputy High Commissioner Chennai, Mr. Bharat Joshi, Honourable Justice P. N. Prakash, and M. S. Shanmugam IAS, Additional Secretary (Industries), Tamil Nadu.

The report includes analyses of the levels of IP awareness in academia and industry as well as a study of the IP trends in Tamil Nadu. Nearly 70% of the participating companies in the survey agreed that intellectual property gave them a competitive edge. With regard to IP trends, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and TVS Motor Company were determined to be top patent applicants in the academia and industry categories during 2005-14, respectively. On the other hand, Bajaj Auto Limited was the top design applicant in Tamil Nadu during 2009-14. As a fitting conclusion, a list of 10 recommendations has been proposed. These include setting up of IP facilitation centres, establishing a dedicated government department to oversee IP initiatives, regular training of enforcement officials on IP rights, and introducing IP education in schools and universities, among others.

Chennai is an important location from an IP perspective. Firstly, there’s the patent office and secondly, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB). This board hears appeals of applicants whose trade marks, patents, and geographical indications are rejected by any of the patent offices in the country.

If you’re a UK business who’s interested in understanding the innovation potential of Tamil Nadu, then you should read the report!