India-UK collaboration in intellectual property

Last month, Neil Feinson and Andrew Davidson, both from the International Policy Directorate of the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), visited India – Mumbai, Chennai, and New Delhi. We met with representatives of government, industry, and society to discuss how India and the UK could collaborate in the increasingly important area of IP rights. Herein, I have covered the key highlights from the visit.

We kicked off in Mumbai with a half-day seminar on awareness about IP rights. This event was jointly organised by the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) and Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). To disseminate the basics of IP amongst students, a quick-read IP primer was released at the event. The other shining feature of the programme was a short play on IP awareness, performed by a New Delhi based theatre group. HUL also organised a road show in the magnificent atrium of the NMIMS. Students were thronging the IP kiosks put up therein.

In Chennai, we met with companies as well as relevant IP stakeholders. Most recently, in September, Rahul Raghavan (Senior Policy Adviser) from the UK IPO spoke at the Global Investors Meet about the various ongoing projects and initiatives in India. Last year, the UK IPO supported the Tamil Nadu Technology Development and Promotion Centre to map the IP landscape of Tamil Nadu. The report outlined the IP trends in the state over a period of 10 years (2005-14).

Whilst in New Delhi, we visited the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) centre in Gurgaon, where we learnt about the current challenges and opportunities for UK businesses operating in India. For an overview of the volume of UK business in India, you might want to read this report on UK investment creating Indian jobs. The Confederation of British Industry released this report in September at the India-UK Business Convention 2015. Additionally, the UKIBC has published a report on British business in India (September 2015) here. Through our meeting with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), we found out about this upcoming event in New Delhi on Illicit Trade – Threat to National Security and Economy on 15 January 2016. The topic is timely and of tremendous relevance worldwide; even more so for an emerging economy such as India. Keeping this mind, the UK IPO, in partnership with FICCI, supported the creation of a copyright enforcement toolkit to guide and assist the police in tackling the menace of counterfeiting. The toolkit has been widely promoted in cities including Lucknow, Pune, and Cuttack.

As the trip concluded, it was clear to us that IP will play a crucial role in the success of the Make in India campaign. A robust IP protection and enforcement framework will instill loads of confidence in Indian and foreign manufacturers alike. The recent draft national IP rights policy is a fine step in the right direction!