Expert body needed to document intellectual property, says judge

Expert body needed to document intellectual property, says judge
The Hindu

DHARWAD: Judge of the Karnataka High Court N. Kumar on Saturday said an expert body should be set up to document intellectual property in the country which is yet to be exploited.

Delivering the keynote address at the inauguration of the two-day State-level seminar on "Perspectives in intellectual property rights" organised by JSS Sakri Law College at SDM Dental College here, Mr. Kumar said: "We have intellectual property in abundance which has to be tapped. For this, the Government and corporate houses should invest in research and development of products that have potential for global commerce."

Steps have to be taken to register such products under the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.

TRIPS

Mr. Kumar spoke at length about the TRIPS agreement. The agreement establishes international standards for intellectual property protection. TRIPS provides an important linkage between intellectual property rights protection and trade portions. A key feature of TRIPS is the obligation it places on WTO members to effectively enforce intellectual property rights, he said.

"TRIPS mandates a uniform term of 20 years from the date of filing of the patent application, irrespective of whether the invention is a product or a process. But the extension of the period of patent protection is going to be disadvantageous to the Indian industry considering the fact that the majority of the patents taken in India are by foreigners, that too in sectors where we have the potential to grow," Mr. Kumar said.

D. Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala and chairman of Janata Shikshana Samiti, Dharwad, who presided over the function, hoped that the deliberations will help students.

Veena Madhav Tonapi, principal of the college; N. Vajrakumar, secretary of the samiti; Subhas Joshi, vice-chairman, JSS; and others were present.

K. Satish Babu, seminar coordinator, proposed a vote of thanks.