All you need to know about India's first IPR policy

Moneycontrol BureauIndia approved its first National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy on Thursday, where it laid down the roadmap for intellectual property in the country under the vision of having a creative and innovative nation.

Here is a primer explaining the policy.

What is Intellectual Property Rights?

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are legal rights, which result from intellectual invention, innovation and discovery in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields.

These rights entitle an individual or group to the moral and economic rights of creators in their creation.

What is a Copyright?

Copyright is a legal protection extended to the owner of the rights in an original work of creation. It protects expressions and not the ideas.

There is no copyright in an idea.

What is a Patent?

A patent is an exclusive right granted by a country to the owner of an invention to make, use, manufacture and market the invention, provided the invention satisfies certain conditions stipulated in the law.

What is the need of IPR?

IPR is required to safeguard creators and other producers of their intellectual commodity, goods and services by granting them certain time-limited rights to control the use made of the manufactured goods.

It gives protection to original ideas and avoids the commercial exploitation of the same.

What are the key points in India’s first IPR policy?

The IPR policy sets in place an institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring and review.

It aims to incorporate and adapt global best practices to the Indian scenario.

It reiterates India’s commitment to the Doha Development Agenda and the TRIPS (The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement.

What are the main objectives of this policy?

The policy lays down seven objectives:

To create public awareness about the economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society.To stimulate the generation of IPRs.

To have strong and effective IPR laws, which balance the interests of rights owners with larger public interest.

To modernise and strengthen service-oriented IPR administration.

Get value for IPRs through commercialisation.

To strengthen the enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms for combating IPR infringements.

To strengthen and expand human resources, institutions and capacities for teaching, training, research and skill building in IPRs.Compiled by Sidhartha Shukla