We Can Clear the Patent Backlog Within Next Two Years

India moved to the product patent regime – which allowed patents for innovations for a period of 20 years in tune with international norms – in 2005. Patent-related activities surged dramatically as the Indian Patent Law was amended to make it fully compliant with TRIPS (TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). But the government’s poor infrastructure to process and grant patents, thereby causing prolonged delays – as long as seven years, in some cases – has been a subject of criticism. O.P. Gupta, India’s Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks, tells P.B. Jayakumar about his mission to streamline the processes and protocols in order to bring Indian patent offices on a par with international standards by 2018. Edited excerpts:

- O.P. Gupta

Despite the changes brought in to strengthen India’s patent regime, there are inordinate delays in granting patents. What’s being done?

It is true that we took time for creating the necessary infrastructure, computerisation, database upgrade, setting up IT facilities and hiring adequate technical manpower to deal with the enhanced filings post 2005. Until two years ago, we only had 130 patent examiners spread across the four patent offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. In the past few years, new filings have been in the range of 43,000 to 46,000 a year; but we could examine only 18,000-20,000 applications a year. That is because a patent examiner cannot process more than 12-15 new applications a month. This added to the huge backlog that dates back to 2008/09.

If this pendency in examination and processing continues, it will become unmanageable and go out of control, leading to collapse of the Indian patent system. That was why we decided to streamline and modernise IP offices in phases and bring back normalcy by 2018. Special emphasis was given on recruitment of examiners and controllers, computerisation and ITenablement of patent offices.