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IPAB to provide fast-track mechanism for trademarks

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, July 21

THE establishment of an Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) is expected to provide a fast-track mechanism in the appellate procedures relating to appeal against the orders of the competent authority initially in the trademark sphere and later in other intellectual property offices.

The IPAB will associate with experts from the legal and technical fields and provide consistency in the judicial decisions apart from an expeditious resolution of issues.

At present, appeals lie only before the High Courts and there have been many conflicting decisions and delays. This was stated by Mr A.E. Ahmad, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, at a semin ar on `Protecting your trademarks in India and abroad', jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in cooperation with World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and Department of Industrial Policy and Pr omotion (DIPP), here on Friday.

Mr Ahmad said that DIPP is implementing a project of over Rs 8 crore relating to modernisation of the trademark registry and its branches. A modern registry for geographical indications has been set up in Chennai and is expected to commence work soon.

These offices will adopt work processes based on the application of information technology in administrative process, he said.

The Joint Secretary also said that there are at present nearly 2,42,000 registered trademarks in India. Of these, approximately 15 per cent or nearly 35,000 are of foreign origin.

The Trademarks Registry including its branches receives over 60,000 applications every year. In the last decade, following the initiation of the liberalisation of the economy, the interest in protecting trademarks has further increased, he said adding th at applications have increased from 42,723 in 1995 to over 66,000 in 2000.

In the same period, the registrations increased from 5,300 to over 14,000 during the last year.

With the implementation of several measures over the past few years, the average period of examination of trademarks has reduced from seven to five years, Mr Ahmad said. However, though the increase in the number of registrations is a matter of some sati sfaction, there are still nearly 2.80 lakh pending applications, which is extremely high, he said.

Although countries with a common law system provide legal protection for unregistered trademarks, a legislation on trademarks provides specific and direct relief to the IPR holder, he said.

Under a Plan-funded project, the Government is undertaking a project to reduce the pendency of unexamined applications. Further, 20 new examiners are being appointed on a contractual basis for a period of two years.

Trademarks Registry has also been strengthened by additional 16 posts at different levels to improve the quality of service, he said. WIPO is extending technical support as a follow up of an earlier expert mission, two experts for a period of 12 weeks co mmencing from the end of this month.