Roadmap to Promote IPR in Telecom Sector: DoT
Recently, the Department of Telecommunications is considering a strategic roadmap to promote Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in the telecom sector.
Reasons for promotion of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Telecom Sector:
- India’s share in the global supply chain of telecom equipment is less than 1%.
- It takes 5-8 years to grant a telecom patent in India. Whereas in America it takes 1-2 years and in China it takes only 3 years.
- India does not have a publicly accessible India Patent Database for the telecom sector, which even startups can access.
Proposed Road Map:
- Sovereign Patent Fund: In this way, there is a plan to collect patents from domestic companies, and present them collectively abroad. Also, obtaining patent licenses for the country for critical technologies such as 5G and 6G.
- Bharat Technology Bank: Under this, there is a plan to give Indian patents to needy countries on payment of nominal fee. The objective behind this is to create diplomatic goodwill, and help Indian companies to access new markets.
- Digicom Intellectual Property Management Board: Plans to facilitate IPR licensing, IP management and arbitrate on issues related to Standard Mandatory Patent (SEP) in India. SEP protects the core technologies of the telecommunications industry such as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, etc.
Benefits for the Telecom Sector:
- This strategy will help in making the Indian telecom sector internationally competitive.
- It will encourage investment in expansion of technological capabilities through R&D.
Source – The Hindu
