On Friday, 24 October 2014, India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) announced the creation of an IPR Think Tank to Draft National Intellectual Property Rights Policy.
The composition of the think tank follows:
Justice Prabha Sridevan, Chairperson, IPR Think Tank;
Ms. Pratibha Singh, Advocate, Singh & Singh Associates, Member;
Ms. Punita Bhargava, Advocate, Inventure IP, Member;
Dr. Unnat Pandit, Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited, Member;
Shri Rajeev Srinivasan, Director, Asian School of Business, Thiruvananthapuram, Member; and
Shri Narendra K. Sabarwal, Retired DDG, WIPO, Member and Convener.
The Chairperson of this IPR Think Tank, Justice Prabha Sridevan, was a former Chairperson of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (2011-2013) and a former justice of the Madras High Court. Narendra Sabharwal is a former Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property and currently the chair of the IPR committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
The terms of reference of the IPR Think Tank are:
- To draft National Intellectual Property Rights Policy.
- To identify areas in the IPRs where study needs to be conducted and to furnish recommendations in this regard to the Ministry.
- To provide views on the possible implications of demands placed by the negotiating partners.
- To keep the Government regularly informed about the developments taking place in IPR cases which have an impact upon India’s IPR Policy.
- To advise the Government on best practices to be followed in Trademark Offices, Patent Offices and other Government Offices dealing with IPR in order to create an efficient and transparent system of functioning in the said offices.
- To prepare periodic reports on best practice followed in foreign countries.
- To highlight anomalies in the present IPR legislations and to advice possible solutions to the Ministry.
- To give suggestions on the steps that may be taken for improving infrastructure in IP offices and Tribunals.
- To examine the current issues raised by industry associations and those that may have appeared in media and to give suggestions to the Ministry on such issues.