Context:
- The US Chamber of Commerce’s intellectual property rights advocacy arm, Global Innovation Policy Centre, has released Intellectual Property Index.
- The index ranks economies based on 40 unique indicators that benchmark activity critical to innovation development surrounding patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets protection.
Top performer:
- The US tops the list with 37.98 points, followed by United Kingdom (37.97) and Sweden (37.03).
- New Delhi, however, gives no formal recognition to such rankings and has in the past even dismissed criticism heaped on its IPR regime by the US government as part of its annual US 301 report.
India’s Stand:
- India has improved its performance both in relative and absolute terms. The index showed that India ranked 44th of 50 economies — a jump from 43rd of 45 economies one year ago — improving its performance both in relative and absolute terms.
- For the first time, India has broken free of the bottom 10% of economies measured, and its score represents the largest percentage improvement of any country measured. This is further evidence of a country on the move.
- India improved its score as it passed guidelines to strengthen the patentability environment for technological innovations, improved the protection of well-known marks, and initiated IP awareness and coordination programs, thereby implementing some tenets of the 2016 National IPR Policy.
Source:TH