The US Chamber of Commerce has released its 4th annual International IP Index -Infinite Possibilities- which measured the IP environment in India alongside 37 other economies. The Chamber has placed India at number 37 out of the 38 countries analysed with regard to international best practices, with only Venezuela scoring lower.
The index, produced by the Chamber’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), found that India’s score was largely unchanged while blaming that the patent protection in India remains outside of international best practices. Indian law does not provide adequate enforcement mechanisms to effectively combat online piracy.
India’s overall score decreased to 7.05 from 7.23 in the previous edition. The report noted that this decrease was driven by the introduction of the Global Measure of Physical Counterfeiting in the current edition, in which India was ranked 7.
Source Business Standard
Among the weaknesses cited in India’s IP environment are,
- Lack of specific IP rights for the life sciences sector
- Lack of challenging enforcement environment
- India is not a contracting party to any of the international treaties that are included in the Index.
- India is yet to conclude a free trade agreement.
