Mumbai: The rush for patents in India among foreign-owned and large Indian companies in the world’s second fastest growing major economy is not new. But as scores of firms and individuals scramble to get protection for their technologies and products, what is coming to light is the cosy relationship between patent controllers, the Indian government officials who decide whether or not to grant a patent, and patent “agents” filing applications for patents.
While it is difficult to prove specific wrongdoing in patents being granted, a Mint investigation, activists seeking transparency in India’s patent granting process as well as a report by an Austrian government entity all point to a nexus between government officials and private law firms that point to significant conflicts of interest and favouritism in the patent granting process.
Most of the 20 or so people Mint spoke to for this in-depth look at India’s patent granting process would only speak if they were not identified or if their information was used as background. Almost all the law firms named in this story declined to comment on specific questions posed by Mint.
These patent agents, often large and established law firms, who file some 90% of the patent applications in India’s four patent offices—in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai—have nurtured relationships in each office and are very powerful in this commercially crucial department.
The rush in demand for patents in India has its roots in a 2004 amendment to India’s Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) law that added a few industries, such as agro-chemicals, food and drugs, to a product patent regime. It threw up an opportunity for companies— including foreign-owned ones —to patent their products in India, which, with its 1.1 billion-plus people, offers a significant domestic market for these firms.
This has in turn put professional patent filing services offered by the law firms, specializing in intellectual property law, in high demand.
“More than 80% of our clients are multinational companies, who want to file national phase applications in India,” said a senior patent attorney at DePenning and DePenning, a Kolkata-based law firm that has a strong practice in Chennai, a key city because of its patent office. The attorney did not want to be named.
Also seeAgent muscle?
De Penning is not alone.
There are at least a dozen law firms, including Remfry and Sagar, DP Ahuja and Co., Anand and Anand, RK Dewan and Co., among others, that serve a significantly large clientele base of foreign-owned firms for patent filing in India.
According to V. Rangasamy, assistant controller of patents and designs at Chennai, a majority of foreign patent applications filed in the Chennai patent office is through De Penning.
A patent official in Mumbai also notes that “there are two or three law firms, including Remfry and RK Dewan, (who) file (a) large chunk of corporate applications here”.
Patents logjam