SME Times News Bureau | 13 Mar, 2018
Union
Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu Tuesday said that
India is one among the first countries in the world to support the
need for Intellectual Property Rights(IPR) especially in the
pharmaceutical sector.
Inaugurating
a
2 days National Conference on Counterfeiting and Role of Enforcement
Agencies in New Delhi, Suresh
Prabhu said
India
is fully committed to have Intellectual Property Rights in the
country and towards that end the Government of India enacted the
National IPR Policy 2016(NIPR Policy).
This
will stimulate innovation and creativity across sectors and will also
provide a clear vision regarding IPR issues, he
added.
The
Minister further elaborated the various initiatives of the Government
and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion(DIPP) under the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry like awareness initiatives for
citizens and business houses, strengthening of enforcement agencies,
sensitization of the judiciary, simplifying and streamlining of
processes for applying for patents and trademarks.
Speaking
at the event, Tomasz
Kozlowski, Ambassador of the European Union to India and Bhutan, said
that protection and enforcement of IPRs is crucial to creativity and
innovation.
In
the European Union, IPR incentive sectors account for 40% of the GDP.
European Union countries are some of the most innovative countries in
the world. Counterfeit and pirated goods account for 2.5 % of global
trade.
It
is in India’s interest to protect IPRs and to have more effective
law enforcement, he
said.