Indian patent filings lag behind global average

India lags behind the world average in patent filings, with its total number of filings by residents being just three per million people in its population, compared with the world average of 250, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization Patent Report: Statistics on Worldwide Patent Activity.

"The number of patents in force in India in 2004 was 6,406, while it was 182,385 in China, and the world average of patents in force in 2004 was 84,671, worked out on the basis of the world population (6,378 million), with the number of patents in force worldwide during 2004 being 5.4 million," according to the Indian federal ministry for commerce and industry.

The global patent numbers include those obtained in different countries for the same invention, therefore it is not possible to arrive at a conclusion on the proportion of patents in force in India vs. those in force worldwide. However, the number of patents in force in India was 6,857 in 2005, the ministry said in a statement.

The Indian government has in recent years tried to strengthen the processes that help create intellectual property rights with a scheme of modernization of intellectual property offices at a cost of nearly $40 million for infrastructure development, computerization, human resource development and training and awareness.

A National Institute of Intellectual Property Management is being set up in Nagpur in central India, with four regional offices and agreements reached with France, the United States, the U.K., the European Patent Office, Japan, Switzerland and Germany for cooperation in the field of intellectual property rights.