Business   

e-filing of patents applications launched

Special Correspondent

NIC develops modules; India joins the elite club

— PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM

PAPERLESS OFFICE: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kamal Nath (right), with the Minister of State for Industry, Ashwini Kumar (left), launching the e-filing of Patent and Trademark Applications in New Delhi on Friday.

NEW DELHI: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath on Friday launched the e-filing of patent and trademark applications at a function organised here by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

Mr. Kamal Nath said that with the launch of e-filing facilities, applicants would now be able to file their patent and trademark applications from anywhere in the world at any time at their convenience through Internet.

Payments could be made through the payment gateway of authorised bankers and this would save time and money as also the hassles involved in visiting and filing applications in the offices.

At present, there are only about a dozen countries which have e-filing facilities and India now gets into this elite group of countries such as the U.S., Japan, South Korea, China and the European Patent Office.

Dwelling on the future initiatives in this regard, Mr. Kamal Nath noted that the next step would be to make the Indian Patent Office (IPO) an international search authority (ISA) and an international preliminary examining authority (IPEA) under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

The application for this, he said, would be filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) this month itself. While the modules for e-filing and on-line processing had been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the payment gateway was now provided by State Bank of India. With the launch of the e-filing facility, the first phase of the modernisation drive comes to an end.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

3 entities to handle pension funds
Stronger rupee dents Satyam’s net profit
e-filing of patents applications launched
Nokia forms SEZ Park Society
Stress on new role for NABARD
Working capital shortage plagues Dunlop’s revival plans
Kamal Nath wins FT Group award
Pulp and paper association presents grim picture
Lockheed Martin eyeing Indian market
Rupee ends higher
SBT invites entries for awards
Concessions for coir sector
‘Kisan Sena’ to open supermarkets
Sensex pares early gains
$4.1 b rise in forex reserves
Inflation unchanged at 4.27 p.c.
MMTC to import cement
Steel panel for studying investments
Ambuja Cements sales rise 11 p.c.
Exide net surges in first quarter
Jump in Ennore Foundries net profit
Voltas first quarter profit rises
Sundaram Brake quarterly sales at Rs. 46 cr.
Kavveri Telecom’s net up

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu