Thursday, 25th April 2002
The Business Standard,Kolkata
India is not ready to take advantage of the Intellectual Protection Rights (IPR) regime, said Prabuddha Ganguli, a leading IPR consultant in the country.
Addressing a lecture on ‘IPR an imperative engine for growth’, organised by consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), Ganguli Said, ‘Neither has India been able to take stock of resources nor could create an appropriate legal framework to address IPR issues, In the era dominated by WTO, India should look into its potential and try to protect its IPR by enacting proper legislative measures.’
Chairing the discussion, Ashish Ghosh of Centre for Environment & Development said, the Indian government should take steps to utilise its human resources and strengthen the country’s system so that keeping obligation to TRIPS or any other agreements to WTO is less painful.
He also mentioned that although ‘neem’, ‘haldi’ and basmati are much talked about, there were only 65 items on which patents have been taken.
According to Ganguli, the necessity of IPR becomes a reality if one thinks in terms of zero tariffs. ‘In the ear of globalisation, while the whole world is coming under unified market concept, if all tariffs are brought down to zero then knowledge becomes only trade differentiator’ he said.