Cabinet approves National IPR Policy: Jaitley

New Delhi:  With a view to promoting creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, the union cabinet has approved the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy which seeks to safeguard trademark identities, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday. "India's intellectual property laws are comprehensive and WTO compliant. The implementation of the new intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy will not require any changes in law," Jaitley told reporters here while informing them about the cabinet decision taken at a meeting on Thursday. He said the new policy has been prepared based on the recommendation of an expert group appointed by the Department of Industrial Policy Promotion (DIPP) which was again examined and studied in details by a group of secretaries. The policy, which seeks to encourage "inventability" in various sectors including pharma, music and literature, will, henceforth, be monitored and supervised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and not the HRD ministry as was done in some cases earlier, he said. "The new IPR policy will have seven basic objectives," he said adding that it will also create adequate public awareness, administration, enforcement and adjudication on the IPR laws. "One most important feature will be the development of human capital," Jaitley said. The enforcement of the new policy will help ensure that "from 2017 onwards, it will take only one month to register a trade mark". Answering questions especially with regard to pharma sector, the finance minister said: "Indian model is legal, equitable and WTO compliant". Jaitley underlined that "balancing of patent laws with health considerations" will be essential to keep drug prices affordable. In many countries drug prices have gone up, he said adding "life saving drugs" ought to be made available to the citizens at an affordable costs. "The objective of policy is to create awareness about economic,social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society," Jaitley said. To a question on the United States' concerns about India's IPR regime, Jaitley said: "Monopolies are loved by those who own them but any country is entitled to concerned about their interest."