The centre has proposed an idea to slash the fees pertaining to various intellectual property rights namely patents and designs for micro, small and medium enterprises and startups to promote innovation, said the Commerce and Industry Ministry.
An individual, group or industry are mandated to pay fees at different levels of intellectual property rights (IPR) application fillings.
According to the proposal, fees for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and startups for filing of patent applications will be brought down to Rs 1,600 or Rs 1,750 from Rs 4,000 or Rs 4,400.
For a swift examination, it will be condensed to Rs 8,000 from Rs 25,000 currently. Similarly, for renewal of patents, the fees will be reduced.
For design applications filing, fees for MSMEs and startups will be dropped to Rs 1,000 from Rs 2,000, the ministry said.
For Geographical Indications (GI), fees was recommended to be nil for filing of application, issuance of certificate and renewal of GI from the current Rs 500, Rs 100 and Rs 1,000, respectively.
It also notified that domestic filing for patents has inflated from 22 per cent in 2013-14 to 34 per cent in 2018-19.
“Awareness programmes for IP are being conducted at schools, colleges, universities, R&D institutes and industry clusters,” it said.
The futuristic strategies have been put in place to address the menace of pendency in IP applications, namely manifold augmentation of manpower and streamlining of procedures, it added.
