Business Economic & services Team (BEST)
India -US IPR War Awaits Obama Modi Mediation
A lot of debate, informed and ill - informed, is happening on the India-US stand off in the IPR regime. There are accusations and counter accusations from both countries. Happily, the severest of the criticisms from either side are couched in diplomatic niceties, unlike the bilateral talk between India and Pakistan, where the words and phrases are intimidating and used by both sides to hit each other below the belt.
The latest to join the fray is Intel, with a clear warning that India should protect the trade secrets, ostensibly telling that the findings of their research laboratory situated in Bangalore should be protected from theft either by their own employees or by the regulatory authorities, who can stealthily divulge the secrets when mandatory filings are made. If one wants to read in between the lines, the allegation is very serious. It has two imports. One, the government is soft on those who commit the theft. Instead of sending the thief to bird (jail), they seem to have a field day by not invoking criminal proceedings against them. The second allegation is more sinister and that they openly proclaim that they do not have any faith in the credibility of the the Indian regulatory system, which tends to leak out the research findings, which can be worth billions of dollars.
Intel is one among the long array of complainants of the IPR regime in India. A few days back, pharmaceutical companies have made similar allegations, followed by electronics and telecom majors. Thankfully, two important segments, which are happy with Indian IPR regime are food processing and aviation sectors. It seems that they have informed the USTR their appreciation and satisfaction about India's IPR regime in writing to USTR.
Now let us analyze why all on a sudden the Indian media is agog with stories on IPR, some of them seem to give the impression to the discerning readers that they are outright plants by vested interests. ( I refrain from telling that they are planted by the companies themselves). The US companies feel that the forthcoming visit t of President Obama will provide an ideal platform for thrashing out the rough edges in the India's IPR regime.
In the given milieu, what happening is inadequate orchestration of India's concerns on IPRs. There is a real threat from the US by misappropriating India's traditional knowledge and copy rights on certain segments like music, entertainment etc. It is being said that the Bollywood films and music are freely available in the grey market in the US. Also, medicinal properties of Indian herbs and plants, contained in the ancient books of India are used widely by the US companies to evolve new medicines, which are marketed widely.
It is significant to note that the assurances that are coming forth from the Indian authorities are vague and are couched in hyperbolas. For instance, the stock answer from the official sources in India against the unilateral decisions imposed by the US is that the issue would be discussed at the Innovation & Creativity Focus Group, set up between the two countries and a decision would be taken only after that . Some of the social activists have expressed the opinion that the government was buckling under the US pressure and threatened that any amendments to the IPR Act would have severe backlash.
There is no denial that there will be irritants in a dynamic and growing trade relationship. These have to be addressed and resolved in the spirit of give and take. India has a lot of concerns while doing business with the US. The foremost is the visa issues. The second issue is relating to large amount of unclaimed money vested with the US by way of social security tax imposed on Indians who have short stay in the US. The third issue is the one relating to transfer of state-of-the-art technologies to India. Across the discussion table, these issues have to be discussed along with the US concerns and agreement arrived.
India -US IPR War Awaits Obama Modi Mediation
A lot of debate, informed and ill - informed, is happening on the India-US stand off in the IPR regime. There are accusations and counter accusations from both countries. Happily, the severest of the criticisms from either side are couched in diplomatic niceties, unlike the bilateral talk between India and Pakistan, where the words and phrases are intimidating and used by both sides to hit each other below the belt.
The latest to join the fray is Intel, with a clear warning that India should protect the trade secrets, ostensibly telling that the findings of their research laboratory situated in Bangalore should be protected from theft either by their own employees or by the regulatory authorities, who can stealthily divulge the secrets when mandatory filings are made. If one wants to read in between the lines, the allegation is very serious. It has two imports. One, the government is soft on those who commit the theft. Instead of sending the thief to bird (jail), they seem to have a field day by not invoking criminal proceedings against them. The second allegation is more sinister and that they openly proclaim that they do not have any faith in the credibility of the the Indian regulatory system, which tends to leak out the research findings, which can be worth billions of dollars.
Intel is one among the long array of complainants of the IPR regime in India. A few days back, pharmaceutical companies have made similar allegations, followed by electronics and telecom majors. Thankfully, two important segments, which are happy with Indian IPR regime are food processing and aviation sectors. It seems that they have informed the USTR their appreciation and satisfaction about India's IPR regime in writing to USTR.
Now let us analyze why all on a sudden the Indian media is agog with stories on IPR, some of them seem to give the impression to the discerning readers that they are outright plants by vested interests. ( I refrain from telling that they are planted by the companies themselves). The US companies feel that the forthcoming visit t of President Obama will provide an ideal platform for thrashing out the rough edges in the India's IPR regime.
In the given milieu, what happening is inadequate orchestration of India's concerns on IPRs. There is a real threat from the US by misappropriating India's traditional knowledge and copy rights on certain segments like music, entertainment etc. It is being said that the Bollywood films and music are freely available in the grey market in the US. Also, medicinal properties of Indian herbs and plants, contained in the ancient books of India are used widely by the US companies to evolve new medicines, which are marketed widely.
It is significant to note that the assurances that are coming forth from the Indian authorities are vague and are couched in hyperbolas. For instance, the stock answer from the official sources in India against the unilateral decisions imposed by the US is that the issue would be discussed at the Innovation & Creativity Focus Group, set up between the two countries and a decision would be taken only after that . Some of the social activists have expressed the opinion that the government was buckling under the US pressure and threatened that any amendments to the IPR Act would have severe backlash.
There is no denial that there will be irritants in a dynamic and growing trade relationship. These have to be addressed and resolved in the spirit of give and take. India has a lot of concerns while doing business with the US. The foremost is the visa issues. The second issue is relating to large amount of unclaimed money vested with the US by way of social security tax imposed on Indians who have short stay in the US. The third issue is the one relating to transfer of state-of-the-art technologies to India. Across the discussion table, these issues have to be discussed along with the US concerns and agreement arrived.
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