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A record number of scientific inventions have been patented in the country during the last
financial year. The tally of patents is nearly twice that of the year
before.
The controller general of patents' office granted a total 15,261 patents in 2007-08 as against 7,539
granted in 2006-07. This is a 11-fold rise compared to the tally five
years ago.
This includes 977 product patents allotted in pharmaceutical sector up to March 2008. Patenting of
pharma products was allowed after an amendment in the Patents Act in
2005. The uptrend in patenting inventions has continued. The
controller general of patents has granted around 6,000 patents in the
first quarter of the current year, said senior official in the
ministry of commerce.
However, this does not mean that scientific research has taken off in the country in a big way. Most
of the patents granted in the country are of foreign origin. Of the
total 15,261 patents registered in 2007-08, as many as 13,844 were of
foreign origin.
Only 1,417 domestic inventions were patented. In 2006-07 too, 5,632 foreign patents were granted as
against 1,907 domestic patents, said the official. Thus there was a
significant decline in domestic patents. The previous years also
showed only a modest growth in domestic patents.
The growth in number of patents is so large because of chemical and drug patents being registered in the
country. In 2007-08, 4,071 patents where from the chemicals category
and 1,469 were drugs, said the official. (Source: The Times of India)
August 18, 2008
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