More startups going for patents

The startups in India are increasingly going for patenting their ideas and businesses. The importance of filing patent among the startups has also grownin the last two years.

Binod Singh, director of Einfolge Technologies Pvt Ltd, one of the global leaders in Patent & IPR and market research solutions, said that the country has witnessed a surge of 10% in IPR filings last year. “As per the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the number of recognised startups are 6,096 till January 4, 2018, out of which 970 startups have filed for patent applications so far,” he said.

However, Singh feels that the hesitancy to file a patent, still remains in the most of the startup companies, which needs to be dealt with utmost priority. “Registering a company or business name under the companies Act does not give protection against others, who might commence using identical or similar marks,” he said.

Singh pointed out that filing of patents not only increases the credibility of the startup at the time of scale up but also bolsters the support of the investors. “It also gives the right to stop others from making, using, selling and importing without permission of the company.”

Describing the history of IPR filings in India, the Einforge director said the startups were negligent about filing patents in the initial stages. But after the Patent Amendment Rule was introduced in May 2016, the startups were provided with a slew of benefits.

Under the scheme for Startups Intellectual Property Protection, the startups were granted benefit of up to 80% rebate in patent fees and free legal assistance. The government also reduced the tenure to 18 months for budding business units to avail the expedited examination of their patent applications.

Raghav Kanoria, founder of Neoleap Business Accelerator, pointed out that each startup has its unique system. “It is essential to block the leakage of intellectual information if a startup is to prosper in our country,” he added.

There has to be special IPR laws for startups, he observed.