August 2008: The globalised system of international trade, investment, technology transfer and cross border supply of capital is embedded under a legal framework which is under the process of harmonisation through several international agencies like WTO, WIPO and WCO (World Customs Organisation). Intellectual property rights are broadly guided by the principles and regulations contained in Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) under WTO legal framework. However, there are several other conventions and treaties under WIPO in the form of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks and Hague convention for industrial designs.

International filing of patent and trademark, design and copyrights are becoming easier through various conventions enumerated above. India is a member of most of these conventions under WTO and WIPO with respect to different kinds of IPRs. The PCT route helps an inventor to claim priority of his invention in almost 1 38 countries, with an option to register patent in select countries under national phase. One can opt for PCT application after filing a patent application with Indian Patent Office or the respective country of origin if the inventor happens to be resident outside India. Similarly one can file patent application with European Patent Office (EPO) and then choose for any select countries within the European Union (EU) simply by paying Annual Maintenance Charges without undergoing the rigours of registration procedure in individual member countries of the EU. ITAG has a specialized team with expert knowledge and a network of foreign associates for filing PCT application for international patent registrations as also for international trademark registration.

ITAG believes that Intellectual Property needs to be managed as we need to manage our physical assets and financial assets. There are several myths about Intellectual Property such as: (i) I hold patent for my invention and my patent is valid throughout the world as I have duly registered it with Indian Patent Office. (ii) My patent is valid for 20 years and I don't require any annual maintenance for the full 20 years life of that patent. (iii) I have registered my trade name and logo with Indian Trademark Office and I hold it for life. None of these self assumed claims are right. There is nothing called global patent and one needs to register patent in each individual country and needs to pay annual renewal fees for 20 years life of the patent. Similarly one has to renew trademark every 10 years and has to register it in each individual country for its protection. ITAG team manages your Intellectual Property just like mutual fund manages your financial wealth and helps in getting proper return from technology and brand by Intellectual Property Commercialisation and several other tools of Intellectual Property.

--Dr. D. R. Agarwal