ITAG Blog

ITAG’s motto is “You invent and We prevent, You invent and We invest”. In today’s world human resource and the intellectual resource play a prime role in creating value of an organization and also of a nation. There was a time when natural resources used to be the prime resource because agriculture was the only means of livelihood. Gradually the society invented new technologies and with that industrial revolution started which made the capital resources more important.

The process of invention and innovation continues and today in the 21st century, knowledge plays the predominant role and as a result human resource pre-occupies maximum space in the pie of global economic resources. According to a World Bank study the ratio of the economic resources are as: HUMAN RESOURCES-64, NATURAL RESOURCES-20 and CAPITAL RESOURCES-16. This shows the reversal of the importance of Capital Resource which is now marginalized to a low of one-fourth in its weightage in proportion to the human resource.

Therefore today, the countries and the corporates having rich human resource with dedicated research and innovation can only maintain and retain their position in the global economy. This situation underlines the importance of research, invention, and innovation on the one hand and its protection and enforcement on the other hand. It is also noteworthy that the economic growth of a country can be accelerated exponentially on sustainable basis with improved technology which increases the overall productivity of the available resources. Capital resources and natural resources can only help a linear growth in the economy as against the intellectual resources which can give exponential growth.

Intellectual Property Rights give rise to an intangible asset which is tradable like any other tangible commodities. This has necessitated creation of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) under the legal framework of World Trade Organisation (WTO). The harmonious legal structure of IP laws at global level has enabled free flow of foreign direct investment and transfer of technology across the globe and thereby increased level of integration of economic activities. The need of the hour is to develop environment friendly technology which can not only save this earth from CO2 and GHG emission but also promote a sustainable energy security to the global community under the clean development mechanisms. There is a well known saying that necessity is the mother of invention but it should not become the other way round and greed should not precede the invention to provoke demand under the influence of the market dominated consumerism.

IP management and IP maintenance are at the core of creating value and providing safety to the intangible wealth. The days are not very far when intangible knowledge banks will be in market place to manage intangible wealth and the unit monetary value of IP will be a product to be lent (or to be Licensed) and will expand the market potentiality of new IP products as such IP Insurance, IP Collateralization, IP Securitization for which IP exchanges will gain more priorities.
It is in this broader perspective that ITAG has been established as a single window service and a gateway to innovation and technology. ITAG understands the possibilities and potentiality of various kinds of IP services including IP Valuation and Commercialization. IP awareness is one of the prime need of the hour for unlocking the hidden value of the intangible wealth in India and at the global level. Global IP Convention, 2011 is a step in this direction and reflects the dedicated designs and efforts as part of the strategy to provide a platform for optimizing and leveraging the value of Intellectual Property.

Competition law puts a break in the monopolistic trend of the market economy while intellectual property laws allows monopoly in the technological and innovation field for a limited period as a token of reward to the creative skill of the human being. However, a trade off is necessary between the two laws and for that reason section 140 of the Indian Patent Act 1970 prohibits certain conditions in the technology transfer agreement which are of monopolistic in nature. On the other hand section 3(5) of the Indian Competition Act 2002 allows reasonable conditions to the monopolistic and restrictive trade practices on the basis of the protections allowed under all different IP Laws for copyrights, trademark, design and patent laws. However, the competition law does not define as to what are the reasonable conditions and therefore its meaning has to be derived from the decided case laws and the interpretations available from various statutes.

The Indian Competition Act which was enacted in 2002 and amended in 2007, is being brought into force in a phased manner, primarily to regulate the following:

• Anti-competitive Agreements (Section 3); (effective from 20th May, 2009)

• Abuse of Dominant Position; (Section 4); (effective from 20th May, 2009) and

• Combinations (Section 4 & 5); (effective from 1st June 2011)

There are provisions in the international conventions and in the WTO framework to deal with monopolistic practices. For example: Article 3 (k) of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) allows member countries to deal with anti-competitive practices while granting compulsory licensing to the local manufacturers on such terms and conditions as it deems fit. There are similar provisions in Article 40 of the TRIPS Agreement which allows member countries to regulate the licensing practices or conditions pertaining to IPR which restrain competition and which impede the transfer and dissemination of technology.

However, in the present world, where the technology and innovation is moving at a fast speed, it becomes difficult for the laws and the jurisprudence to keep pace with the changes in the technology. The recent controversy arising out of the Google Book Settlement case of setting up of a Universal Digital Library as decided by the US Circuit Judge on March 22, 2011 by disapproving the amended settlement agreement (ASA) between Google Inc. and the Author’s Guild consisting of copyright owners of several books from around the world is an eye opener.

The issue of counterfeiting and piracy of IP rights in the music industry has become very challenging and threatens the very existence of the IP owners’ legal rights especially due to advancement of digital technology.

There are 18 subcategories under the broad category of Digital Technology namely: Digital Audio, Broadband, Digital Broadcasting, Computing, Digital Media, Digital Press, Digital Display Connectors, Electronic Publishing, Digital Electronics, Digital movie cameras, Digital Photography, Digital Radio, Software-defined, Radio, Digital subscriber line, Digital Systems, Digital Television, Digital typography, Digital Video Recorders. Digitized information is recorded in binary code of combinations of the digits 0 and 1, also called bits, which represent words and images. America’s antitrust laws were born out of the industrial revolution. Opponents of the antitrust laws argue that whatever merits the antitrust laws may have had in the past they have no place in a digital economy. Rapid innovation makes the accumulation of market power practically impossible.

Information Technology Act, 2000 do provide for certain relief against cyber crimes but it remains ineffective in practical scene to deal with the problem. There is a need for awareness and severe punishment with the cooperation of each nation to deal with the menace of counterfeiting and piracy.

Therefore there is a need for convergence of technologies especially in the digital market, the antitrust regulations, IP Laws, the innovators on the one hand and the law enforcing agencies on the other hand.