Intellectual property rights (IPR) are legal rights that protect creations such as inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols used in commerce. Intellectual property rights (IPR) have attracted considerable attention over the past few decades as the global economy has shifted towards innovation-driven growth. These rights help inventors gain control over how their work is used. The main types of these rights include patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, industrial designs, and geographical indications. These rights give creators exclusive control over their creations for a certain period of time. World Intellectual Property Day is observed annually on April 26. “It is celebrated to raise awareness of how patents, copyrights, trademarks, and designs impact everyday life.
In 2000, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) designated April 26 as World Intellectual Property Day. The 2025 celebration will focus on intellectual property and music. The aim is to explore how rights and innovation policies in the music industry empower creators and entrepreneurs to bring fresh ideas to the music industry, and to protect the work of songwriters, composers, and performers.
Intellectual property (IP) provides individuals and businesses with a range of benefits, including legal protection, competitive advantage, revenue opportunities, attracting investment, fostering innovation and creativity, economic growth, global recognition, expansion, and personal identity. In 2023, China became the world’s largest IP holder, surpassing the United States in terms of the number of patent grants and applications. In the International Intellectual Property Index, the United States The United States leads the index with a score of 95.48%, followed by the United Kingdom and France. Developed countries dominate in acquiring more intellectual property rights (IPRs) due to some key reasons linked to their economic, educational and technological advantages.
To maintain their intellectual property (IP) dominance, they rely on policy influence on global intellectual property (IP) rules through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, as well as strong research and development (R&D) investment, advanced education, innovation systems, strong legal & intellectual property infrastructure, knowledge-based economy, resources and a global business strategy.
Looking at India’s performance, India remains at 42nd place with a score of 38.64%. This indicates a stable intellectual property framework, India ranks 6th globally in patent filings with 64,480 applications. India ranks 4th globally in trademark filings, a 6.1% increase over the previous year. This indicates the growing emphasis on India’s brand. In the financial year 2023-24, the Indian Patent Office granted over 1 lakh patents, a significant increase over the previous year. Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in India have historically lagged behind developed countries for economic, legal, educational and cultural reasons. India invests a relatively low percentage of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in research and development, at 0.7%. This is around 2–3% in developed countries. Despite India’s presence of top-notch institutions (like IITs, IISc), the overall ecosystem for innovation and IPR awareness is uneven.
The process of filing IPRs in India is complex, resource-intensive and time-consuming. Long waiting times for patent approvals and weak enforcement reduce the incentive to file IPRs. Registration of intellectual property rights, especially international filing of patents, is expensive. Lack of awareness of the value of intellectual property rights, even among students and professionals, is a shortcoming. India’s economy is driven more by services (such as IT, outsourcing consulting) than by high-tech product innovation. India has faced criticism internationally, especially from countries like the US, over its intellectual property policies.
To enhance the intellectual property ecosystem in the country, the Government of India in 2016 brought all the intellectual property rights under a single vision document and set up an institutional mechanism for monitoring and review of the implementation of intellectual property rights laws. Some key initiatives were launched in 2016 such as the Startups Intellectual Property Protection Scheme (SIPP) to facilitate startups in filing and processing their patent, design or trademark applications. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has appointed IPR Chair Professors in higher education institutions to promote the study, education, research and awareness of intellectual property rights in 38 universities including prestigious institutions like National Law Universities and Indian Institutes of Technology.
The Intellectual Property Rights Sarathi chatbot has been designed to provide instant support and guidance to users on the processes of registration/grant of intellectual property rights. National Intellectual Property Awards are given annually in 13 categories to recognize and encourage effective enforcement of intellectual property rights in India. Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024 have been notified to facilitate patent acquisition. To improve the ecosystem of intellectual property rights, fee concessions have been given to encourage startups to protect their IP. Startups and small enterprises are being given fee concession of up to 80% in patents, 50% in trademarks and 75% in designs. Since intellectual property plays a vital role in the development of the country, more intellectual property rights should be achieved with a long-term strategy.
