Mangaluru: The Ministry of MSME, Government of India (GOI) held a ‘One Day Awareness Programme on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)’ at Hotel Deepa Comforts here, on February 26.
Joint Director of District Industries Centre, Gokuldas Nayak inaugurated the programme by lighting the traditional lamp along with other dignitaries.
Dy. Director, Br MSME DI, K Socrates welcomed the gathering and said, “The main agenda of the programme is for entrepreneurs to tap the idea of IPR.”
Dy Director, MSME-DI, HV Anandamurthy said, “Though we are conducting such programmes from past ten years, IPRs registered by MSMEs are not much. It is a big achievement if a MSME registers a patent because patents by MSMEs are much practical than the patents by institutions.”
Gokuldas, in his inaugural address said, “Such a programme is the need of the hour. Registration of IPR’s like, trademark, trade dress, copyrights, patents, trade secrets, is necessary. What we call ‘duplicate’ in the market is actually a violation of trade dress. The main theory is that the owner of the property should get the benefits of it and not anyone else. The GOI is encouraging startups and this topic is very useful for them.”
Director of MSME Development Institute, Bangalore, S N Rangaprasad, in his presidential address said, “To make the process of filing a patent easier for MSMEs, GOI has set up institutions like IPFC-CII, where one can file for a patent for free. Major industries file tons of patents every year, but patent applications from MSMEs are quite low.”
Rangaprasad said that once the patent was registered the MSME would get a reimbursement of Rs 25000 for an Indian patent and Rs 2 lakhs for an international patent. Though the time taken from applying to registering a patent took six years initially, now the average time required to register a patent was only three years. “The Government of Karnataka has also set up Karnataka Council for Technological Upgradation, which will reimburse a part of expenses undertaken by the MSME while registering for a patent. We are not here for big companies, but we are always there for small companies,” he added.
Dy. Controller of Patents and Designs, R Devan also spoke on the occasion. Asst. Director, Br MSME DI, G Nagaraja delivered the vote of thanks and Sundar compered the programme. The inaugural programme was followed by technical sessions.
GOI had made it easier for MSMEs to get registered. Earlier statistics showed that 96% of the MSMEs in India were not registered. This was mainly due to the tedious process involved in getting a MSME registered. But now the GOI had made it easier for a MSME to get registered as the new norm required just filing a one page form and it could also be done over the internet. The MSME has to log in to udyogaadhar.gov.in and fill the form. The entire process was online with no fees and any number of MSMEs could be registered.
