Why is joining Paris Convention on intellectual property so important?

Till now the filing of patents in different countries has been a very expensive and time-consuming affair. The inventor has to send his application to each country separately and simultaneously. The average cost of just filing a patent in one country is $3000. Then he has to hire local lawyers to file the patent.

Most inventors are not rich and do nothave strong financial backing. They have to do all this without really being sure whether the invention will do well commercially or not. All inventors need time after they have filed a patent to test whether the invention will do well in the market. But in India, an inventor had to invest large amounts of money even before he was sure of any returns. One inventor spent Rs 15 lakhs filing his invention in several countries, and now he is hoping that he can recover the amount.For an inventor his new invention is very important. And if he has to take advantage of the product then he has to file his patent in large blocks of countries. This is essential because if he registers it in only one country, then his patent would be rendered ineffectual in the rest of the world. Once a patented invention is used in a commercially available patent, it enters the public domain. Anyone body else can use that invention and make products out of it in a country where the patent has not been registered.

He can also exportthis product to other countries and make capital out of the inventor's efforts. Therefore if an inventor does not file a patent in different countries, then he loses the market for his product in those countries.

How will things be different after joining the Convention?

The basic feature of the Paris Convention is that it gives an inventor the right to stagger his filing. The Indian inventor will be able to file one international application for all countries. This will give him time to finalise his product and launches. Once he has filed the patent in one country, he has 12 months to file in other countries. He can utilise this time to test-market the product and make changes if needed. He can also use the time to gauge the demand for such a product in different countries.

During this period no one in any Paris Convention country can try to copy the invention. And when the inventor files the patent, the date of effect will be the original date on which it was filed in the home country.

Notall inventions hit the jackpot and are commercially successful. The success or failure can be determined only after the product is introduced in the market. The world over, the inventors files in one country, sees how the market responds and then tries to find sponsors to introduce his product in other markets.

The new system allows the inventor to seek mandatory international search for invention. The search will go through all the inventions filed previously across the world to see whether the invention is novel or not. This data will tell him if a similar product exists in other countries or not. He can then decide which country to file in and which not to file in.There is a perception that the new system will give an inventor a global patent. Is that correct?

No. There is not such thing as a global patent. After the international filing, the inventor has to decide which countries he wants to have patent. Then he has to file separately in each of those. For each country in which it isregistered, one patent will be granted based on the local laws.

Will India have search and examination facilities after joining the convention?

This will depend on the Government. Our National Patent Office will have to keep a certain minimum number of documents and examiners if it wants to offer these facilities. Currently only nine countries have International Search Facilities while eight are International Examination centres.

What is the advantage of offering these facilities?

The domestic industry will get a tremendous boost from joining the Paris Convention and getting the search and examination facilities.An international search for an invention will go into the records since 1920 and unearth documents, patent material, literature to check what is new. According to estimates there are 30 million patents applications since 1920. Of these 85 per cent are the first public disclosure of technology in their category.

The inventor can use the search material to track the history anddevelopment of the technology in different areas. This information can then be used to predict where the developments are headed. Israel has become a master at this game. They track the technology, predict the future and patent the idea. Then they try to develop the next step or sell the idea to the person who will implement it. Since we are so good at reverse engineering, such information can really help our entrepreneurs.

For the examination centre, the number of examiners will have to be at least 100. They will examine the application after going through all documents on the technology available. The domestic industry will have the worlds best technologies at their doorstep, if Indian becomes a search and examination centre.