Businesses must keep abreast with latest developments in IPR: Dr. Dhawan
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Addressing a Seminar on Intellectual Property Rights jointly organized by Tecnia Institute of Advanced Studies and FIEO on 25th April at New Delhi, the Northern Region Chairman of FIEO, Dr. R. K. Dhawan talks about IPR tool kit which provides a range of distinct legal platforms for protection of the fruits of human creativity that span from innovations in technical fields, products and services, literary/ artworks, performances, computer programmes etc. "Each of these instruments is governed by a set of laws with frameworks that offer varying degrees of protections, rights, obligations, enforcement procedures and reliefs," he says. |
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On the dais, from right, are Dr. R K Dhawan, Chairman, FIEO-NR, Mr. Debashis Chakraborty, Assistant Professor, IIFT; Prof. A K Sengupta; Chair Professor, Tecnia and Prof. Anand Sharma, Dean, Tecnia. |
Dr. Dhawan emphasizes that every nation interested in protecting Intellectual Property within its geopolitical control has to enact laws related to patent, copyright, trademark, geographical indication etc. For business and trade, Intellectual Property Rights act as key components of strategy formulation that influence global business practices. He further says that patents in today’s world are the most important IPR for agricultural goods and services, as they provide the strongest protection for patentable plants and animals and biotechnological process for their production.
Dr. Dhawan goes on to say that one category of commercial marks used especially in agriculture is geographical location, including appellations of origin. "These are marks associated with products originating from a country, region or locality where the quality reputation or other characteristics by the product are attributable to its geographical origin," he adds. According to him, protection of such marks presents third parties from passing off their products as those originating in the given region. He gives examples of ‘Champagne’ for sparkling wine and ‘Roquefort’ for cheese emerging from geographical locations location in France as ‘Darjeeling’ tea. So is the case with ‘Feta’ for cheese from Greece and ‘Basmati’ for rice from India and Pakistan. Plant varieties developed with traditional knowledge and associated with a particular region can also be protected as geographical indications, says Dr. Dhawan.
Dr. Dhawan gives a succinct account of the role of WIPO and says WIPO has been involved in the creation of systems and processes for efficient and cost effective means of seeking appropriate protection for the developed Intellectual Property. It is also setting up knowledge networks to aid this process. He emphasizes that businesses will have to keep abreast with the latest developments in IPR to create and maintain their positions in markets. "The tasks ahead in the knowledge economy will demand new competencies and commitments of innovators, technocrats, governments and individual members of the society." He adds.
Besides Dr. R.K. Dhawan, keynote addresses were also delivered in the Seminar by Prof. Debashish Chakraborty of IIFT and Prof. A.K. Sengupta of TECNIA Institute.
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S. K. Jain briefs press on payment problems The Eastern Region office of FIEO convened a Press Conference on 30th March at Kolkata to brief the media about the blatant violations of international payment norms by banks in Bangladesh. FIEO’s Regional Chairman Mr. S K Jain informed the press as to how Bangladeshi banks were failing to honour the Letters of Credit and were denying payments to Indian exporters on one pretext or the other. Explaining the modus operandi of Bangladeshi customs to the media persons, FIEO Managing Committee Member Mr. Pravin Saraf informed how the Bangladeshi importers were conniving with custom and bank officials to deny payments to Indian exporters even against Letters of Credit. |
