[Ip-health] Christian Israel, US Coordinator for International IPR on the IP enforcement in India

[Gopa Kumar]

Christian Israel, US Coordinator for International IPR on the IP
enforcement in India


India, US must be allies in IPR protection: Christian Israel
Monday, May 22, 2006 08:00 IST
Our Bureau, Bangalore

India and US must be allies in IPR protection as a thriving and
diversified economy must protect its IPR. This will help to develop
new products and biological activities which can be beneficial to the
Indian companies as well according to Christian Israel, US Coordinator
for International IPR.

He said, "A lot of work can be done in development of traditional
products and protection to help the Indian pharma-biotech industry.
The Indo-US bilateral relationship with regard to Intellectual
Property Rights will touch a new high with the proposed visit of the
Deputy US Trade Representative, Karan Bhatia to India in the next two
weeks. As a prelude to his visit, US Coordinator for International
IPR, Christian Israel was in Bangalore to assess the situation related
to trade policies and IPR focused issues.

In an interaction with the members of Bangalore Chamber of Industry
and Commerce (BCIC), Israel said, "IP is the fuel that powers the
engine of prosperity, fostering invention."

He said though 80 per cent of small and medium enterprises in the US
were ignorant of global patent cover, nearly one-third of value of big
corporate were tied up in IP. Their exports amounted to 50 per cent of
US exports and they employed over 18 million people.

"IP is a huge economic driver for the US. While the US government
spends nearly $135 billion on R&D activities related to healthcare,
energy and security related field, private sector invested $200
billion on R&D," he pointed out.

The US Coordinator for International IPR had met the Ministry and
trade representatives, Government officials in Delhi and Bangalore and
said, "India offers a tremendous amount of momentum. We are talking to
different people, how India can be partners in innovation, growth and
in IP protection. We are also inviting best possible patent from
India. We learnt that India has prepared a traditional database
comprising 157,000 items. We are in the process of forming a working
group to address the concerns regarding post patent."

About apprehensions on awarding patents for traditional Indian
products like Basmati rice and turmeric in the US, Dominic Keating, US
Attorney of Trademarks Office in New Delhi said "A second patent had
been sought in the US for such products and it related to conducting
research and development of the base products."