Innovation is for betterment of mankind : Naidu

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The Vice- President of India M Venkaiah Naidu on November 18, 2018, said that innovation is for the betterment of mankind and India is encouraging the spirit of innovation among the educated enterprising youth. He was addressing a gathering after inaugurating an International Conference on ‘Asian Patent Attorneys Association’ here.

Minister for Law & Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu, and more than 1,350 participants from over 65 countries and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

The Vice President stressed the need to put in efforts to give meaningful effect to the socio-economic and technological development needs of the poorest of the poor. He further said that knowledge and intellect are the most critical ingredients in development. It was essential to adopt innovative and creative balancing mechanisms, he added.

Naidu said that the Intellectual Property Rights hold special importance in the knowledge economy. He said that the new regime of intellectual Property Rights bring a paradigm shift in social exchanges and cultural ethos in communities especially at a time when the world had moved away from viewing knowledge as a mere community asset and started treating it as intellectual property.

Talking about the changing factors in all economies, the Vice President said that the emphasis on tangible hard assets is being shifted to intangible soft assets and intellectual properties. India fully recognises that an effective and robust intellectual property protection regime is essential to attract technology, investment, incentivise innovation and creation of IP assets, he added.

The Vice President said that as the communities’ transit to new phase of Intellectual Property based economy, no conversation on intellectual property rights can be complete without considering the balance of the rights and obligations of IP holders and define what constitutes a genuine, path-breaking intellectual property?

Naidu said that Indian patent system contains some built-in safeguards to bring about a balance between rights and obligations – these measures are consistent with TRIPS Agreement. As a member of WTO, India made laws that are compliant with the global regime. National IPR Policy has been approved and published by the government in May 2016, he added, according to a PIB releae.