New Delhi, Apr 27 (KNN) Government is taking various steps to reduce the time for examination of intellectual property rights (IPR) applications, said Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary.

Speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII’s) India Intellectual Property Convention here, Secretary of DPIIT, Ramesh Abhishek said “We have taken several steps but we need to do more on strengthening the start-up ecosystem in the country.”

Quoting the numbers, Abhishek said that as many as 120 start-ups have been granted patents under the expedited examination process for applications since 2016 when the facility was introduced.”

A total of 450 start-ups have filed applications under this facility, he added.

He mentioned that under this facility a total of 1,021 applications were received and 351 patents were granted by the Indian IP Office. The facility can be availed by the start-ups that meet the stated criteria on payment of stipulated fees.

He also said that the time for the first examination of trademarks applications has been reduced to about one month from 13 months earlier.

And for the examination of IP applications, we are using technology and artificial intelligence, said Abhishek.

The Department has floated a draft rule to amend the Patents Rules, 2003 under which a patent application filed by a female innovator will be examined expeditiously with a view to promoting women entrepreneurship in the country.

According to the draft rules, if the applicant or at least one of the applicants in a group seeking patent is a female, that application would get an expedited examination by the Indian Patent Office.