Small & medium enterprises (SMEs) are very important industrial sector of Indian economy. They account for 45% of total industrial production and 30.50% of services. Also, this sector provides employment to almost 42 million people in India. They account for 45% of total industrial production and 30.50% of services. Also, this sector provides employment to almost 42 million people in India.
Intellectual property is one’s intellectual idea & creativity and by protecting it, person/industry can get more confidence in doing the business and generate financial asset. An idea may come to any mind but for capitalizing the idea, it needs to be protected from the competition.
There are different types of protection under intellectual properties:
- Patents (exclusive rights on a particular technology or modification of previous invention),
- Trademarks (exclusive rights on recognizable sign/mark),
- Designs (exclusive rights on aesthetic appearance),
- Copyrights (exclusive right on artistic work) and
- Geographical indications (exclusive rights on products have specific geographical origin and possess qualities/reputation of that origin).
SMEs mainly focus on production, manufacturing & supply capabilities
It is observed in India that SMEs mainly focus on production, manufacturing & supply capabilities. They don’t invest much in IP generation. Due to globalization, SMEs needs to understand the value of IPs to accelerate the business in this competitive environment.
To promote IP generation in SMEs, Indian government provides various rebates and facilities. The filing and prosecution fees are very less for SMEs as compared to big companies. More information on the process can be found on https://ipindia.gov.in/.
So how do SMEs really benefit from securing IP? With the help of the figure above, I would like to share that through various IP procedures and services, one can not only just protect an idea but can also avoid litigations and loss of time and money in avoiding conflicts. For example, securing a patent helps protect your invention and provides rights for enjoying the invention for twenty years, whereas services like FTP (freedom to practice) help to avoid any possible law suits or conflict of interest that might arise from unknowingly using someone else’s protected invention. Following is a list of such procedures and services in the field of Intellectual Property:
- Patentability opinion
- FTP opinion
- Invalidity opinion
- Landscape search
- Patent Drafting
- IP filing
- FER response
- IP Portfolio management
- IP valuation
I would encourage all inventors to take a step forward and make sure that they secure their innovative ideas and creativity. I’ll be very happy to help or assist, if you have any queries.
Sources: