Delhi to get patents centre for small and medium units

New Delhi, April 25 (IANS) An Intellectual Property Facility Centre (IPFC) is being launched Thursday in the national capital to help micro, small and medium enterprises protect their innovations, inventions and designs through patents and copyrights.

National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) member secretary Ajay Shankar will launch the centre on the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day. The Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) is setting it up.

"The IPFC will go a long way in helping MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) to get their intellectual property such as innovations and inventions, original designs, brand names etc. protected through patents, trademarks, copyrights and other such instruments conveniently and at a low cost," FISME president V.K. Agarwal said.

"SMEs in India, as anywhere else in the world such as Japan or Germany, are the hot spots for development of new niche technologies and smart innovations. But they often lack awareness or the resources to get such intellectual property protected and commercialised. The IPFC is aimed at addressing this problem," he added.

The centre is coming up with the support of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises under the intellectual property rights component of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme.

This is the third facilitation centre being put into operation by the FISME after Bangalore and Hyderabad. This centre will serve MSMEs in Delhi, the national capital region, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

These facilitation centres employ qualified and trained personnel, including legal professionals and patent attorneys, to guide and help MSMEs secure and protect their intellectual property.

MSMEs constitute India's economic backbone, contributing more than 50 percent of manufacturing output and employing nearly 90 percent of manufacturing workforce.

They also account for nearly 40 percent of India's gross domestic product and 45 percent of the country's total exports.