New Delhi: 16th November, 2004 :Inaugurating the 18th National Conference on In-House R&D in Industry, organized jointly by FICCI & DSIT today in New Delhi, Mr. Kapil Sibal, Minister of State for Science and Technology, said that while India is nearing towards the new IPR regime, which will be effective from1st of January, 2005, the challenges before India is daunting and a country like India, with its immense and talented human capital, the opportunities emerge are enormous. " Statutes alone will not help us. We must meet new challenges. Developing skills in filing, reading and exploiting patents will be crucial in the years to come. We must protect our inventions," said Mr. Kapil Sibal.

Talking about the need to make Industry more aware of the Patents and the impact of the new regulations, Mr. Sibal said that we must fully understand the implications of the patents granted to our competitors. IPR must be made a compulsory subject in collage law courses and in the Universities. " Our graduates emerging from the engineering and technology streams have no idea about IPR, and yet these young people will battle in the emerging wars in the knowledge market" he said.

Mr. Sibal said that Educational Institutions, National Laboratories and industrial R&D laboratories need to gear up to generate IPs which are worth protecting. " We will have to invest liberally to enhance the skills and knowledge base of scientists through structured in-house and external professional training programmes, interpreting and analyzing the techno-legal and business information contained in IP documents and in Drafting of IP documents.

Talking about the changes that are going to take place in the IP regime, Mr. Sibal said that several amendments to the Copyright Act, 1957, the Trade Mark Act, 1999, the Designs Act, 2000 and amendments to the Patent Act, 1970 show India's desire to Change and adopt. Mr. Sibal said that new enactments covering semi-conductors and lay out designs will be of considerable importance to the electronics industry. Similarly, Our Plant verities Protection and Farmers Rights Act, 2001 will impact on agriculture and the food industry.

Elaborating the need for and effective judicial framework as India is going to embark the new Patent regime, Mr. Sibal said that in order to ensure that courts deliver judgments which meet the ends of justice, there is need for further exposure for those in the judiciary to deal with the evolving new developments in the Intellectual Property field. " In our country delay in Courts for resolution of matters is causing great frustration to the patentee" said Mr. Kapil Sibal.

Earlier in his welcome address, Mr Y K Modi, President, FICCI, said that in-house R&D has major role to play not only for the development of innovation and competitive technologies but also to make a critical assessment of the technologies imported by the industry.