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Intellectual property is an all encompassing term, that bundles together the concepts of copyrights, patents and trademarks. All these are quite distinct if not exactly dissimilar. While copyrights is usually associated with fine arts like a painting or a novel, patent is a way of protecting a companys or an inventors interest by granting him a temporary monopoly over his work. Trademarks are usually a means of protecting brands. For the sake of DQ Top 20, we will be referring to IP from a patent point-of-view.

Patently Speaking
In many ways, a countrys innovative and technological prowess can be judged by the amount of patents filed by it, its companies and denizens. For instance, the US, even with talks of how the country has been going through a downturn, still retains the top spot as the global innovation powerhouse, and continues to be a leader.

By contrast, India is a late entrant into the patent game and has some serious catching up to do. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), 2,317 patents were granted to Indian companies and individuals in the year 2004. The Indian patent office was ranked number twelve globally, with around 25,000 patents filed in 2004. The number has since increased to 28,882 in 2006-07. It is a telling commentary that India has seven resident patent filings per million population as against the world average of 148, according to a WIPO study.

But things are changing, and IT companies in India are leading the charge. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal highlighted this change by saying "the annual average rate of growth of Indian software exports from 1994 to 2002 was 48%, marking a drastic surge from the preceding five years, when the average annual growth was about 35%. If New Delhi keeps up its commitment to rights protection, the numbers will continue to grow."

Indian Patent Scenario
The Indian office is steadily witnessing a surge in the numbers of patents being filed. In the year 2000, there were 4,824 patents filed, the number has increased to 28,882 in FY 07. This change has been brought as India embraces the IP culture, and puts laws in place to protect IP.

There were quite a few cases of IPR thefts in India, and with the resulting backlash, the government decided to amend the IT Act 2000, and a few more provisions to the same. This step was basically to assure the MNCs that the Indian government was serious about IPR.

Software Land
India is a software land, as is evident from the number of patents filed by software companies vis--vis hardware players. Big service giants too seem to be realizing the need for filing patents. TCS, for instance, filed for 25 patents in 2006-07 and was granted three. Infosys, as of September 2006, filed for 58 patents in India and the US. These numbers, however, pale in front of global giants. Over the past ten years, IBM has been on top in the patent recipients list. According to United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), IBM had received 2,941 patents in 2005, followed by Canon (1,828 patents) and HP (1,797 patents).

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