Tech patents: Indians outpace MNCs in filings in India

Indian-based patent filers have outpaced MNCs (multi-national corporations) in filing patents in FY23, according to the latest report by IT industry body Nasscom. Of the 83,000 patents filed in FY23, 52.3% were filed by residents primarily led by educational institutions and individual patent filers, whereas 47.7% were filed by non-residents, says the report. In FY22, a total of 66,000 patents were filed.

Notably, startups still accounted for a minuscule 3% of the total 83,000 patents filed in FY23.

Meanwhile, educational institutions filed over 19,000, representing 23% of 83,000 patents in FY23, as against over 7,200 (11%of 66,000) in FY22. The report attributes this increase to the National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (NIPAM) launched two years ago, which aims at imparting IP (intellectual property) awareness to one million students alongwith the emphasis on patents filing, grants and licenses in the National Institutional Ranking Framework as well as the deepening of Industry academia collaboration.

For instance, of the more than 1000 IPs (including six applications from trademarks and copyright) filed by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), over 600 patents were granted. IIT Madras, which filed over 2,700 IPs received grant for more than 1,300 IPs.

Notably, global MNCs also tied up with the domestic higher education institutions and research grants like the Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship Program with nearly 15 institutes under the program.

"To further enhance domestic patent activity, collaborations among key stakeholders are essential for fostering and increasing awareness of intellectual property rights," Debjani Ghosh, President Nasscom said in a statement . 

State-wise, Tamilnadu topped the list of filing the highest number of patents, followed by Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab. Tamil Nadu accounted for 9.3% in total patent filing during FY23, surpassing Maharashtra (6.8%) which had the top spot in FY22. The report attributes several initiatives such as subsidies for IP registrations for start-ups and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), a strong R&D (research and development) ecosystem with existence of large number of R&D global capability centers and the Centre of Excellence (COEs) and educational institutions like IIT Madras working around IP creation as factors leading to Tamil Nadu taking the top spot. 

However, compared globally, India still has a long patent filing timelines. For instance, in 2022, the average pendency time for final decision at patent office in Japan was 14.9 months, whereas in the US the average pendency time was about 23.1 months. Compared to this, the average pendency time in India stood at about 51 months, which is largely due to the lack of adequate knowledgeable patent examination officers.