NEW DELHI: Issues of copyright have been shifted to the department of Industrial Policy & Promotion of the Commerce and Industry ministry, which will be the nodal department to deal with all issues related to copyright in the country.

This was revealed recently by DIPP Joint Secretary Rajiv Aggarwal at a seminar on 'Managing Copyright in Publishing' organized by FICCI along with the Department and World Intellectual Property Organization.

Copyright has until now been the preserve of the Human Resource Development ministry and the film, music and television industries have always grudged this as they feel it should be with the Information and Broadcasting ministry.

The programme aimed at highlighting the key issues of piracy and counterfeit in publishing was addressed among others by World Intellectual Property Organization director general Francis Gurry. The transition to digital devices and new models of content distribution has initiated a rethinking of IP and DRM regimes.

Gurry emphasised that in the last 20 years, copyright has moved from the periphery to the centre of the economic systems. This was not just because of the increased importance of intellectual property in a knowledge economy, but it was a natural consequence of the role of the essential mechanism that governs production, distribution and consumption of knowledge works in a society.

Emphasising the fact that India was the first signatory to the Marrakesh Treaty, Gurry highlighted that the treaty would enable national exceptions in copyright across the globe to speak to each other. This was particularly important in publishing.

WIPO assistant director general, chief of staff in the office of the director general, Naresh Prasad emphasised that copyright was increasingly emerging as a key component of the IP landscape globally. The seminar on copyright in publishing, he said was a very timely intervention of the role that copyright would play in publishing in India. There was an urgent need to focus on enhancing awareness and outreach.

Meanwhile, a single window interface has been unveiled by the Government for information on IPR and guidance on leveraging it for competitive advantage. The Indian IP Panorama portal sought to increase awareness and build sensitivity towards IP, among stakeholders in the SME sector, academia and researchers. The Indian IP Panorama can be accessed at http://ict-ipr.in/index.php/ip-panorama

It was a customized version of IP Panorama Multimedia toolkit developed by World Intellectual Property Organization, Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korea Invention Promotion Association.

The toolkit has been adapted to cater to SMEs and start-ups, especially in the ICTE sector of India based on an agreement signed between WIPO and Department of Electronic and Information Technology. The Indian IP Panorama was thus a customized version of WIPO’s original product and was in accordance with Indian IP laws, standards, challenges and needs of the Indian ICTE sector.

The following five modules of the Indian IP Panorama have been released:
1.   “Importance of IP for SMEs”,
2.   “Trademark”,
3.   “Industrial design”,
4.   “Invention and Patent” and
5.   “Patent Information”

The Indian IP Panorama has been developed under the aegis of Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government of India by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), in close coordination with the Indian IP office.

Besides DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek who released the Panorama, Gurry was also present on the occasion.

A survey of the Madrid Protocol usage by the Indian industry and a report on “Marketing Campaign in India for International Registration of Trade Marks”, was also released. The survey was conducted and the report prepared by the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore in cooperation with DIPP as part of a study funded by WIPO. The study will help the Indian industry to take advantage of the Madrid system.