The Hindu : `Failure to enforce IPR laws entails revenue loss'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 22, 2002

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National

`Failure to enforce IPR laws entails revenue loss'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 21. The failure to enforce the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) laws has taken a heavy toll on the Government revenues and reduced employment opportunities, with the Government forgoing a tax revenue of over Rs.10,000 crores annually due to the proliferation of counterfeit consumer products alone, the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, S. B. Sinha, said here today.

Inaugurating a seminar on new IPR laws organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Justice Sinha emphasised the need for training of judicial and police officers in all aspects of implementation of IPR laws so that there is adequate protection to the manufacture of genuine products and the consumer is not exposed to the dangers of consuming fake products.

Mr. Sinha emphasised the need for creating consumer awareness and class action by manufacturers so that the counterfeiters could be brought to book. He said that counterfeit products were flourishing because there was a ready market in the country for such cheap, look-alike products. The acceptance of counterfeit products by consumers comes in the way of implementation of laws.

Responding to the concerns expressed by the alternate president, ASSOCHAM, R. K. Somany, Justice Sinha said there was sufficient awareness among law makers and the enforcement agencies about the need to contain the menace of counterfeiting by proper implementation of IPR laws. What was, however, urgently required was all-round societal action against the offenders.

The Minister of State for Coal, Mines, Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad, in his keynote address said it was critical to adjust the legal system to respond rapidly to the new technological environment in an effective and appropriate way, because technologies and markets evolve increasingly rapidly.

This will ensure the continued furtherance of the fundamental guiding principles of copyright and related rights, which remain constant whatever may be the technology of the day.

It would involve giving incentives to creators to produce and disseminate new creative materials; recognising the importance of their contributions providing appropriate balance for the public interest, particularly education, research and access to information and thereby ultimately benefiting society by promoting the development of culture, science and the economy.

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