Is weak IP law enforcement in India a deterrent to Indian industry and innovators?: IP laws or the intellectual property system plays a pivotal role in framing industrial, trade and financial policies, for scientific and technological development of any country. Strong IP legislations ensure the progress in varied fields and result in the growth of a country’s knowledge bank. However, it is of utmost importance that the strong IP law must be ably supported by an equally strong enforcement mechanism, as without enforcement there is no enjoyment of an Intellectual Property Right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\nA fair, strong and non-discriminatory IPR enforcement creates economic incentives that encourage innovation as well as helps attract new investment. On the other hand, weak enforcement of IP rights fails to provide relief against imitators and free riders, thereby acting as a major barrier to trade, investment in R&D and overall growth of a country’s economy. This is unfortunately the case with the IPR enforcement in most of the developing countries, including India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Importance of strong IP enforcement (example of developed nations like Europe and US)- Often, new entrants face competitive conditions that make entry into European and US market very difficult. These conditions or market entry barriers make the market less approachable for new entrants and therefore, existing players in the industry strive to create and maintain them. Situations like stringent licensing, government regulations, high skill requirements or high funding requirements are just some examples of potential barriers to entry. A country with high entry barriers for their industries is most attractive to investors and financiers. This is because the potential for profit and return on investment is higher. Fewer players in the market mean less competition and higher margins for the few companies offering the product or service to customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IP policies in Europe and US are much more rigid and enforcement is upright. Which make any foreign entry challenging. As most of us know, China is home to some of the world’s biggest smartphone makers, take Xiaomi <\/a>for example, but if you’re living in Europe or the US, you might never know it. Up-and-coming smartphone makers in China have faced little headwind in this regard so far, but as they expand to more countries, they make themselves increasingly vulnerable to patent lawsuits. When a series of design-related lawsuits<\/a><\/strong> flared up between Apple <\/a>and Samsung<\/a>, the two companies had on-going court cases in South Korea, Japan, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, the UK, and the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Table of Contents<\/p>\n