Three-day workshop on enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) was organized by the Cell for IPR Promotion & Management (CIPAM) in New Delhi. The three-day engagement was designed to help enforcement agencies establish a platform to share knowledge on IPR enforcement furthering appreciation and understanding among the enforcement authorities and common people.
Joint Secretary, DIPP, Shri Rajiv Aggarwal, mentioned the need for Indians to respect and commercialize their intellectual property (IP) at the workshop.
Shri O.P. Gupta, Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademark (CGPDTM) delivered a speech on “cooperation between various enforcement agencies, role of right holder and way forward”. While talking about the importance of IP for public interest, all the eminent speakers emphasized that the creativity will be restricted to great extent, if creative output is not protected.
Delegates from World International Property Organization (WIPO), Central Government officials, police officers from across the country, people from the legal fraternity, industry experts and law students participated in the workshop. The renowned speakers shared the best practices and various aspects of effective implementation of IPR enforcement.
Creating awareness about IPRs can help in tackling piracy since limited knowledge about its social and economic impacts leads to circulation and consumption of pirated content. With this objective, CIPAM joined hands with the industry and launched a campaign against piracy through a series of animated videos on anti-piracy. CIPAM has also launched a social media campaign with hashtag #LetsTalkIP to create more interest among people on intellectual property.
Union Minister of Home Affairs, Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the three-day workshop on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), in the august presence of Commerce and Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State, Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju. Addressing the Workshop Shri Rajnath Singh said that counterfeiting and piracy activities give rise to serious organized crimes. Such activities finance criminals and terrorists who deal in counterfeit goods to launder illegal money. He said police officials should be therefore equipped with proper knowledge and training, so as to curb and restrain IPR violations, at the very outset. The Union Minister of Home Affairs announced that IPR training modules would be introduced in police training institutes and academies across India to familiarize and sensitize our police forces on IPRs.
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said that the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in collaboration with CIPAM is setting up two Technology and Innovation Support Centres (TISCs) in Punjab & Tamil Nadu for technology and innovation support. She emphasized that people need to understand the ways to create and protect their intellectual property for a secure future.
Shri Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State, Home Affairs, called upon people to respect others’ intellectual property and talked about creating a strong IPR enforcement mechanism in the country. This workshop will help enforcement agencies across the country understand and appreciate the importance of their role in IPR enforcement. It will also act as a platform for the officials to share their experiences, exchange best practices and better inter-agency coordination with respect to enforcement of IPRs. Besides people from enforcement agencies, many IP professionals, lawyers, law students and people from industry associations are also participating in the workshop.
The Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM), a professional body under the aegis of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, organized this three-day workshop on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) from 22nd – 24th August, 2017, in New Delhi.
Additionally, a workshop was conducted at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad, for IPS officers from all States and the neighboring countries of Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives. Trainings have also been conducted at North Eastern Police Academy (NEPA), where officials from nine states participated. CIPAM aims to conduct such trainings across the country in future as well. IPRs have now been made a part of the training calendar at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad, and North-Eastern Police Academy, Meghalaya.
Earlier this year, the Ministry has also launched a toolkit for police officials across the country to help them deal with IP crimes, specifically Trade Marks counterfeiting and Copyrights piracy.