Blog

Monday, 17 January 2022

Congratulations, Shri Anurag Jainji

( Secretary – DPIIT / secy-ipp@nic.in )

Context :

Govt’s e-comm net in talks with companies / TOI / 15 Jan 2021

Extract :

Government-backed Online Digital Commerce Network (ONDC) has begun talks with private players, including some major e-tailers, to develop the platform modelled on the lines of UPI.

"The idea is to give more choice to consumers, who will be able to access a wider pool of sellers through ONDC. It will help in democratising the world," Anurag Jain, secretary in the department for promotion of industry and internal trade, told TOI.

He said the open structure will allow companies to build on the architecture just as players such as Google Pay, Paytm and PhonePe are using UPI.

On Friday, the ONDC architecture was unveiled at the Startup Innovation Week.

With the broad architecture in place, the government is looking at setting up a not-for-profit company with around a dozen banks, depositories, exchanges and NPCI as the initial shareholders.

Consumers can simply log on to an app, such as one that offers UPI, and order whatever they want, with ONDC connecting them with sellers and logistics players, besides giving them payment options

Those developing ONDC have started making presentations to e-commerce players and logistics companies, who would be the main actors.

The pitch to them is that the e-commerce players can focus on the buyers or consumers, without having to focus on sellers.

With more sellers, from kiranas to other retailers and service providers on board, the e-tailers, who have been enrolling entities, will be able to use the platform to increase choice, transparency and trust of consumers.

The sellers can also enter into arrangements with delivery partners and logistics players to move away from platforms such as Amazon or Flipkart and sell directly to consumers through the platform.

MY TAKE :

On ONDC post { Linkedin / 15 Jan 2022 }, I commented as follows :

Dear Speakers,

I urge you to consider feasibility of creation of a COMMON PLATFORM for JOBS, as described at :

Global Recruiter / Technology Architecture - User Interfaces

( 25 April 2016 / now de-hosted )

--------------------------------------------------

Please consider delivering Job-related info to every Job-Seeker

Let us break-up the Job-Portal SILOS ( databases of millions of jobs / vacancies ), as envisaged in following :

PROCESS FLOW CHART of Global Recruiter :

regards,

hemen parekh

Saturday, 15 January 2022

Thank You, Shri Amitabh Kantji

What for ?

For delivering on his commitment on expediting the process of granting of Patents

Can you be specific ?

Here is the PATENT REGIME REFORMS journey :

[ A ] 10 YEARS ago :

----------------------

Want a Patent ? Be patient ! ……………………………….[ 26 Feb 2012 ]

Extract :

No of patent applications pending …………………………………100,000
Which will take to clear ………………………………………………….3 years
No of requests being examined / year ………………………….12,000
Additional Patent Examiners being trained …………………….250
Which will help clear no of applications / year …………………40,000
New requests being received / year …………………………………25,000 +
Annual growth-rate of requests ……………………………………… 20 %

I would not be surprised if Indian scientists working in foreign labs are filing more patent applications abroad than the Indian scientists working in Indian labs !

Innovation will get a huge boost if Patents can be granted – or even rejected – in 6 months !

[ B ] 7 YEARS ago :

----------------------

Innovation , a distant dream ? ……………………….[ 18 July 2015 ]

Extract :

No of patents filed last year

* Whole World..................... 214,500

* USA................................ 61,492

* Japan.............................. 42,459

* China............................... 25,539

* India............................... 1,349

> Only one Indian entity features on the list of the top 10 recipients of Indian

patents

> Collectively, the IITs filed 342 patents

True, but while lamenting this poor state of affairs, we should also examine what causes this poor state

Here are my guesses :

> PATENT - FILING TIME

Whereas, it takes months to get a patent approved in Developing Countries, it

takes years in India

> PATENT- FILING COST

In India, it costs lakhs of rupees ( fees of Patent Attorney ). Abroad , it takes

lakhs of dollars

> PATENT PROTECTION COST

It costs a fortune ( whether in India or Abroad ) , to protect your patent in a

court of law. Often, more than the monetary benefit derived from it !

And with never-ending appeals, it takes years to settle the matter

For Indian Innovators , fighting a patent litigation in Foreign Courts , is an

impossible task

> PATENT REGIME

India's Patent Laws are considered " weak " , especially , in case of Pharma /

Chemical patents , in respect of " Product Patent " vs " Process Patent "

There is also a provision whereby, Government of India can force a Foreign

Patent holder to " license " it compulsorily, to an Indian applicant who wants to

exploit that patent ( of course , on reasonable licensing fees ! )

> PATENT BENEFITS

Abroad, when a scientist working in a Educational Institute or a Research Lab ,

invents something for which, even if a patent gets applied for in the name of

that Institute , he too gets a percentage of future royalties , when that patent

gets licensed for commercial exploitation

I don't think , Indian Inventors , benefit in this way . That takes away the

incentive

> PATENT PRESTIGE

If the inventing scientist's name does not figure on the patent and gets

replaced by the name of his boss , innovations will remain buried !

When I brought this “ State of Affairs “ to notice of Shri Amitabh Kant, he replied :

From: Amitabh Kant [mailto:amitabhk87@gmail.com]

Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2015 10:49 PM

To: Hemen Parekh

Subject: Re: INNOVATIONS AND PATENTS

Dear Hemen,

Thanks. I am working on it. Recruiting 1000 additional examiners on war footing .

Will bring pendency to 6 months in 18 months time.

Sent from my iPad

This made me send following e-mail to Shri Kant :

INNOVATIONS AND PATENTS

Amitabh Kant amitabhk87@gmail.com

Dear Amitabh ,

This is indeed heartening !

As per Patent Office Annual Report ( 2013-14 ), 196 patent examiners managed to " dispose off " ( grant + refusal ), some 11,411 applications ( 58.2 / examiner / year )

If this number goes up 6 times ( 200 + 1000 ), may be they could dispose off 36,000 applications in 6 months - as against 42,951 applications filed during 2013-14

I wish you all luck with such a massive recruitment drive

But with just ONE employer in the entire country, it would be extremely difficult to find so many suitable / experienced examiners

I suppose, Patent Office will, simultaneously launch an equally massive " Training " program

It may be worth considering outsourcing of preliminary internet-based search of existing " Prior Knowledge ", without revealing to the " Subcontracted Party ", any finer details of the applications

with regards,

hemen

[ C ] TO DAY :

PM to Start-ups : Don’t just keep your dreams local, make them global / BL / 16 Jan 2022

Extract :

He highlighted that :

# in 2013-14, 4,000 patents were approved, which rose to

# 28,000 in 2020-21.

Similarly :

# in the year 2013-14, where about 70,000 trademarks were registered,

# in 2020-21 more than 2.5 lakh trademarks have been registered.

Again,

# in the year 2013-14, where only 4,000 copyrights were granted,

# last year their number has crossed 16,000.

The Prime Minister pointed out that India’s campaign for innovation has resulted in improvement of India’s ranking in Global innovation index where India stood at 81st rank but now India stands at 46th rank in the index.

Thanks Amitabh

You have more than lived up to a commitment that you made to the Nation

With regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 16 Jan 2022