The U.K.’s pound sterling (£) dates back to the Kingdom of Mercia (now the British Midlands) in the 8th century. The dollar symbol ($) was adopted in the US in 1785. The yen (¥) goes back to 1871. The euro (€) was unveiled in 1996. Finally, the Indian rupee has got an identity of its own. As India is becoming a hot destination for investors across the world, the new icon for Indian currency is likely to create a brand around 1.2 trillion dollar economy of the nation. “As we are a part of the global economy and our effort is to gain a prominent position in the comity of nations, it is only appropriate that our currency also gets an internationally recognised symbol on the lines of other world currencies,” says Sudip Bandyopadhyay, promoter of financial services company Convexity and earlier managing director of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Money.

Two years ago, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) formed a team of experts to brainstorm for rebranding of Indian rupee. Viren Razdan, managing director of brand management firm Interbrand India, Mumbai, was one of its members. According to Razdan,”The rupee rebranding. An exercise to say that if we

[want] to become an economic superpower, we have to create a symbol that is reflective of our cultural code. Each of the emerging economy is trying to establish a clearer picture of its brand. The branding forms a valuable, symbolic code for Brand India. It gives us a clear advantage over the Chinese, to say that we are far more cultural. In the past few years, India has really used its ‘soft power’ to embellish its brand through its music, movies, art forms etc. This really forms part of that coded system. Brand India will become richer if and when this symbol comes into play.

Will politics interfere? Says Sundar G. Bharadwaj, visiting Wharton professor of marketing and professor of marketing at Emory University,”A brand has incredible intangible value. I am afraid that with political parties, this could be the fad of the month or season.” Razdan is more optimistic.”If the rupee symbol is positioned correctly, it will rise above petty politics,” he says. Bharadwaj is, on the whole, optimistic. “The rupee is trying to associate itself
with the top four or five currencies,” he says. “The rebranding reflects the bigger ambition of India. The new India has immense confidence in itself – the confidence that you can do anything. It wasn’t there 20 years ago. A while ago, India was compared with South Korea and China. You don’t talk about South Korea any more. You also don’t compare India with China any more. India is India”

DIT & GOI come out with new draft policy for e – Governance

The department of IT & Government of India recently came out with a new draft policy on open standard for e- Governance for softwares. The Policy provides a structure for the selection of standards in between systems developed by multiple agencies while providing organizations the flexibility to select different hardware and software for implementing cost-effective e-Governance solutions.
Aims of policy:-

  • Promote technology choice,Avoids vendor lock-in because its basic aim is to provide reliable long-term accessibility to public documents and information in Indian context.Mandatory Characteristics of open standard should have been framed by Government of India which has to fulfill important

given criteria:-
1. The patent claims necessary to implement the Identified Standard shall be available on a Royalty-Free basis for the life time of the Standard.
2. Identified Standard shall be adopted and maintained by a not-for-profit organization, wherein all stakeholders can opt to participate in a transparent, collaborative and consensual manner.
3. Identified Standard shall be recursively open.
4. Identified Standard shall be capable of localization support, where applicable, for all Indian official Languages for all applicable domains.

National Conference on e-Governance

Free Software Foundation of India, which advocates that software should be free and open for all

Piracy Rat holes: Delhi Govt. to plug the pits

Even though the strict rules or laws are formed for anti-piracy how and when should they come in force and what are the procedural effects that can stop these piracy violations, hangs on brains. If action is taken against every individual pirating and encouraging the dungeons in India would be busting at their seams. So you can guess that the number is countless. Delhi government has taken a decision to make their own combat to have anti-piracy law coming out of central act. Delhi Government to empower civilian inspectors to prosecute violations. It is ridiculous! Hugely populated India and crowded piracy ruling kings need sudden effects and a bulk of inspection. Delhi Govt. is heading towards large scale recruitment, since they presently have just about one person per district for enforcement.
For last 5 years, there has been an unreparable loss not just for Bollywood, but the other film industries too. MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America), and USTR (United States Trade Representative) are already disappointed with the Indian Government which has failed to act to the offensive
strokes. According to USIBC (United States India Busines Council) by 2009. they recorded Rs 16,000 crore loss to the entertainment industry.

Bill Passed by Rajya Sabha:

India joins Madrid Protocol- Pushed by European Union

India is going to be a member of the Madrid protocol and an amendment (Trade Mark) to this effect has been passed by Rajya Sabha. The amendment helps trade mark registration in any country through single application. This can help align Indian Trade Mark with provisions of Madrid protocol. With he Madrid Protocol having 84 signatory countries, it becomes easy for an applicant to file Trade Mark internationally.
Currently Indian applicants (any non-signed member) for Trade Mark should apply to different countries in different languages with separate fees. Madrid system was established in 1891 for the international registration of marks. It functions under the Madrid Agreement (1891), and the Madrid Protocol (1989). It is administered by the International Bureau of WIPO located in Geneva, Switzerland. Similar to PCT system, WIPO helps the member countries of Madrid system to apply for Trade Marks in multiple locations with a single application process which saves time and money. There is no need to change the languages either. Initially the Indian government did not decide to join the protocol. There was a pressure from the European Union while our nation

Note circulates on IPR by PMO for drug MNC’s

After considering proposals by global drug makers such as Novartis, BMS, Eli Lilly and Pfizer besides executives of Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers in India(OPPI), a lobby group of international drug innovator companies the PMO circulated a note indicating that it wants to make certain changes in the intellectual property rights regime of India that compromise Indian drug makers’ ability to sell very low cost generic medicines. Also, the proposals include changes in controversial matters such as ‘legislative review’ of the section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act and clearly redefining the ‘efficacy criteria.’ After amendments in the new product patent regime in 2005, the government provides exclusive marketing rights for 20 years. But, global drugmakers have repeatedly voiced their concern about the implementation of the IPR regime, alleging it does not encourage innovation. Section 3 of Indian Patent Act defines what is not patentable. Section 3d gives out that the mere discovery of a new form of an old drug does not make it an invention.
Global MNCs also seek’alignment in applicable statutes’ to implement patent linkages, a provision that will allow global MNCs to prevent Indian drug regulators from permitting local companies launching generic versions of patented medicines. This is another vexed issue between foreign drug-makers and local firms, who say the provision will delay launch of generic or low cost drugs.

Press Release

On17th August 2010, FICCI has once again reiterated its commitment to empower Indian business by establishing much desired IPR Facilitation Centre in association with the Ministry of Micro- small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) to offer quality service such as Patents, Trademarks, Design and Copyrights. It will also provide services related to Patent drafting, Patent prosecution, Facilitation in commercializing of inventions, Trademark prosecution matters and many more.
Inaugural Function was addressed by Shri Dharmendra Prakash, Joint Development Commissioner, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, and Government of India. Guest Mr. Anil Kumar, Deputy Director, Ministry of Micro, small & Medium Enterprises, Government of India lead the conference by focusing importance of MSME work as backbone in industries of any Country. He said that they are the driving force of innovation. Many MSME’s and individual inventors are not able to protect their innovations and intellectual assets due to several constrains. Many Scientists, SMEs representatives expressed views about problems faced in SME registration . Miss Cheshta Sharma, Chief editor, IP & Business also expressed her concerns in this regard.
Further discussion was continued by Shri Madahav Lal, Additional Development Commissioner Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Government of India by discussing about contribution of MSME to India’s Economic growth and tremendous development. The contribution of MSME’s sector to the country’s GDP is 9%. It is very low in comparison with giant branded industries but the MSME’s sector has still shown a consistent growth in its more than 6000 products covering various segments. India has a knowledge driven economy and it’s very important to protect one’s intellectual assets as it provides a competitive advantage, especially in the current economy scenario.
Finally, the discussion was concluded by Ms. BishakhaBhattacharya, Director FICCI. She referred to the latest annual report released of Indian Patent Office which indicated that approximately 16% of the MSME’s share has been filed as patent application. This is the reason why FICCI has taken up the task of assisting the MSME’s in the proper protection and leveraging their intellectual assets by opening a much desired IPR facilitation Centre.