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The resistance is centered on patents, since patent protection is inaccurately equated with rights granted to global pharmaceutical companies. This is despite documentation, such as by the National Innovation Foundation, that barring resource-intensive research areas like chemicals, fertilizers or pharmaceuticals, innovations and inventions don't always require big companies. Commercialization of inventions and access to venture capital are different.
There are also issues connected with the lack of an IP (Intellectual Property) culture.

The Department of Industry Policy and Proportion (DIPP) has proposed an international institute for intellectual property management, with WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) support. This will undertake research and offer training to policy makers or lawyers. But the lack of an IP culture runs deep, because the education system thrives on learning by rote and downplays questioning. It also encourages risk aversion, although risk-taking is an essential pre-requisite for innovation. These problems can't be solved overnight. What can be solved relatively easily is the state of the four patent officers in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. High transaction costs associated with patent officers drive patent seekers to file patent applications overseas, or use the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) route. However, this is a route available only to those who can afford it.

As an indication of transaction costs, it takes four years (if the application is not lost or misplaced) to obtain a patent in India, compared to half that time elsewhere in the world. And the backlog of patent applications keeps increasing. Patent officers haven't been able to keep up with the increasing number of patent applications. In part, there is a hardware issue. The physical infrastructure in patent officers may have improved, but computerization is incomplete and the four officers aren't linked to the same network. Nor is there access to global patent databases, access being limited to gratis data alone.

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* Contributed by: -
Dr. R. P. Verma,
Ex. H.O.D. & Dean, Commerce and Business Management Dept.,
Arabinda Bhandari,
Strategic Management Researcher,
Ranchi University, Ranchi.