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Inventors losing patience over patents
Long delays at the National Intellectual Property Office (NIPO) in Colombo in obtaining patent rights for new products are causing concern to local inventors who say their overseas competitors are winning out over them because of these delays.
Officials at the NIPO, the body that gives patent rights for products, attribute the delay to a shortage of staff but applicants attribute sinister motives for the delays.
Some of them told the Sunday Times they had to wait for more than four years to obtain approval for patent rights for their products. This had put them at a disadvantage, allowing overseas competitors to get patents for inventions for similar products before them.
Inventor Chaminda Jayasinghe said he had applied for three patents for his electrical machines. He said he was working on new wiring systems and advanced lightning conductors. He had applied for three patents in 2013 but had still not received the rights.
Mr. Jayasinghe said that earlier he was he was able to get a patent done within a year.
A patent rights certificate: Inventors say they have to wait for years to get one
“I have about 18 inventions and only a few have got patent rights. It takes years to develop a product but it takes more time to get the patent rights. Often by the time we get the patent the invention is not an invention anymore,” he said.
Veteran inventor Anthony de Silva said his patents were delayed with the Patent Department’s Trademark Branch taking two years to gazette his trade mark logo.
“I believe I need to reveal the shortcomings of the department to reduce the hardships of younger inventors,” he said.
Referring to one of his inventions, Mr. de Silva said he had applied for the registration of a trademark in 2011 but it was gazette only in May this year.
He said he had paid the application fee in 2011 but after one year, he received a letter saying he had not paid the publication fee. This was done in April last year, but his trade name has not yet been gazetted.
The inventor said he had complained about the long delay to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and it had sent two letters. Following this, the NIPO director had sent a letter stating that the delay was due to lack of a Tamil translator.
“I am 67 now and I am concerned that more elderly applicants would be dead by the time they get their patent rights,” he said.
Mr. de Silva said the patents he applied for in 2012 were granted this and by then it was time to pay for the renewal of the patents as they were valid for only five years from the date of applying.
Some of the inventors say they gave up on inventing due to the delays. Two inventors from Pollonaruwa said they had travelled frequently to Colombo to obtain their patents.
One of them, Mithra Jayawardane, said he had given many calls and visited Colombo several times to obtain patent rights for the products invented by him and his son.
He said his son was so fed up with the delays that he did not want to register four of his inventions.
“I applied for a patent and three years have gone by, yet they say it will get further delayed. Sometimes I wonder whether they are deliberately delaying it so that they could reveal our information to others here or even foreign countries.
Registration information is given to someone requests it and likewise it is possible they are giving information regarding the product also,” he said.
Prasad Jeewan is an inventor, athletic coach and physical fitness trainer. He built up a massage machine that could be used to treat athletes with cramps and an exercise machine.
He said he applied in 2011 and he received his patent in 2014. He charged that foreign companies which came up with similar products after him had entered the local market before him.
Sri Lanka Inventors Commission Director C.A Satturkalasinghe said the commission encouraged inventors by holding exhibitions and finding markets for these products in the public and private sectors.
He said many Sri Lankan inventions were claimed and marketed by foreign companies due to delays in obtaining patent rights here. Some local inventors sell their products without patents; some information is leaked when they exhibit their products.
Therefore the patent office should be prompt and vigilant in granting patents.
Mr Satturkalsinghe said his office had also informed the NIPO about the delays but it responded saying there was a shortage of staff.
| NIPO blames staff shortage for delays; secrets not revealed National Intellectual Property Office Director General Geethanjali Ranawaka said that any delays were largely due to a shortage of staff. There were vacancies for science graduates because there were only ten officers to do the work of 20 trademark officers. There were six vacancies in the patent section for research officers, she said. The Patents Chief denied that information of Sri Lankan inventions was leaked out during the delay and claimed that the office only published information after the patent was granted. The information was kept secret till then. Ms. Ranawaka said recruitment at present were made only from other state organisations because of a ministry directive to the effect, but she hoped to sort out the issues within one year. |