Sri Lankan inventors and creators have often complained of long delays in getting their patents approved by local authorities but a US expert said this week that a 3-to-5 year wait is not too ‘alarming’.
“Even in the United States it takes three years, so the wait in Sri Lanka is not unusual. I would urge applicants not to give up hope because your patent becomes valid from the date the application is made and Sri Lankan authorities have said they are doing their best,” noted Kalpana Reddy, First Secretary for Intellectual Property (IP), South Asia based at the US Embassy in New Delhi,
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| Kalpana Reddy |
Ms Reddy, one of seven US IP experts attached to US embassies across the world, told reporters in Colombo on Monday during a visit that she had been briefed by Sri Lankan authorities on the many raids of pirated DVDs and CDs. “There seems to be quite a few raids (by the special CID cell) that we have also seen from newspapers,” she said, adding that the next big issue the Government would be confronting is illegal digital downloads.
“It’s not a big problem now since Internet penetration is around 10% but would be in the future and IP laws may need to be amended for this purpose,” she said.
Asked to respond to the dilemma of costly branded software and IT packages in low income, developing countries like Sri Lanka often beyond the reach of the middle-income consumer, she said copying, legal branded products is a criminal offence and generally many companies in this part of the world are conscious of the purchasing power of the consumer and “I would assume, price their products accordingly.” She added: “Software being too costly, I think is also a red herring.”
The US IP expert said holders of patent rights were also individually filing civil cases against violators which meant awareness of IP was improving. But she pointed out that Sri Lanka Customs had lamented that brand holders had not registered with the authorities which was causing problems (in sifting the real product from the bogus ones).
“The Government cannot go it alone; it needs the support of the patent holders and the public.”
In a recent interview with the Business Times, Dr. D.M. Karunaratna, Director General of the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka said they had limited resources but were doing their best within the circumstances.
‘We are not purposely delaying the granting of patents to inventors, but the process of issuing patents is time consuming because it has to be 100 % perfect,” he said, in response to claims of delays. So far his office has granted 40 patents after perusing 460 applications and 902 trademarks registered out of 6,244 applications last year.
Ms Reddy also returned from a visit to the Maldives where she met officials to discuss the new IP laws. She said the country is going through a transition stage and is still in the process of drafting and implementing its IP laws. “You do see counterfeit consumer (toothpaste, cosmetics, etc) and food products as well as pirated CDs and DVDs,” she said, adding that the Government recently launched an IP Rights awareness programme to publicize the new copyright law and to promote creativity and innovation. |
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