India's patent, copyright laws outdated: U.S official
Monday, 04 December 2006, 18:30 IST
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New Delhi: India needs to update its patent and copyright laws with modern regulatory framework to attract more foreign capital, U.S Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Franklin L. Lavin said here on Monday. "Patent and copyright laws in India are old and backdated and they nowhere match the world standards," Lavin, who is leading the largest-ever business delegation from the US, told a seminar on India-U.S trade. "Both the countries need to sit and work out a proper regulatory framework by identifying the weak areas," added Lavin, who is on a visit here with over 225 top corporate leaders to explore investment opportunities in India. Pointing out to other key concern areas, Lavin said, "India needs to seek more participation by U.S companies in the fields of retail, financial services sector and infrastructure." He said infrastructure was a very important area where India needed to concentrate seriously to sustain the current growth. Lavin, who is in India to get a better take of Indian policies on overseas investment, also elaborated on the importance of trade and business ties between the two countries. "There has been an increase of 50 percent in granting business visas this year compared to last year. The waiting time for the same has also been reduced to a week," he said and expressed interest in opening a US consulate in Hyderabad. Lauding the open skies policy between the two countries, Lavin said: "U.S and India should jointly take it forward for progress." After attending a two-day India-U.S business summit in Mumbai from Nov 29, the delegation split into smaller groups to travel all across India to explore investment opportunities here, US officials said. The delegation includes some big names like Exxon, GE, Motorola, AT&T, Avaya, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Datacorp, Bank of America and many other small and medium firms. The delegation includes around 20 representative of U.S nuclear energy companies who are looking for opportunities in the sector, particularly in the wake of the cooperation agreement being charted between the two sides.
Source: IANS
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