India Ranked At The Bottom Of Intellectual Property Index

The United States received the highest overall score, but came in third after the United Kingdom and France in the enforcement category.

Canada's treatment of pharmaceutical patents, copyright laws, and unwillingness to ratify international IP treaties resulted in significantly lower scores than other upper-income economies, the report said.

India continues to have the weakest IP environment of all countries included in the Index, the report said.

"Despite the 2010 declaration by the then-President of India that the next 10 years will be India's 'Decade of Innovation', the continued use of compulsory licenses, patent revocations, and weak legislative and enforcement mechanisms raise serious concerns about India's commitment to promote innovation and protect creators," it said.

According to the report, in the bio pharmaceutical space, Indian policy continued to breach international standards of the protection of innovation and patent rights, revoking patents generally accepted around the world and announcing that other patented medicines are being considered for compulsory licenses.

Most notable was the April decision by the Supreme Court of India on the patentability of the anti-cancer drug Glivec, the court held that the drug did not meet patentability standards as imposed by the Indian Patent Act's Section 3(d) regarding "incremental innovation" and limiting patent protection to what is specifically disclosed, again in contradiction to global norms, it said.

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