Indian Patent Law Very Strong, Par with Global Stds: Maruti

BANGALORE: After three major U.S. companies -Boeing, Abbott and Honeywell - auto major Maruti Suzuki has now come in support of India's intellectual property rights (IPR) regime, saying the "very strong" domestic laws are on par with international standards. American pharma sector had alleged that Indian IPR laws  discriminate against U.S. companies and violate global norms. "

Maruti Suzuki  India firmly believes that the patent law in India is very strong; especially the changes that happened after the TRIPS agreement have made Indian Patent law at par with the international standards," the company said in its views submitted to the Commerce and Industry Ministry.

MSI said: "Many recent judgments have proved that strong patent law not only secures the rights of patentee, but also ensures genuine public need. The IPR law in India provides transparent system of securing and enforcing the patent rights." It also said that the Indian government grants patents to encourage inventions. "We have not observed any violation of our IP rights and our rights are fully secured under Indian IP laws," it added.

The company, however, said that "further betterment in the processes would always help stakeholders and the awareness to enforcement agencies for proper execution of laws". MSI has one of the biggest automobile R&D set-ups in India, where it develops technologies and files IPR for them. Earlier, U.S. defence major Honeywell, civil aviation firm Boeing and drug firm Abbott had come out strongly in support of India's IPR regulations.

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