Patents were granted to software until 1006. In a landmark judgment, US Supreme Court severed the exclusionary right in patents and refused to grant injunction. This leads to a question “How US patent law is falling short off”.

The emerging trend of startups globally has encouraged government to invest in it. In the time lag between invention and innovation, government has an important role to play. These start- ups come up with lot of ideas but due to lack of funds, community is deprived of invention. Startups need to be educated about the IPR system and how their invention can be protected under IPR system. Article 7 of TRIPS – promotes technology transfer.

The Patent Regime should not be viewed as a system that creates absolute monopoly preventing competition but instead the objective of the patent system is creation of a system generating possibilities of sharing, participating in patentable solutions.

India ranks 66 globally in the list of most innovative economies. India is rated as one of the competent patent offices among 15 ranks. It is significant to note that Government of India has taken several initiatives for ip enforcement and streamlining IP filing process, as per the statistics available, 88% of Patent Application filed with Indian Patent Office in 2007 was through online mode. Also several MOU’s (Memorandum of Understanding) by DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, India) with USPTO (United States Patent Office) and JPTO (Japan Patent Office) leading to adherence to best industry practices such as exchange programs involving patent examiners and training the patent officers.

The state of play at international level; ambit broadening from pharmaceutical arena to computer inventions; harmonization of patent laws, synergising new inventions, comments on government policies are the need of the hour to concentrate on Investment, Invention and Innovation and role of each towards greater development of Intellectual property globally. The conference highlighted the unresolved confusion that lingers around Section 3(d) of the Patent Act. Competition Law and IP appear to be conflicting with one another but in reality seems to work together to achieve the purpose of protection of consumers and facilitating research and development.

The conference also highlighted various active and growing fields and their impact on the economy such as Biosimilars, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Humanoids, Virtual Reality, etc. As per various studies, these fields have ‘far reaching impact’ in almost all areas of human activity. Discussion regarding 3D printing led to emergeing questions such as ‘whether 3D printing is democratization of Design or Copycat`s Paradise’, ‘Do we need to reprint the Law?’ the number of users adopting virtual reality is expected to reach 171 million and therefore use and work of IP is going to only expand. The Conference also introduced various thorny issues such as difficulties pertaining to protection of trade secrets, Enforcement of IP in digital World, online violations, piracy, the prevailing truths and untruths regarding IP in India etc.