Patent officers' body moves CAT against high work targets: Report

The All India Patent Officers’ Welfare Association (AIPOWA) has moved to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) against the Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trade Mark (CGPDTM) seeking judicial intervention against the high work target fixed by the CGPDTM. 

According to a report by BusinessLine, the body has set the target of processing 360 files per year. In the US, the EU, China, Brazil and Japan, the target is 100 files per year.  

The petition states that such high standards were adversely impacting the association's service conditions and hurting India's economic interests. The report further stated that the case would come up for consideration at the CAT soon. 

The association has also alleged that the department kept the Centre in the dark. In the Economic Survey 2021-22, the office of the chief economic advisor stated that in 2020-21, 58,502 patent applications were filed, and there were 615 examiners. The association, however, stated that the policymakers would not know the annual work target to dispose of all the pending cases. 

In the assessment by the Staff Inspection Unit (SIU), one examiner was justified for every 120 patent applications in 2015. However, examiners in India are already processing 137 applications in a year.  

The petition has also stated that choosing quantity over quality will hurt India's economic interests. A study commissioned by the EU in 2006 showed that unwarranted effort to raise the work rate was counterproductive in clearing the pendency, the BL report added. 

In the US, one patent examiner processes 94 applications in a year. In Brazil it is 61, in the EU it is 52 and 88 and 70 in China and Japan respectively.