According to a press release by the Indian Press Information Bureau, the MoU would benefit closer cooperation between the two countries in fostering the protection and promotion of IPRs. The implementation of this Memorandum will be jointly by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India and the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.

According to the MoU, a joint committee will be set up to develop a dialogue on issues of intellectual property (IP) that will encompass:

• Exchange of views, information and experiences regarding the protection of intellectual property at the national level, furthermore, creating dialogue related to international issues concerning IP.

• Serve as a forum for consultations to address specific issues in the area of intellectual property in the bilateral relations of the parties.

• Development of continued institutional cooperation for regular technical exchanges between IP institutes in the two countries.

• Exchange of experiences between India and Switzerland in training on intellectual property and development of appropriate modules and curricula for such trainings and introduce Joint studies on specific IP issues.

• Exchange of experiences and best practices regarding the raising of public awareness on the role of IPRs.

• Discuss strategies aimed at preventing the manufacture, distribution, sale and consumption of counterfeit and pirated products as well as at raising public awareness of the damages caused by counterfeit and pirated products.

• Exchange of experience and dialogue on cooperation in the area of protection of geographical indications. Moreover, exchange of experience and dialogue on cooperation in the area of protection of traditional knowledge.

• Both sides agreed that the Joint Committee would meet once a year in India or Switzerland alternately.

• India has already entered into bilateral cooperation agreements on IPRs with United Kingdom, France, European Patent Office, United States Patent and Trademark Office and Japan Patent Office. The cooperation as per these agreements is in the areas of capacity building, human resource development and public awareness programs. Matters such as legislation, policy and enforcement are outside the purview of these cooperation instruments.

India has also recently modernized its IP administrative set up with the establishment of new integrated modern offices. Nath launched the e-filing facility for patent and trademark applications last month. With near about 29,000 patent applications and more than one lakh trademark applications, the Indian intellectual property office is one of the major IP offices of the world.