Chennai, Aug 12: The government plans to set up integrated intellectual property offices, to take care of issues relating to patents, designs, trade marks and geographical indications, in the four metros by December ’04. AE Ahmed, secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion, said at present these activities were housed in different offices and buildings. Once the infrastructure is in place, for which NBCC has been assigned, all would come under one roof, he said. K Skandan, Tamil Nadu industries secretary, said land has been allotted in Guindy, Chennai for this purpose.

These integrated IP offices would also be networked with each other. The government has already spent Rs 114 crore towards computerisation and networking, Mr Ahmed said. Besides, to meet the demand from Indian companies filing patents, the government is in the process of recruiting over 200 patent examiners, he said.
About 9,538 patent cases were filed in ’02-03 in various offices, compared with 2,824 cases in 1999-’00. According to officials, 227 additional posts of patent examiners have been created now, of which 62 have already been recruited, while a further 113 candidates have been issued offer letters. A digital database of over one lakh patent records and 48,000 design records has been prepared so far. Bureau Report