India & France Sign MoU on IPR Issues

NEW DELHI - Indian Minister of Industry Dr. Ashwani Kumar and French Minister of Industry François Loos signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Paris on July 15 to cooperate in the field of intellectual property (IP).

This gives concrete expression to the commitments made by the two governments for cooperation in this field during the visit of the French President Jacques Chirac to India on February 20, 2006, a press release by the Press Information of India stated.

Considering the imperatives of effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in a global economy and the commitment of the two countries in that area, this signing of MoU presents a major step forward in bilateral cooperation.

The MoU seeks to achieve this cooperation through training of personnel, exchange of information and experts between intellectual property institutes, sensitization of the target audiences, computerization of facilities dealing with intellectual property and the development of intellectual property database, conducting joint studies in specific cases and a dialogue on international questions regarding intellectual property.

The implementation of actions of cooperation in the MoU would be entrusted to competent institutions i.e. the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI), for the French side, and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), for the Indian side.

On this occasion, Dr. Kumar said, “the signing of this MoU is a concrete manifestation of the government’s desire to strengthen international bilateral cooperation in the field of intellectual property and to ensure protection of intellectual property rights of foreign investors and domestic industry.”