Osgoode alum, Ron Fernando explains how India’s lack of patent protection for software affects innovators and investors in the July/August 2009 issue of the leading IP trade magazine Managing Intellectual Property. Here’s a quick intro paragraph:
“Proponents and opponents of software patents in Europe and the US have all but argued themselves into a standstill. Neither side is willing to change its views and the respective patent offices are reluctant to shift from the positions they have adopted when examining applications, however logically inconsistent. But in India, with a growing domestic software industry, the debate is still necessary and, with the Indian Patent Office still drafting its manual for patent examiners, timely. The arguments in favour of granting more patent protection are based around the idea that, for India’s software industry to move to the next stage of development, companies need the protection and revenue stream generated by patents, while new and innovative companies need to prevent larger rivals, both Indian and international, from stealing their ideas.”
Read the rest of his article on Managing IP
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