India leads advanced nations in enforcing IP Laws: Study

According to the London-based Consumers International, India leads the advanced countries like the US and UK in the enforcement of intellectual property laws. South Korea, China, the US and Indonesia follow India in the 'best rated countries'' category of its IP Watch list 2009.
 
The 2009 Consumers International IP Watch List covers 16 countries from around the world (with more planned for coverage in the next edition in 2010).

In its report, the body said that the interests of consumers are best supported by large Asian economies. But these countries are in the odd company of the US, which has been a strong critic of countries, including India, South Korea, China and Indonesia that fail to take adequate measures to protect intellectual property rights.

The US, releasing the Special 301 report last week, which aims to 'name and shame' countries with inadequate protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights relating to American patents and copyright works, had put India along with 35 other countries including Canada, the US' largest trading partner, in the list. (See: US keeps India high on intellectual property watchlist)

This list is compiled by a number of US trade associations, and is mainly concerned with countries that have major trade relationships with the US. It considerably influences US government trade policy.

In his opening comments on the USTR report, Jeremy Malcolm of Consumers International's global project to promote 'Access to Knowledge' (A2K) network for consumers said ,"Consumers International's inaugural IP Watch List, released this week, revealed that there are a number of less developed countries providing an example for the rest of the world of how to balance copyright owners' interests with consumers' access to knowledge. But judging from the latest United States' Special 301 Report, also just released, this is an insight that US policy makers still lack."

Malcolm concludes his commentary, "The USTR must recognise that intellectual property owners and their highly-paid lobbyists are not the only stakeholders in the global intellectual property system; so too are consumers, whose legitimate interests in access to knowledge, including the availability of adequate copyright flexibilities and the maintenance of a vibrant public domain, must also be taken into account if the 301 Report is to hold any credibility."

Similarly, in its response to the 2009 USTR 301 report, Consumers International said on 5 May, ''According to this year's 301 Report, amongst the countries that have most flagrantly failed to protect and enforce US intellectual property rights are the "usual suspects" of India, Indonesia and Thailand, as well as new entrants such as - believe it or not - Canada. But in fact, rather than failing to respect the interests of rights holders, these countries have simply made their own judgments about how to reconcile those interests with the needs of consumers.''

It goes on to add that ''The Obama administration needs to bring change to the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), by ensuring that future editions of its 301 Report present a more even-handed assessment of the state of global IP protection and enforcement.''

It also says that, for the 301 Report is to hold any credibility, the USTR must recognise that intellectual property owners and their highly-paid lobbyists are not the only stakeholders in the global intellectual property system.

Consumers, whose legitimate interests in access to knowledge, including the availability of adequate copyright flexibilities and the maintenance of a vibrant public domain must also be taken into account.

The CI report says that this reflects that US policy makers apply double standards when comparing their own systems to systems from other countries.

The CI has given India an overall 'A' rating in how well a country observes consumers' interests in its national copyright law and enforcement practices.

Significantly, the UK where the copyright law originated in the 16th century, is included among the worst-rated nations. This group includes Thailand, Argentina, Brazil and Chile.

The study commends India's Copyright Act as being a relatively balanced instrument that
recognizes the consumer interests through its broad private use exceptions. The Act also facilitates the compulsory licensing of works that would otherwise be unavailable according to the report.

The report goes on to note that India did not rush to accede to the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) Copyright Treaty, which would expose India's consumers to the same problems experience in other jurisdictions that have barred the use of circumvention devices to gain access to legally acquired copyright material.

The study acknowledges the widespread infringement of copyright in India, particularly in the form of physical media. It adds, however that this must be seen in the context of India being one of the poorest countries in the world although it is growing fast.