India ranks a low 23rd in global intellectual property index

India has been placed 23rd in a ranking of 24 countries – only ahead of China - in terms of protection and enforcement of intellectual property practices, a survey shows.

According to a survey conducted by European legal firm Taylor Wessing LLP,  India and China are last in the list, placed at the 23rd and 24th positions, respectively, in 'IP competitiveness' in the Global Intellectual Property Index 2009.

The UK tops Taylor Wessing's Global Intellectual Property Index (GIPI) and is followed by Germany and the US.

According to the IP ranking, UK, Germany, USA, Australia and the Netherlands are grouped in Tier 1; Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, France and Singapore are in Tier 2; Japan, Israel, Spain, South Africa and South Korea are in Tier 3; Mexico, UAE and Italy are in Tier 4 while Turkey, Poland, Russia, Brazil, India and China are in Tier 5.

India has been awarded an overall rating of 521, showing how well the country protects and enforces the intellectual property. Russia and Brazil are at 21st and 22nd positions, respectively.

"The 'BRIC' countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) remain at the bottom of rankings but all receive significantly higher ratings," it further said.

The survey was conducted globally among experts (over 18,000 country assessments to date) with analysis of empirical data and a review of any recent material changes at the local level.

The index provides an assessment of the best and worst jurisdictions to obtain, exploit, enforce and attack particular types of IP: trademarks, patents, copyrights, domain names and design rights.

UK and Germany are leaders in all areas of IP – they are the only two jurisdictions which are ranked in the top tier for every area of IP assessed. Australia and the Netherlands have been elevated to top tier – they join the GIPI 1 leaders of the UK, USA and Germany.

''Russia and Mexico are on the upward move – the former is now leading the BRIC group of countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) with the strongest score for any country in the patent index; and significant climbs in both the trade mark and copyright rankings,'' the release said.

Mexico also made good gains and was especially favoured for cost-effectiveness of enforcement. Canada's copyright setback – whilst it gained a little in overall rating and remained unchanged in rank and tier, Canada's fall in copyright rating and rank was the biggest for any sub-index.

''UK is second for copyright, contradicting its recent consumer survey result of "worst" in world – the UK only lost out to 1st placed USA by a narrow margin on copyright.''

''With the value of many tangible assets, in particular real estate, falling in the current economic climate, there's a growing appreciation by businesses of the significant value of their intellectual property (IP) assets,'' the release noted.

These include various forms of creative output: inventions, know-how, information, copyright, brand names, designs and other intangibles. Many businesses now recognise that their success in this climate depends largely on how carefully they protect, defend and exploit their IP to establish and secure their competitive edge, it noted.

Taylor Wessing has assessed IP competitiveness based on the facilitation for obtaining, exploiting, enforcing and attacking the main types of IP: trademarks, patents and copyright. For this it has used a worldwide survey of experts (over 18,000 country assessments to date) along with analysis of empirical data and a review of any recent material changes at a local level.

''The consumer survey was a measure only of the "fair use" defences available, whereas the GIPI is a much broader measure. It suggests the UK has got the balance between owner and user interests about right.''

The increasing importance of IP – 60 per cent of the survey's respondents said that the time their organisation spends dealing with IP has increased over the past three years - a slight drop on the GIPI 1 figure. Only 3 per cent said they spend less time on IP than previously.

"As businesses see real value in their IP and that of competitors, they are still prepared, notwithstanding the global recession, to spend the time and money needed to protect their own IP and manage the risk of infringing other's IP. The opportunities and risks presented by the internet have especially sharpened people's focus on IP. Respondents' ratings on cost effectiveness alone consistently put Germany top. However, even mid-tier results on that for the UK and near-bottom tier for the USA did not materially change their overall GIPI rating and ranking.  It means, for now at least, cost is not dictating the results,'' commented Roland Mallinson, IP partner at Taylor Wessing LLP.

Taylor Wessing LLP is a leading law firm providing legal support for commercial organisations doing business in Europe, the Middle East and China.