Happy New Year 2023!

The India IP SME Helpdesk wishes everyone a happy end to the end 2022, and looks forward to continuing to assist European SMEs willing to do business in India for the years to come.

The year 2022 has brought some important news in terms of IP developments in India, of which we would like to highlight the following: 

• India SC clarifies likelihood of confusion criteria
• National patent applications in India surpassed international applications for the first time in 11 years
• Indian Government proposes the creation of IP Divisions in High Courts
• EUIPO and DPIIT sign a bilateral agreement
• TM protection in the Metaverse: Indian registry sees filing activities in related classes
• Delhi HC pledges for a cancellation mechanism for TM owners before infringing domain names
• Delhi HC analyses a patent of process on the basis of the doctrine of equivalence
• AI Art and copyright protection in India

This is also an opportunity for the Consortium running the India IP SME Helpdesk (consisting of University of Alicante, Eurice and Eurochambre) to have a look back to what has been achieved in the 2 years since the inception of the Helpdesk. While the global situation regarding international commerce, and therefore the internationalisation of EU SMEs to a new market such as India, was far from ideal at the time the Helpdesk was launch (thanks COVID!), there is no doubt that it has proven a highly fruitful 24 months. 

The Helpdesk's website is now packed with documents and information useful to any entrepreneur looking to protect their intellectual property in India, namely through 12 Factsheets or Guides to the protection of IP in a given sector or for a specific intangibles along with 13 Infographics, and 12 Videos, 18 Case Studies illustrating best practices at the time of protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights in India, and a full list of FAQs answering to all the main questions which arise at the time of protecting IP in India. Additionally, over 100 News Articles and 20 Blog Posts have been published by the Consortium!

Despite travelling being highly restricted, especially in the year 2021, the India IP SME Helpdesk has been able to take part in over 60 matchmaking events in Europe and India, during which our IP Experts expert help to European SMEs during face-to-face meeting or the online calls we have all become so accustomed to. Likewise, over 60 training sessions were organised, either as participants to larger conferences or as webinars. Overall, the Helpdesk has, through these channels, been able to connect with over 1000 European entrepreneurs, researchers and users looking for better information on how to best go about protecting their intellectual property internationally.

We therefore want to wish to everyone a very happy 2023, and the India IP SME Helpdesk will remain at the service of any European SME looking for assistance on IP in India!