Interviews
Handloom & handicraft clusters should apply for IPR – expert
22 Feb '10
2 min read
Not having patents for their handloom and handicraft products, whether handed down traditionally since centuries or developed with years of sweat and research, is proving costly for artisans and small manufacturing units from these two high employment generating sectors.
The cost of seeking patents is also too high. In India it costs between Rs 100,000 and 150,000, while in the developed countries like the US, it is prohibitively expensive. The cost could range between Rs 0.5 million and Rs 1.5 million, which is not affordable to the hundreds of thousands of units in these two sectors.
To get around the prohibitive costs, handloom and handicrafts clusters should apply for the patents and contain the duplication of their products and at the same time they can also do away with the traditional middle-men, who earn excessive profits by buying these products cheaply from the manufacturers, says a copyright expert.
Fibre2fashion spoke to Mr Jiten Talwar of Talwar and Talwar Consultants, a firm which is mainly involved in providing consultancy services on intellectual property rights (IPR) to SMEs and learnt as to how it would benefit the marginalized handloom and handicraft exporting sectors in the country.
Mr Jiten said, “Adequate IP protection is absolutely essential in the international market as there are several important issues that confront exporters in general and handicraft exporters in particular. Some of the issues are - Copyright violation, Trademark violation, Trade dress violation and Design patent violation.”
He added by saying, “It is important that in case, any manufacturer has an original idea or design, adequate protection is taken by registering the same and it can be a great marketing tool as well as a good tool against copying by others, thus handloom manufacturers can especially benefit by getting a better value for their innovative designs, brands and processes.”
It would be interesting for our readers to know that your website; Fibre2fashion is also involved in promotion of handloom clusters like the Bhagalpur silk handloom cluster, which we promote through an on-line website and by holding reverse buyer-seller meets involving Indian and overseas buyers at the doorsteps of these clusters.
The cost of seeking patents is also too high. In India it costs between Rs 100,000 and 150,000, while in the developed countries like the US, it is prohibitively expensive. The cost could range between Rs 0.5 million and Rs 1.5 million, which is not affordable to the hundreds of thousands of units in these two sectors.
To get around the prohibitive costs, handloom and handicrafts clusters should apply for the patents and contain the duplication of their products and at the same time they can also do away with the traditional middle-men, who earn excessive profits by buying these products cheaply from the manufacturers, says a copyright expert.
Fibre2fashion spoke to Mr Jiten Talwar of Talwar and Talwar Consultants, a firm which is mainly involved in providing consultancy services on intellectual property rights (IPR) to SMEs and learnt as to how it would benefit the marginalized handloom and handicraft exporting sectors in the country.
Mr Jiten said, “Adequate IP protection is absolutely essential in the international market as there are several important issues that confront exporters in general and handicraft exporters in particular. Some of the issues are - Copyright violation, Trademark violation, Trade dress violation and Design patent violation.”
He added by saying, “It is important that in case, any manufacturer has an original idea or design, adequate protection is taken by registering the same and it can be a great marketing tool as well as a good tool against copying by others, thus handloom manufacturers can especially benefit by getting a better value for their innovative designs, brands and processes.”
It would be interesting for our readers to know that your website; Fibre2fashion is also involved in promotion of handloom clusters like the Bhagalpur silk handloom cluster, which we promote through an on-line website and by holding reverse buyer-seller meets involving Indian and overseas buyers at the doorsteps of these clusters.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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