India and Switzerland, on Tuesday, signed a memorandum of understading (MoU) for closer cooperation between the two countries in fostering protection and promotion of intellectual property (IP) rights.

The MoU was signed here by Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Kamal Nath and Department of Economic Affairs of Swiss Confederation Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard.

Implementation of the MoU will be jointly done by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.

Bilateral relations

The MoU envisages setting up of a joint committee to develop a dialogue on issues of IP, including exchange of views, information and experiences at the national level.

It will also take up international matters concerning IP, serve as a forum for consultations to address specific issues in the bilateral relations, development of continued institutional cooperation for regular technical exchanges between IP institutes in the two countries and exchange of experiences between India and Switzerland in IP training.

The joint committee will also take up development of appropriate modules and curricula for such trainings, undertake joint studies on specific IP issues, exchange of experiences and best practices regarding the raising of public awareness on the role of IP rights, discuss strategies aimed at preventing the manufacture, distribution, sale and consumption of counterfeit and pirated products as well as raising public awareness of the damages caused by counterfeit and pirated products.

Areas of Cooperation

It will also exchange experiences and engage in dialogue on cooperation in the area of protection of geographical indications and towards protection of traditional knowledge.

Both sides agreed that the joint committee would meet once a year in India or Switzerland alternately.
India has already entered into similar bilateral agreements with the UK, France, European Patent Office, the US Patent and Trademark Office and Japan Patent Office. The cooperation as per these agreements is in the areas of capacity building, human resource development and public awareness programmes.

However, matters such as legislation, policy and enforcement are outside the purview of these cooperation instruments, an official statement said.