The Indian Patent Office has granted 18,230 new patents in 2008-09, Lok Sabha was informed today.
"The Indian Patent Office has received a large number of applications during the last three years," the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said in a written reply in the Lower House.
Of the 36,877 applications filed in 2008-09, 18,230 applications were granted patents.
For 2007-08, the patent office received 35,218 applications and 15,261 patents were approved.
Asked if the government has any proposal to increase the number of patent examiners and to modernise the existing patent machinery, Scindia said, "The government has approved implementation of the Modernisation and Strengthening of Intellectual Property Offices scheme during the 11th Five-Year Plan.
He added, the scheme provides for creation of more posts of examiners of patents, designs and for modernisation of the infrastructure of the patent office.
The salient components of the scheme include development of infrastructure, recruitment, computerisation and creation of awareness.
