US Again Puts India On Priority Watch List For Alleged IP Rights Violations
The report has listed eight countries, including India in its ‘priority watch list’
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2025-04-29 11:47 GMT
New Delhi: The US on Tuesday again placed India on its ‘priority watch list’ stating that New Delhi remains one of the world’s most challenging major economies with respect to protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights.
“Although India has worked to strengthen its IP regime, including raising public awareness about the importance of the subject, and engagement with the US on IP issues has increased, there continues to be a lack of progress on many long-standing IP concerns,” a report said.
As per the US Trade Representative's (USTR) 2025 Special 301 report, over the past year, India has remained inconsistent in its progress on intellectual property protection and enforcement. The report has listed eight countries, including India in its ‘priority watch list’. China, Indonesia, Russia, Argentina, and Venezuela are among others on the list. It has also placed 25 countries, including Pakistan and Turkey on the list.
“India remains one of the world’s most challenging major economies with respect to protection and enforcement of IP. India remains on the Priority Watch List in 2025,” it said, adding that patent issues continue to be of particular concern in India.
However, it also alleged that all the stakeholders continue to express concerns over vagueness in the interpretation of the Indian Patents Act.
“Among other concerns, the potential threat of patent revocations and the procedural and discretionary invocation of patentability criteria under the Indian Patents Act impact companies across different sectors. Moreover, patent applicants generally continue to confront long waiting periods to receive patent grants and excessive reporting requirements,” the report said.
Despite India’s justifications of limiting IP protections as a way to promote access to technologies, India maintains high customs duties directed to IP-intensive products such as information and communications technology (ICT) products, solar energy equipment, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and capital goods.
The report also said that while steps to improve IP Office operations and procedures are to be commended, India's overall IP enforcement remains inadequate. “The US intends to continue to engage with India on IP matters, including through the trade policy forum's intellectual property working group,” it added.