Washington (TIP): India ranked 40 among 53 global economies on the latest annual edition of the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index released on Tuesday, March 23. Released annually by the US Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Centre (GIPC), the Index evaluates Intellectual Property rights in 53 global economies—from patent and copyright policies to commercialisation of IP assets and ratification of international treaties.

The overall global IP environment improved in 2020, with positive score increasing in 32 of the 53 economies measured by the IP Index. This is the ninth IP index released by the GIPC. “India ranked 40th in 2020, scoring 38.4 out of 100 on a set of 50 intellectual property-related indicators,” the GIPC said in a media release. India’s overall score has increased from 36.04 per cent (16.22 out of 45) in the seventh edition to 38.46 per cent (19.23 out of 50) in the eighth edition. India has shown real improvement over the past few years, the report said, adding that it has made a string of positive efforts which resulted in a score increase because of stronger enforcement efforts and precedent-setting court cases involving copyright and trademark infringement. Nevertheless, rights-holders in India continue to face substantive challenges, particularly regarding the patenting environment, in which India’s policy framework continues to deny patent eligibility to a broad range of innovations, it said.