The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) recently released its 2025 Special 301 Report on the adequacy and effectiveness of the US Trading partner’s protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property (IP) rights. The report continues to put India on the Priority Watch List for 2025 though it acknowledges that India has worked hard to strengthen its IP regime. Yet, it wants New Delhi to do a lot more. The potential threat of patent revocations and the procedural and discretionary invocation of patentability criteria under the Indian Patents Act, according to the report, impacts companies across different sectors. Long waiting periods to receive patent grants, excessive reporting requirements and issues related to the interpretation of the Indian Patents Act appear as justification for the US action in putting India on a priority watch list. During the last year, India has continued to take action against websites with pirated content. Nonetheless, weak enforcement of IP by law enforcement, a lack of familiarity with IP-specific investigation techniques, the continued absence of coordination among India’s many national- and state-level law enforcement agencies, and the lack of meaningful deterrent penalties, continue to hamper enforcement and prosecution efforts.
The report lauded the steps taken to improve operations and procedures. The establishment of additional Intellectual Property Divisions at the High Courts at the Calcutta and Himachal Pradesh further strengthens the efforts. Washington is keen to continue to engage with New Delhi to sort out IP-related hurdles.
