United World

India is riding fast towards development on its technological progression. A stringent IPR protection and its robust enforcement mechanism seems indispensable to grow as an economy. IPR laws have lately gained significance in the Indian legal system and are also responsible for augmenting the economy. The government is waking up to intrinsic crimes against intellectual property and acknowledging their status at par to other offences. The Government of India through its Home Affairs Ministry (Police-I Division, Police Training Section) issued a Notification vide F.No.23011/14/2017-PT dated 10th October 2017 introducing regular courses on enforcement of IPR for Police Officials. A course on “Investigation of Infringement of IPR” was organised by Central Detective Training Institute, Ghaziabad, on 28th August 2108, where United IPR was invited to expound and delineate upon IPR laws in India.

The course was focussed on giving insights about all the IP protections available and their overlaps, and their linkages with allied statutes. The knowledge was imparted with the intention to make officers able to differentiate between various IP protections and to give a wide perspective while enforcing the rights.

The full-day training was divided into four interactive sessions and it dealt with not only the Trademarks & Copyright laws but also covered other aspects of Intellectual Property Rights including the Designs, Patents, Geographical Indications, Traditional Knowledge and Plant Varieties. The officers were also trained on how to distinguish between a genuine and counterfeit product by providing them with physical specimens and offering a first-hand experience of different products of the participating right-holders, which included COTY Brands, POLO RALPH LAUREN, MONSTER ENERGY, DITA, VANS and CHROME HEARTZ. Enforcement mechanism pertaining to all the IPR laws were clarified and the role of police in IP protection was explained in detail during the interactive session.

The training was attended by 25 police officers, including Sub Inspector to D.S.P Rank officers, from all over India. The inaugural session was presided over by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, who propounded upon the on-ground difficulties faced by police officers upon dealing with IPR infringement cases and also shared his experiences. He also delved upon how this training is relevant in the present scenario for the police.

The police officials actively took interest in the whole day training and sincerely became part of the question-answer session by putting up queries about IPR law enforcement. They shared their feedback and felt well equipped to handle various IPR infringement cases after the training. The training was considered effective also in addressing economic & social implications of infringement of IP laws, such as child labour, tax evasion, terror financing, etc.