Human Property

Patents protect inventions, while copyrights protect creative works.   As India rushes onto the world stage, it seems clear that we are only a few years away from a real explosion in activity in India related to both.

The success of a movie like Slumdog Millionaire and its musical impresario A.R. Rahman hints at a growing interest in Indian music and culture in the West, that Indian companies will no doubt want to monetize.

In fact, they will probably care more about copyright protections in Western markets than in India itself — the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack retails for a lot more in New York than in the Mumbai slum itself.

I would expect Indian cultural companies to start to really invest in copyright protections in the next five years as a way of capitalizing on growing interest in Indian music and movies in the US and Europe.

The same is true with patents.  With Indian companies like the Tata Group purchasing once powerful Western brands like Land Rover, it seems clear that Indian companies are now finally finding the confidence and capital to generate wealth alongside Western and Chinese competitors.  And to stay competitive, Indian companies will want robust patent portfolios.  A big patent book is a peacock feather —  a way of showing your intelligence and know-how in a globalized world.

India’s prospective growth rate for 2010 hovers at around 8 percent.  With Western markets continuing to look tepid, it’s just a matter of time before Indian companies make the leap and being monetizing their intellectual property in Western markets.  Expect for this to happen sooner rather than later.