Legal Regime of Intellectual Property Rights of Spatial Data with Special Reference to India

Malay Adhikari Research Scholar Centre for International Legal Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

[email protected]

Geospatial World Forum 2011, Hyderabad.

19 th January , 2011.

Scheme of Presentation

 Meaning of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)  Different Forms of IPR  Relations of IPR with Spatial Data  International Agreements for Protecting IPR  Requirement of IPR Regime in India  Existing IPR Regime in India  Conclusion

Meaning of Intellectual Property Rights 1.

Property created by human minds or intellects. 2.

Codified definition provided by Article 2(vii) of the Convention establishing World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Forms of IPR

 Two Types : (i) Industrial property related with commercial innovations (ii) Literary & Artistic property related with cultural creations.

 Example of first type : Patents, Trademarks, Industrial Designs, Geographical Indications & Trade Secrets.

 Example of second type : Copyright.

Relations of IPR with Spatial Data 1.

Technology used in acquisition & dissemination of spatial data is under patent regime.

2.

Trademark is attracted on saying ‘IRS imageries’ or ‘SPOT imageries’.

3.

Copyright attached with value added data.

Ownership of Data

 Copyright relates with ownership.

 Data audit is must at each stage of value addition to know the ownership.

International Agreements for Protecting IPR  The Outer Space Treaty, 1967.

 The Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of Earth from Outer Space, 1986.

 The Berne Convention, 1971.

 The Universal Copyright Convention, 1971.

Drawbacks in International Scenario  All these agreements above failed to implement or control the IPR of data specifically.

 No specific convention like the Satellite Convention (1971) exists for protecting IPR of data.

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Requirement of IPR Regime in India Commercialization is must for further development of geospatial industry. So more PPP or Private initiatives welcomed. Consequence is competition.

Competition must be legal.

IPR regime will be required to control the competition amongst public-private or private private initiatives legally.

Also the requirement of IRS data is high and gradually increasing in international market.

Existing IPR Regime in India

 To know the IPR regime of spatial data in India, Copyright & Trade Secrets are to be analyzed for the time being.  As the Government monopoly exists over the ownership of data, so no separate IPR regime of data exists presently in India.

Conclusion

1.

The Government should look after the interests of upcoming private sectors in geospatial data industry in India for country’s economic as well as societal development. 2.

In taking the above step first initiative is to create a separate provision for spatial data in the existing IPR laws or to make a separate law for protecting IPR of spatial data.

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