Patents: China 5th, India nowhere in top 10

The results are out. In terms of the patent filings this year, India is nowhere in the picture while US is way ahead and China is catching up. As usual, everybody thinks it is because of lack of focus on basic research in India. The real reason is something else.

Firstly, in India, people are used to being jack of all than being the master of one. Of course there is a reason to this. We are a country where there is a shortage for almost everything, even now. This forces people to focus on the basic necessities and live for the present than think of the long term. Most of the people still prefer working for a company than do something on their own.

Secondly, even the guys who get into research will have the job in mind rather than create a revolution in their field of research. I remember one of my classmates who did a doctorate in a niche area of computer science and later took up a job in a private company where he never did anything related to his field of research. He was one of the brightest in our class and got a gold medal in IIT Madras during his masters degree.

The real clincher is our legal system. Assuming someone files for a patent and gets it too. What is the guarantee that the same is enforceable by law. At-least in India, unless you have good connections, the court cases will take so long that you will forget what you fought for by the time the verdict is delivered. When such is the case why would someone want to waste time spending money to file for a patent?

In the developed countries, people are used to filing patents for anything and everything. In India, especially in the country side you will come across a lot of innovations which can be patented, but the inventors don't even have enough money to hire a patent consultant to file for it. They don't even know their invention's worth.

In summary, the prevailing economic conditions, the mindset of the people, the legal system and awareness about the value of getting something patented are some of the main reasons for less number of patent filings from India. Not spending enough money on basic research is certainly not the main reason. We have enough research institutes where good amount of research happens.