India pips US, UK in IP laws, enforcement practices

New Delhi, May 7 (PTI) India has been ranked top globally
for enforcing intellectual property laws, ahead of some of the
most advanced nations, like the United States and the United
Kingdom, a survey says.

According to a survey conducted by London-based Consumers
International, South Korea, China, the US and Indonesia follow
India in the "best rated countries" category of its IP Watch
List 2009.

"The list of countries that best support the interests of
consumers is dominated by large Asian economies; but they are
in odd company with the United States, which has regularly
criticised those same countries for failing to adequately
protect and enforce intellectual property rights," it said.

"This reflects the fact that US policy makers apply
double standards when comparing their own copyright system to
systems from abroad," it further said.

India has been awarded an overall rating of "A",
reflecting how well the country observes consumers' interests
in its national copyright law and enforcement practices.

Significantly, the UK, the country where copyright law
first developed in the 16th century, has been put among the
worst-rated nations. Other countries in this category include
Thailand, Argentina, Brazil and Chile.

The IP Watch List covers 16 countries from around the
world. The survey examines the intellectual property (IP) laws
and enforcement practices of a large number of countries.

"The intent of this IP Watch List is to assess how well
the copyright laws and enforcement policies of the surveyed
countries support the interests of consumers, by allowing them
fair access to the fruits of their society's culture and
science," Consumer International, which claims to be the
world's only global consumer advocacy body, said.

As for the low ranking of the UK in the list, the survey
said the country is joined by "a number of developing and
transitional economies, whose outdated copyright laws fail to
take advantage of all of the flexibilities that international
law allows them to benefit local consumers".

This is the first-ever IP watch list by Consumer
International and is solely focussed to copyright-related
issues. PTI SKR
SAK