The government is planning to set up a registrar office in the country to issue and cancel patents of any technological innovation.
The plan will be implemented after updating the century-old patent law. The government has designed two fresh laws in this regard.
One of the proposed laws the ‘Bangladesh Patents Act, 2021’ will to be placed in the 15th session of the 11th Jatiya Sangsad (JS). The session will begin today (November 14).
KM Abdus Salam, secretary to the Parliament Secretariat, informed that Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun is scheduled to place the ‘Bangladesh Patents Bill, 2021’ in the House. The bill will be sent to the respective parliamentary committee for scrutinising.
The Cabinet on February 22 this year approved the draft of the ‘Bangladesh Patents Bill, 2021’.
According to the proposed law, the owners would receive patents of any innovation for 20 years upon application and then it would be a public property. However, the approval for designs would be given for five years initially.
The cases, particularly general rights and compensation-related issues, will be treated as civil affairs and civil courts will handle them. However, cheating and similar offences will be dealt with under the penal code. If anyone fails to carry out the orders under different articles of the proposed law, the compensation would be between Tk 5 lakh- Tk10 lakh.
An official of the Industries Ministry said that they have designed another law the ‘Bangladesh Industry-Design Bill, 2021’ in a bid to protect intellectual property rights of industrial design.
Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam said that the government has taken the initiative to enact two separate laws by splitting the ‘Patents and Designs Act, 1911’ as there are a large number of diversified affairs under the old law.
The same patent registrar office would function as the administrative office for the industrial designs.
The Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (DPDT) now deals with patent and industrial design.
In 2016, the government had taken the initiative to enact separate laws-- one for dealing issues relating to patents and the other relating to designs of industrial products.
The move to replace the old law was taken following the World Trade Organisation’s resolution adopted in its general assembly in 2004.
