Our indigenous products can also benefit immensely if IPR law is implemented along with their branding
Making timely changes in the laws related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) as per the international standard has been long overdue. Individuals and companies that had found a niche for their brands in the local and international markets had been calling for timely amendments to the existing IPR law, which also covers the sectors related to industrial trade mark, patent rights and copyrights. Developed countries have protected the innovation, invention, individual creation, research works and their industrial trade mark through the IPR law, violation of which must be paid to the tune of millions or billions of dollars in fine depending upon the damage caused to the affected parties. However, Nepal's law related to IPR is so weak that anyone can imitate any brand and sell it in the market as if it was his/her own creation or invention. Plagiarism is rife in the academic sphere, especially in universities, where even renowned professors have been accused of plagiarising works from international authors without giving any citation. If such unlawful acts are not controlled by the IPR law, people and companies will not reap benefits from their hard work and the government will also lose revenue to be collected from the sale and promotion of such genuine brands.
The Nepali market is flooded with copycat brands which has affected the government and consumers.
In order to address the problems faced by individuals and companies because of a weak IPR, Min-ister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu said the other day that the government was committed to strengthening IPR law to motivate intellectuals, creative individuals and companies, and facilitate and enhance foreign direct in-vestment (FDI) for economic prosperity. He said the ministry was implementing two major legal instruments – Trademark, Patent and Copyright Act and New Integrated IPR Act – and has also drafted the Industrial Property Rights Bill for the protection of innovation, inventive trademark and certified mark based on the IPR. IPR experts believe Nepal has not been able to attract FDI due to lack of proper IPR law.
Nepal's local products such as tea, coffee, locally-brewed raksi, wine or other alcohol-related products, shoes, handicraft items and fibers made from stinging nettle, Ayurvedic medicines made from locally-harvested herbs, mineral bottled water and indigenous legumes and marshi rice grown in the high altitude areas can also benefit immensely if the IPR law is strictly implemented along with incentives to the entrepreneurs. However, we need to know how to brand them in the domestic and international markets with attractive packages and a certified trademark.
We have been doing paltry business with these goods, which can be sold at higher prices in the international markets provided we promote their branding and trademark to be protected by the IPR law.
Therefore, the government should not delay in endorsing the Industrial Property Rights Bill by the federal parliament. Once this bill is passed, it will be easier to attract more FDI in the highly productive and service sectors. Creativity, innovation and invention are the inherent quality of human beings, which should not be spoiled due to lack of a strong IPR law.
Bagmati's woes
It's been more than a decade since the Bagmati clean-up campaign was initiated, but if clean water will ever flow there is anyone's guess. Although the weekly campaign has helped collect much of the garbage along the banks of the river, one must admit that it does no good when raw sewage and the city's waste continue to be dumped straight into it. There was a time, just some decades back, when children swam in the river, and people went there to brush their teeth and wash their face in the morning. Still for others, it provided water for cooking and washing on a daily basis. All that reads like folklore - the river is literally dead, with stench emanating from the water that is now black in colour.
Unlike rivers in other countries, the Bagmati is holy to the residents of the Kathmandu Valley. The last rites of the deceased are performed on the banks of the river, and people come here to take a ritual dip in the holy river. Can the river regain its past glory? While the debris and garbage can be collected from the river, cleaning the polluted river will require building sewage treatment plants along it to allow only treated water to be released into the river, as it has been done recently at the Pashupatinath Temple area.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 19, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.