As most of you may have already heard, the Controller General of Patents, Trademarks & Designs Mr. P.H. Kurian has resigned from his post despite completing only half of his five year term. The new Congress led State Government at Kerala has requested him to join it as the Principal Secretary – an extremely important post in any State Government. This comes as no surprise given the acute shortage of honest AND efficient bureaucrats in this country. Image of Mr. P.H.Kurian from here.
Mr. Kurian was the first officer from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre to be appointed as the Controller General of Patents. Shamnad had blogged about his appointment over here and fortunately his optimism about the possible virtues of Mr. Kurian’s appointment did come true during his tenure. Mr. Kurian was literally the ‘Knight in Shining Armour’ that the much ignored patents and trademark office so deperately required.
C.H. Unnikrishnan of the Mint has done a detailed story over here on the circumstances of Kurian’s appointment and his subsequent departure from the patent office. As rightly noted by Unni some of his biggest achievements relate to his efforts to greatly increase the transparency of the patent office. He achieved this by not only digitization of the patent and trademark office records but also streamlining the various procedures for the grant of both patents and trademarks. Apart from this Mr. Kurian also substantially revamped the patent agent examination to greatly increase the quality of patent agents. His continued efforts in dealing with the severe resource crunch at the patent office finally led to the DIPP hiring over 200 new examiners. It would be safe to say that Mr. Kurian has left an indelible mark on the patent office.
His most important achievement in my opinion was his ability to rein in the galloping number of patents being granted by the patent office. As we had pointed out in an earlier post “In 2004-05, the patent office granted just 1,911 patents with a staff of 150 examiners and 20 Asst. Controllers. By 2006-07 this climbed to a whopping 7,539 patents with a staff of 133 Examiners & 33 Assistant Controllers. In 2008-09 the patent office proceeded to grant 16,061 patents with a reduced staff of 75 patent examiners & 70 Asst. Controllers. The Annual Report for the year 2009-2010 shows that grants have fallen to a more believable 6168 patents with no great change in the numbers of examiners and controllers.” As discussed earlier, there is no way any patent office in the world could have granted 16,061 good patents with a staff of just 75 examiners and 70 Controllers. Bringing down this number to a slightly more believable 6168 patents, at the risk of being judged as inefficient, is something which must have required more than the prescribed limit of courage for an IAS officer. Luckily for this country Mr. Kurian had that courage of vision which is otherwise so rare in today’s short-sighted governance.
I am sure that some of our readers have many more platitudes for Mr. Kurian’s fantastic term at the patent office and I invite you to share your experiences in the comments sections below. The only reward for honest men like Mr. Kurian is the appreciation of those whose lives they have touched. So don’t be stingy with your comments!
I shall always remember him as during his tenure only I passed patent agent exam.My best wishes to him for wherever he goes.
mani bhushan
An officer highly dedicated, deciplined and full of determinations. Mr P H Kurian will always be remembered as a God Father of Reforms in the History of IP India. May God bless him with success on every step he takes.I wish him all the best for his new assignment
IP India was in a very bad shape , when Kurian joined as controller General. The corrupt official were not comfortable. There was no transparency in the working. The mismanagement and corruption was peak in the Trade Mark Registry . Every one used to feel that he is the final authority. The applications were accepted and published on the basis of liking of the officials. Kurian brought changes and ensured that the office turns corruption free. Kurian did very good work for the office . During his tenure the things started moving in order, What will be fate of this office now. Will the policies framed by Kurian continue or the changes will be made to suit the corrupt officers
It is sad to know that PH kurien has resigned and as we were looking for much more work / accomplishments from him in coming years but alas he is leaving many unfinished work which are yet to see light of the day, which would have brought more desired transparency in TM registry as ever body knows what has been happening in the years before 2009 but when kurien came he brought many changes in work system. As earlier before his joining the staff of TM registry use to clear files/ searches in bulk of their known people / contacts only on financial gains as Mr Kurien brought so much transparency that every examiner was waiting to get the news for last four years in anxiety that when Mr KURIEN is going to leave or when we are going to get rid from TM registry.
As every body knows about the recent case of 60,000 missing files, so again we are going to witness the same chaos again, which i think will bring TM registry in to brink.
I feel no one in ministry or TM registry is interested in bring systematized changes rather everyone in this country is in to money minting spree
I always remember him as a good person. i hope where he will be, dat place will be corruption free.
I would be bold enough to state that the powers that be (read DIPP mandarin) did not like all the work that was being done by Mr. Kurian.
Perhaps it is time that the government and in particular the DIPP let the professionals do their jobs.
kurien gave freedom for people to function and never bent before attorneys .his biggest achievement is IPAIRS whose ramifications will be felt for the time to come ,whether he is in charge or not.
His exit proves that reforms are difficult to be implemented without necessary support. after all old habits die hard.
The office was a house of corruption. The examples are the two Deputy Registrars arrested by CBI. The assets of the staff are higher than their income, From where the money comes ? The illegal means of earning money by the staff is taken as their right. What will be the fate of this office after Kurian ? God only knows. The CBI must look in to the assets of the employees of the office. The staff was not happy during the tenure of Kurian as he made transparancy, the base and this was not liked by the staff as their illegal income came to a halt. Good job done Kurian. Officers of your taste are required every where in India. May Kurian live long
The only mistake Kurian did was that he did not suspend or terminated the corrupt officials
People like Mr Kurain are needed in the patent office. At least he should have served for 5 more years to make our patent office at par or may be even better than the USPTO , EPO, JPO etc. He has made IPO gain respect abroad also. Is there any way by which he can be brought back? Can the aam janta do anything about this?
Very very sad to hear this.All that can be requested is to appoint an IAS office only as the next C.G since it is the corruption and not the lack of technical expertise which is ruining the patent office.
I would say that he should have completed his term as only such people who are bold, sincere and honest can seriously bring about changes. In an area like IP where qualitative growth is very essential the role of such sincere officers are inevitable.. This is seriously a grt loss to the IP Registry. Let’s all gain energy from his acts and keep alive his efforts and attempts to clean up the system… Wishing you all the very best sir…
God Save the intellectual property office of India after Mr.Kurian’s exit.
Mr Kurian has done just a 1% reform which itself a great achievement in the current scenario of bureacracy in India. still 99% reforms yet to be done at patent office in india.
everyone is paranoid of numbers. even in the article author is only analysing numbers. No one wants quality. Even Mr Kurian during his tenure never went near the term QUALITY at patent office but only focussed on transparency.
From Ministry to kurian to public everyone wants just NUMBERS.
Its just a RACE against TIME for NUMBERS rather than QUALITY at patent offices.
The period from 2008 to 2011 should be remembered as ‘Operation Kurian’ in the same lines as Operation Flood. The changes he brought are unprecedented which completely changed the style how Applicants/Attorneys/Agents used to deals with the IP office particularly TM office.
So many questions: when will a replacement be found? where will the replacement come from? who will make these decisions?
Shri.Kurian’s down to earth approach has made remarkable changes in the patent office. His contribution to IP Community amazing. He has set an example for efficient and clean services at patent office.
I wish him good luck for his next assignment.
Mr. kurian thanks.
when u join as cgpdtm, all registrey work low quality,
but when u join as cg, all officers work properly,
thanks