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The 18th Meeting of the Heads of Intellectual Property Offices of BRICS countries (IP BRICS) was held in New Delhi from 1 to 3 September 2026, hosted by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (O/o CGPDTM) under DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The meeting adopted Updated Operational Guidelines for IP BRICS cooperation and noted progress under the Study on Reinforced Patent Examination Cooperation, meant to streamline examination, cut patent backlogs and improve the exchange of search results between member offices.
About 35 delegates took part, with Russia, Iran and Ethiopia joining online; deliberations were aligned with the theme of India's 2026 BRICS Chairship, 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'.
India's apex intellectual property administration — it administers the Patents Act, the Trade Marks Act, the Designs Act and the Geographical Indications Act, and grants/registers patents, trade marks, industrial designs and GIs. It hosted the 18th IP BRICS meeting.
The parent department of CGPDTM and the nodal department for industrial policy, FDI, internal trade, logistics, the startup ecosystem and intellectual property rights. It was created in its present form on 27 January 2019, when the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) was renamed after internal trade was added to its mandate. It runs Make in India, Startup India, the National Logistics Policy and PM GatiShakti.
The global IP body — it sets and administers international IP treaties and registration systems, resolves cross-border IP disputes and publishes the Global Innovation Index. It is the reference organisation against which national IP offices such as CGPDTM benchmark themselves.
India's patent statute; it came into force on 20 April 1972, replacing the Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911. It originally allowed only process patents for drugs, medicines, food and chemicals. The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005, in force from 1 January 2005, extended product patents to all fields of technology, bringing India into compliance with TRIPS.
Enacted on 30 December 1999 and brought into force on 15 September 2003, replacing the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958, and aligning Indian trade mark law with TRIPS standards.
In force from 11 May 2001, replacing the Designs Act, 1911; it modernised industrial design protection in line with TRIPS. The meeting's proposed 'Research on Design Systems of BRICS' project sits in exactly this domain.
In force from 15 September 2003, administered through the GI Registry at Chennai. Darjeeling tea was India's first registered GI (2004-05). The meeting acknowledged findings on Patent Analytics and GIs to improve the protection and commercialisation of GI products across BRICS markets.
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights was negotiated in the Uruguay Round and came into force on 1 January 1995, binding on all WTO members and administered by the WTO (not WIPO). It sets minimum standards — patents for a minimum of 20 years, available for both products and processes, and protection of pharmaceutical test data against unfair commercial use. Countries such as India that did not grant pharmaceutical product patents had until 2005 to comply, which is why the Indian amendment came in that year. Every BRICS member's IP law is built on this floor, which is what makes joint standard-setting between their offices possible.
A geographical indication is a sign used on goods whose quality or reputation is essentially attributable to the place they come from. In India, GIs are registered under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (in force from 15 September 2003), through the GI Registry at Chennai, which functions under CGPDTM. Unlike a patent or a trade mark, a GI is a collective right — it is held by a registered association of producers of the region rather than by a single firm, so no individual company can monopolise it. Darjeeling tea was the first product registered as a GI in India. The 18th IP BRICS meeting acknowledged findings on Patent Analytics and GIs specifically to strengthen the protection and commercial exploitation of GI products across BRICS markets, which matters because a GI registered only at home gives no protection in a foreign market.
Simple Analogy: A trade mark tells you who made something; a GI tells you where it came from and treats the place itself as the reason it is good — like a shared address that only the producers actually living at that address are allowed to print on the label.
India's first comprehensive intellectual property blueprint, approved by the Union Cabinet on 12 May 2016 under the slogan 'Creative India; Innovative India'. It covers patents, trade marks, copyrights, designs, geographical indications, plant varieties, semiconductor topographies and trade secrets, and is built on seven pillars — awareness, IP generation, legal and legislative reform, administrative modernisation, commercialisation, enforcement and human capital development. It was implemented through the Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) under DPIIT — the same department that hosts CGPDTM.
Published by WIPO, the same organisation that anchors the international IP system. India's climb to 38th of 139 economies in the GII 2025 is the standard metric cited for the strength of the national IP and innovation ecosystem, and IP filings are among the indicators the index is built from — which is why patent-examination cooperation of the kind agreed at this meeting feeds directly into it.
Launched in 2016 and also run by DPIIT, it places India's startup ecosystem and its IP administration under a single department. DPIIT had recognised over 1.97 lakh startups as of October 2025.
The IP offices' meeting is one of the sectoral tracks feeding into the 18th BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi on 12-13 September 2026. BRICS working-group and ministerial meetings across the year are held under the Chair's theme — here, 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'.
GS Paper 2 > International Relations > Bilateral, regional and global groupings involving India; GS Paper 3 > Science & Technology > Intellectual Property Rights
General Awareness > Current Affairs and Static GK — international groupings, Indian statutes and their nodal ministries
General Awareness > Current Events of National and International Importance
Intellectual property law and India's Global Innovation Index rank are recurring UPSC Prelims and SSC General Awareness themes; BRICS membership and chairship appear almost every year in one exam or another.
The cooperation forum of the intellectual property offices of the BRICS countries; its Heads of IP Offices meet annually, the 18th such meeting being held in New Delhi from 1 to 3 September 2026.
Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks — India's IP office under DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, headquartered in New Delhi since a February 2025 notification.
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights — a WTO agreement in force since 1 January 1995 setting minimum IP protection standards, including a 20-year minimum patent term.
A process patent protects only the method of making a substance, allowing a rival to make the same substance by a different route; a product patent protects the substance itself. India moved to product patents in all fields of technology through the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005.
A collective right over a sign identifying goods whose quality or reputation stems from their place of origin; registered in India under the GI Act, 1999 through the GI Registry, Chennai.
WIPO's annual ranking of innovation performance; India ranked 38th of 139 economies in 2025.