Washington, Nov 24 (IANS) India and the US have signed two inter-governmental agreements on traditional knowledge, intellectual property and investment promotion during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s first state visit to the US.
Signed at the US Chamber of Commerce Monday, the first agreement is for a Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) Access between the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The second is an MoU between the office of India’s Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks and the US Patent and Trademark Office, US Department of Commerce.

The TKDL Access Agreement will enable the USPTO to search the extensive database of India’s traditional knowledge compiled under TKDL, a collaborative project between the CSIR and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

In addition, the CSIR would provide training to the USPTO examiners and staff to help them use TKDL tools for search and examination. This would help prevent misappropriation of traditional knowledge through mistaken issuance of patents as had earlier happened with neem and haldi.

The MoU between patent offices of the two countries would facilitate comprehensive bilateral cooperation on a range of IPR issues focusing on capacity building, human resource development and raising public awareness of the importance of IPR.

Another Memorandum of Intent was signed to promote two-way investments between ‘Invest in America’ of the US International Trade Administration and ‘Invest India’, a joint venture of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and various State Governments for the promotion of investment in the US and India.

By facilitating the exchange of information regarding opportunities for investment and about policies related to investment, this MoI seeks to accelerate the growing investment flows in both directions which are benefitting both countries.