Fake Patents & Research Integrity: UPSC Mains Notes

In News: Fake Patents Threaten India’s Academic Excellence

A report in the International Journal of Educational Integrity flagged a worrying new trend.
Eight firms are likely involved in selling thousands of UK registered designs to Indian academics.

Design registrations in the UK are usually granted in around 11 days without novelty checks.
Patent offices do not examine design applications for novelty, innovation or uniqueness before granting them.
Design registrations cover the way an object looks and not how it actually functions.
Real patents undergo a more stringent process and are used to commercialise a genuine new discovery.
Design patents issued in the US must pass a novelty review and have a good chance of rejection.
The real value of a patent comes only when industry uses it for a process or product.
What academics buy are ownership positions on design registrations — not genuine inventorship on patents.
The academic has not invented anything, the device does not exist and what they obtained is not a patent.

Large Population: A large population seeking education and jobs creates intense pressure for credentials.
Quantitative Metrics: Use of quantitative metrics without serious quality assessment drives fake patent purchases.
Ranking Agency Dependence: Nearly all national and international ranking agencies rely heavily on quantitative parameters.
Private University Race: Many private Indian universities file thousands of utility patents in India to pump up ranking numbers.
Low Grant Rate: Less than 2% of these utility patents actually end up being granted by the patent office.
Black Market Emergence: Selling fake patents has emerged almost exclusively on the academic black market in India.

Fake Inventorship: Academics gain assessment points by claiming authorship on non-existing entities and inventions.
Shady Agencies: Companies act as patent-filing facilitators selling fake authorship positions for academic advancement.
Employer Deception: Academics tell employers they have obtained international patents to gain promotions fraudulently.
Multiple Lies: The academic invented nothing, the device does not exist, what is obtained is not a patent.
IIT Comparison: Many private universities file more utility patents than the IITs combined yet fewer than 2% are granted.
Independent Verification Gap: In the absence of independent verification institutions unethically inflate quantitative data freely.

Stop Quantitative Rankings: Experts urge stopping all institutional rankings based solely on quantitative data urgently.
Industry Use Criterion: Only patents actually used by industry should be counted in academic assessments.
Filing vs Grant: The mere filing of a patent must not be used for academic performance assessment.
Agency Accountability: Agencies that broker fake patents and research publications must be taken to task severely.
Retraction Indicators: Funders like Anusandhan National Research Foundation are exploring using retractions as research integrity indicators.
Nimble Governance: A nimble regulatory oversight and governance system must be built to identify and respond to scientific misconduct.
Misconduct Catalogue: Stronger mechanisms must be developed to identify, catalogue and respond to scientific misconduct systematically.

Source: The Hindu