Why in News?
Recently A team of researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom identified a massive system of "fake patents". Specialized broker agencies are taking money from academics—primarily in India—to list them as inventors on rapidly approved certificates.
The Mechanism of the Scam
- The U.K. Design Loophole: Scammers exploit the U.K. Intellectual Property Office's design registration system, which grants approvals in as little as 11 days.
- Zero Verification: Unlike a traditional utility patent, design registries only protect the external look of an object, not how it works. Applications are automatically approved without checking for novelty, utility, or scientific viability.
- Misrepresentation: Academics buy these cosmetic design certificates but intentionally label them as prestigious, fully-vetted "international utility patents" on their resumes.
Absurd and Plagiarized Inventions
- Absurd Titles: The sold certificates feature complex, AI-generated titles to sound highly sophisticated, such as an "Artificial Intelligence Powered Skin Cancer Inspection Device with Design Thinking".
- Recycled Images: To bypass manual review, broker firms populate the applications with stolen clip art, stock photos, or completely unrelated technical schematics—including one medical device application that used a recycled 3D schematic of a Glock pistol.
- Zero Prototyping: None of these registered designs are tied to actual laboratory experiments, functional research, physical prototypes, or industry applications.
Root Causes: The Rank Rush
- Quantitative Pressures: The primary driver of the black market is the immense systemic pressure on universities to rank highly in institutional frameworks like NAAC, NBA, and the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
- CV Inflation: Individual professors buy their way onto these applications to meet mandatory Academic Performance Indicator (API) points required for promotions, raises, and job security.
- Filing vs. Granting: Private universities frequently boast public marketing claims of filing over 1,000+ patents annually. However, less than 2% of these utility applications are ever verified and officially granted by patent offices.
Impact and the Way Forward
- Resource Drainage: The practice results in a waste of state funds, as some universities use government research grants to pay for these fake registrations.
- Undermining Real Innovation: The sheer volume of fake filings clogs international systems and dilutes the value of legitimate, hard-earned scientific breakthroughs.
- Systemic Cleanup: Regulatory bodies like the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) are actively reviewing the data to introduce strict retraction indicators, move academic rankings away from pure numbers, and penalize participating faculty.
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