A black market for 'fake patents': A new threat to Indian research

Research integrity experts have flagged a worrying new trend: a market for 'fake patents', in which certain companies sell ownership positions on registrations filed abroad to academics in India and other countries. The concern was raised in a study published in a journal on educational integrity, whose authors said several firms are likely involved in selling thousands of UK registered designs to academics to boost their reputation.

To understand the problem, it helps to know what a patent is. A patent is a legal right given for a genuinely new invention, allowing the inventor to control how it is used for a set period. It is part of intellectual property rights (IPR). Getting a real patent involves a strict check to confirm the idea is new and original. The experts point out that a 'design registration', which protects only how an object looks rather than how it works, is very different. Such registrations are often granted quickly with little checking, sometimes in about 11 days.

In the 'fake patent' trade, academics buy their names onto these design registrations even though they did not invent anything, and the object often does not exist or work. As experts explained, several false impressions are created at once: the buyer has not invented anything, the device may not exist, what they bought is not really a patent, and it does not reflect any original research. The aim is simply to collect academic 'points' during performance assessments.

Experts say this practice is driven by systems that rank scientists and institutions by counting how many papers and patents they produce, without judging the quality of the work. In this 'rank rush', some agencies sell fake patents and fake research papers to those chasing better rankings. Like fake research publications, fake patents have become a global problem in recent years and can damage the credibility of genuine academic work.

For exam aspirants, this story connects to several important ideas: the basics of patents and intellectual property rights, the difference between a patent and a design registration, and the wider issue of research integrity and academic ethics.