Why Indian Startups Fail to Leverage Intellectual Property Rights: A Gap Analysis

  • Unique Paper ID: 190489
  • PageNo: 4503-4505
  • Abstract:
  • India’s startup ecosystem has expanded rapidly and operates under a modern, TRIPS-compliant intellectual property (IP) regime supported by schemes like Startup India and SIPP. Yet many Indian startups still under-protect, under-enforce, or under-commercialize their intellectual property rights (IPR), treating IP as an optional legal formality rather than a core strategic asset. This paper offers a concise gap analysis built around four dimensions: (i) awareness and mindset at the founder level, (ii) capability and resource constraints at the firm level, (iii) institutional and process frictions in the IP system, and (iv) weak commercialization pathways for startup IP. Using secondary sources and illustrative cases, the paper shows how these gaps reinforce each other and suggests practical implications for founders, incubators, investors, and policymakers.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{190489,
        author = {Somashekhar Subhas Biradar and Y.S.Harshal and Pavan S Aradhya and Sujal P Koligudd and Dr. Deepashree Devraj},
        title = {Why Indian Startups Fail to Leverage Intellectual Property Rights: A Gap Analysis},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {8},
        pages = {4503-4505},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=190489},
        abstract = {India’s startup ecosystem has expanded rapidly and operates under a modern, TRIPS-compliant intellectual property (IP) regime supported by schemes like Startup India and SIPP. Yet many Indian startups still under-protect, under-enforce, or under-commercialize their intellectual property rights (IPR), treating IP as an optional legal formality rather than a core strategic asset. This paper offers a concise gap analysis built around four dimensions: (i) awareness and mindset at the founder level, (ii) capability and resource constraints at the firm level, (iii) institutional and process frictions in the IP system, and (iv) weak commercialization pathways for startup IP. Using secondary sources and illustrative cases, the paper shows how these gaps reinforce each other and suggests practical implications for founders, incubators, investors, and policymakers.},
        keywords = {Indian startups, intellectual property rights, patents, trademarks, innovation ecosystem, gap analysis},
        month = {January},
        }

Cite This Article

Biradar, S. S., & Y.S.Harshal, , & Aradhya, P. S., & Koligudd, S. P., & Devraj, D. D. (2026). Why Indian Startups Fail to Leverage Intellectual Property Rights: A Gap Analysis. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 12(8), 4503–4505.

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