Want to secure your precious invention? Seek the help of intellectual property professionals.
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Inventing something is one thing, but obtaining an official certification claiming that nobody has done it before, is a different story altogether. “A scientist — or anybody for that matter — may take more time to obtain a patent than to invent it,” says Sukumar Bose, a Calcutta based intellectual property rights (IPR) expert.

Once a person invents something, it allows him to assert ownership rights on the creation / invention / innovation and its consequent outcome. Thus intellectual property (IP) can be bought, sold, exchanged, licensed or even gifted like other forms of tangible property.

“The IPR professional is one who is trained in the management and exploitation of intellectual property. In most cases, the person is professionally qualified and holds an IPR diploma. Essentially, he would file for protection and registration of a client’s patent, copyright and trademark,” says Anuradha Maheshwari, dean of the Institute of Intellectual Property Studies, Mumbai, while explaining the activities of an intellectual property professional.

For certain activities like trademark registration or patent application, one is required to be a trademark or patent agent (PA). The demand for patent and other IP professionals is likely to grow as the Indian economy becomes more and more knowledge driven.

“On an average, there has been a 60 per cent rise in IP filings in the past four to five years. This is a sure indication of the kind of demand that exists for IP and patent professionals. To meet the increasing demand of the companies, more and more IPR professionals are required,” says Vintee Mishra, IP analyst who works with the Brain League IP Services Pvt. Ltd in Bangalore.

The patent office, government of India, organises a qualifying exam for patent agents. For a career as a patent agent one needs to have a basic qualification in science.

Stressing on the importance of patents and IP in India in recent years, Girija Krishan Varma, fellow, the Stanford Law School and senior advisor at the Global Institute of Intellectual Property (GIIP), Delhi, says, “India suffered from a lack of awareness of IP and often lacked resources to leverage its IP commercially. In recent years, India has moved up the value chain. India’s pharma and biotech companies have challenged some of the largest pharma multinational companies of the world and have withstood litigation in various foreign jurisdictions.” GIIP has tied up with the University of Washington, US, to offer courses in IP.

“When I joined IIPS, I was a novice in the field of IPR. The course helped me in gaining knowledge of the subject and building a career in IPR,” says Lavanya B. Pillai, senior research associate, USV Ltd, a Mumbai-based healthcare company.

An ability to analyse and reason, lateral thinking, a sound interpretation of law, a good command over written and spoken English are some of the qualities required for a successful career in IP. In this dynamic and evolving field of IP, professionals are also required to have a technical background since method patents, software patents, IP taxation and IP insurance, involving a lot of technical work are emerging as core areas in IP.

According to Mishra, a beginner in the patent field would start with a salary of about Rs 20,000 and this could go up to Rs 60,000 or Rs 70,000 after a few years of experience.

A fresher, who starts as a soft IP professional, would start with a salary of Rs 15,000 and could earn up to Rs 50,000 in a few years. “The salary increase could be much faster if the IP professional has good marketing skills,” she adds.

According to Neeraj Gupta, CEO, Formulate IP, Bangalore, who is also a faculty member at IIPS, a patent professional with work experience of around 6-8 years can command a salary in excess of Rs 15 lakh per annum.

Once a student is through with the formal training, he / she can start his / her independent practice, join a law firm or an IP company, or join a company which deals with technology or science or any other field as an in-house counsel or IP professional.

“Students who undergo some kind of formal training in this field in addition to their basic degrees, automatically have an edge over their peer group and find it easy to get interesting placements. This is especially true in the pharmaceutical, chemical, engineering and other industries,” says Margi Choksi, director, the Academy of Intellectual Property Studies (AIPS), Mumbai.

A postgraduate diploma in IP rights can be pursued not only by law students, but also by students of biosciences / pharmacy, information technology and engineering as well as scientists, doctors, clinical researchers, product designers, media specialists and advertising executives.

The National University of Juridical Sciences (Calcutta), the National Law University (Jodhpur), the National Law School India University (Bangalore), the Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property (IIT-Kharagpur), the Amity Law School (Noida), the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (Hyderabad) are some of the institutes that offer courses in patents and IP.

Most of these institutes offer both full and part-time diploma and certificate courses. Students are recruited either through entrance exams or personal interviews or both. The course fee varies anywhere between Rs 25,000 and Rs 1,20,000.

Sources: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)

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