About Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU) Mumbai

MNLU Mumbai is one of the premier national law schools located in the economic capital of India. It offers graduate, post graduate and research degrees in law and allied disciplines.

About DPIIT IPR Chair

Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, launched a Scheme for Pedagogy & Research in IPRs for Holistic Education & Academia (SPRIHA) under which IPR Chairs have been set up in select universities and academic institutes, in accordance National IPR Policy launched by the Government of India.

Accordingly, DPIIT has established an IPR Chair at MNLU Mumbai to further the aims and objectives enumerated under SPRIHA norms including encouraging the study of, education in and research on Intellectual Property Rights, as well as to promote outreach in IPRs.

Register via this link.

Background of the Workshop

In the 21st century, a nation’s socio-economic and industrial development is catalysed through creativity, innovation and vibrant Intellectual Property ecosystem. IPR plays a key role for any business organization to stand out in the world of competition and provides the desired winning edge over the Competitors and thus IPRs are emerging as a strategic business tool to enhance Industrial Competitiveness.

National IPR Policy of India, launched in 2016, mandates that the measures shall be taken to stimulate generation of IPRs and also emphasizes to get value for IPRs and economic reward for owners of IP rights through commercialization of IP by promoting entrepreneurship.

The concrete measures taken by the Government of India from 2015 onwards resonate with national development priorities and have resulted in strengthening generation, commercialization and enforcement of IPRs. However, much is required to be done towards creation and commercialization of IPRs, particularly patents. Despite lot of fruitful research being carried out in the country by thousands of public and private laboratories and R & D institutes, universities, SMEs, technical institutes, engineering colleges and individual innovators filing of patent applications by all such Indian entities and patents granted to them as compared to total filing and grant is very low.

This is due to the fact that majority of small and big industries, University are still not IP-oriented. Recently, Hon. Prime Minister of India has launched very ambitious programme, namely “Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” to boost Indian economy at the global level along with the on-going Make in India, Start-up India and Vocal for Local programmes with ultimate aim being to reach the level of Made for the World products. These programmes necessarily require building up domestic industries to be able to create better, cheaper and competitive products of
diversified nature so that we need not depend upon foreign producers and, in due course, become suppliers for the world.

For ensuring successful implementation of these schemes, Indian innovators, MSMEs, Startups and universities can function as major pillars through their huge quantum of R & D which will need effective IP protection in the future. Therefore, steps are required to be initiated so that Indian industries flourish at domestic as well as international level and India becomes exporter of technology and not just the importer.

There is a need to tap vast pool of scientific and technological talent in India, spread over R&D institutions, enterprises, public and private laboratories, universities and technical institutes, into creation of IP assets and subsequently their commercialization, which is crucial for becoming globally competitive and economically powerful.

Commercialisation is the process of bringing IP to the market and business growth. Commercialization facilitates fostering new methods of production and newer, better and cheaper products and enables to form strategic alliances for bringing in new technology/innovation.

Profitable commercialisation depends on several internal and external factors such as business objectives, assessment of the potential of the IPRs for marketing, economic resources etc. IP can be commercialised either directly by its owner, through an assignment, licensing or by building up business partnerships. But identifying what is most appropriate tool is often challenging, especially for local innovators and SMEs.

There has to be concentrated efforts for creation of a public platform to connect creators and innovators to potential users, buyers and funding institutions. Getting a patent for technology innovations is important but even more important is to commercialize it for the benefit of society and for the innovator himself.

About the Workshop

The objective of this workshop is on facilitating researchers, stakeholders and innovators to generate and utilize IPRs. This workshop is an effort to build an atmosphere where creativity and innovation are encouraged in public and private sectors, R&D centres, industry and academia, leading to generation of protectable IP that can be commercialized. Through this workshop it is intended to reach out to the less-visible IP generators, like Startups, MSMEs and Individual inventors including laying a special emphasis on the strategies involved in IP commercialization; revenue generation from the strategies adopted, as well as creating IP awareness.

The workshop is also aimed to discuss multiple impediments faced for entrepreneurs to file and obtain their IPRs, particularly patents and their commercialisation and subsequently, suggest the remedies for overcoming the hurdles.

The focus of the workshop will be upon generation, licensing and commercialization of Patents and practice in India.. There will be detail discussions and deliberations on practical aspects related to creation of patent right, Licensing, infringement, commercialisation of patents, policy issues and facilities available.

Expected Participants

The Workshop will benefit the participants from various segments of the IP community, viz., MSMEs, Startups, MSMEs, industry sector, policy makers, Government officials, IP lawyers, legal practitioners, researchers, students, and academicians.

Note: There is no registration fee for participating in the Worksop. The platform used shall be Cisco Webex.

For the brochure of MNLU Mumbai’s Workshop on Generation and Commercialization of Patents, click here.