Domain-specific IPR workshop

The latest IPR workshop for the students and researchers of CSE, EE, ECE, GSSST, SMST and CET was conducted in IIT Kharagpur on 3^rd February 2018, with distinguished patent advocate Mr. Naren Thapetta as the special guest speaker. In an interactive four hour seminar split into two halves, Mr. Thapetta talked about the various facets of software patenting, including the history of the governing laws and their development over time. He drew comparisons between the existing patent laws in India and in the USA, and through an argument-counter-argumentative approach made the case for software patents within well-defined boundaries. He further emphasized on the role of the claims as being central to the value of the patents, and through the citation of several real-world examples drew home the idea of the importance of the claim structure. The workshop was also followed by a panel discussion, where a panel consisting of the guest speaker Mr. Naren Thapetta along with Prof. Padmavati, Prof. Matilal and Prof. TK Bandyopadhyay from RGSOIPL and Prof. C.R Raj, PIC, IPR and IR Cell, and Prof. Goutam Saha, MHRD IPR Chair Professor, IIT Kharagpur encouraged and discussed upon queries from members of the audience. The discussion witnessed enthusiastic participation from the audience.

Technology Transfer "Alpha Amylase production by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens"

α-Amylase is one of the important and widely exposed industrial biocatalyst that has gained huge acclaim for its multi-faceted applications. It is of utmost importance and challenge to produce the enzyme at cheaper cost while maintaining its hyperactivity. The other desired properties should also be promising so as to compete with the existing enzymes produced by different strains from different origin. Microbial Biotechnology and Downstream Processing Lab, IIT Kharagpur under the supervision of Prof. Rintu Banerjee has transferred one technology on α-amylase. 

The USP of the enzyme is that it can be produced at cheaper cost, have very high enzyme titre and can drastically reduce the viscosity of any gelatinized starchy system.  The enzyme bears immense potential for increasing the efficiency of cereals /grains based 1G ethanol production including some other promising industrial applications.

IPR Workshop on ‘How Intellectual Property Impacts Life’

The Intellectual Property Rights Workshop on ‘How Intellectual Property Impacts Life’ was organized on 19^th August 2017 in Maitrayee Auditorium, IIT Kharagpur by IPR & IR Cell, SRIC, MHRD IPR Chair and RGSoIPL, IIT Kharagpur. The workshop was attended by a total of 92 students that includes 52 inventors/research students and 40 students from RGSoIPL and several faculty members from RGSoIPL and other departments. The workshop saw some great speakers from different spheres of Intellectual Property ranging from High Court Judges, Professors and a Patent Attorney. 

Among the guests who attended the event were Prof. Sudhir Kumar Barai, Dean, Undergraduate Studies, IIT Kharagpur and Prof. Goutam Saha, MHRD IPR Chair Professor, IIT Kharagpur. The first segment of the workshop involved an inaugural address by Hon’ble Justice Ravindra Bhat, Judge, High Court of Delhi, in which the participants were given an overview of what the situation of IP is, presently. He enlightens the audience by sharing his own experiences in intellectual property. The first session, themed, ‘Getting Patent – The Paradigm of Computer, Electrical, Electronics and Telecommunication’,

which was chaired by Prof. Khushal Vibhute, Head, RGSOIPL. The two speakers, Prof. V.C. Vivekanandan, Dean, School of Law, Bennett University and Patent Attorney Mr. Vineet Rohilla, Remfry and Sagar of the session gave a deep insight not 

only to inventors but also to the Law students. The case study by Mr. Vineet Rohilla highlighted the recent revised CRI 

guidelines of Indian Patent Office to the inventors. 

The second session centered on the theme of ‘Intellectual Property and Human Rights’, was chaired by Hon’ble Justice Ravindra Bhat, Judge, High Court of Delhi. 

The Hon’ble Justice Aniruddha Bose, Judge, High Court of Calcutta spoke on how intellectual property impacts the quality of life. 

Prof. Imtiaz Gulam Ahmed, Head, School of Law, Sikkim University shared his thoughts on Intellectual Property and human rights.  Both speakers highlighted the importance of balancing the moral and economic rights of inventors with the larger interest of the society. 

The workshop ended with Prof. C.R. Raj, Professor in Charge, IPR & IR Cell, IIT Kharagpur, giving a vote of thanks. The members of Technology Transfer Group made necessary arrangements for successfully conducting the workshop.

World Intellectual Property Day Celebration @ IIT Kharagpur

On 26^th April 2017, Indian Institute of Technology has celebrated the World IP Day by taking different initiatives to promote awareness on the importance of Intellectual Property creation and protection.

In spite of being engaged in their mid-semester examination during this time, the students of Technology Transfer Group have prepared IP awareness materials to make this event successful. Posters and Banners were displayed in the campus to create awareness on Intellectual Property and to encourage students and researches to impact the lives with their innovation.

The IP day celebration started with the WIPO theme of “Innovation - improving lives” in the Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy conference room where Prof. Pallab Dasgupta (Dean, SRIC), Prof. Subhasish Tripathy, Prof. Sudhir Kumar Barai (previous PICs, IPR & IR), Prof. Goutam Saha (MHRD IPR Chair Professor) and Prof. C. R. Raj (present PIC, IPR & IR) and the moderators of Patent Review Committee of the Institute were present.

The importance of IP generation and possible commercial exploitation were discussed and all the invitees have shared their experiences and opinions to promote IP generation and protection in the Institute.

The programme ended in congratulating the inventors whose patent (National and International) has been granted recently. The inventors were given a copy of the granted Patent. The Moderators of the Patent Review Committee were appreciated with a memento and a Certificate of Appreciation for their insightful evaluation of patent applications. 

Patent Drive 2016 Launch

Patent Drive 2016 was formally launched on 29th Sept., 2016 evening. The function was held at S. N. Bose Auditorium, IIT Kharagpur. The Technology Transfer Group (TTG) students were in charge of the event#. IPR experts and Domain experts who play an important role in handholding the inventors from invention disclosure to patent filing were backing up the young team. Director, IIT Kharagpur who could not be present due to an emergency meeting at Delhi sent good wishes to the Patent Drive team for the launch event.

The program started at 6:30 PM. After TTG welcome, Dean (Continuing Education) addressed the audience on behalf of the institute explaining the importance of IP protection, commercialization and how IP contributes to overall assessment of the institute. Following this, the TTG team explained the in-house Patent Portal (Link) to the inventors. They showed new feature of the portal for this edition of the drive that facilitates speedier review. It included an innovative approach to help patent search and that feature is being further improved. The modified Invention Disclosure Form / Abstract can be downloaded from here (PDF, Word). The team explained the new Geographical Indications (G.I.) Portal of the institute in connection with newly launched G.I. Drive of last convocation day (GI Portal Link).

The major attraction of the evening was the guest-talk from Prof. Ganesh S Hingmire, Chairman, Great Mission Group Consultancy, Pune. He is the winner of National IP Award in G.I. category for two consecutive years 2015, 2016. He came with his experience of registering 19 G.I.s out of which 17 are Agri. GIs. His work on another 9 Agri. GI applications is waiting for registration. He had conducted hundreds of small group meetings of farmers to create awareness on GI and its benefits and 12 awareness seminars for the Office of the Controller of Patents. He held the audience captive by explaining how G.I. gives community the IP right in contrast to Patent right being enjoyed by an individual and how G.I. can help propel economic growth for the community.

After a short tea-break at 8:00 PM, the Q & A session started at 8:15 PM. While the initial questions were related to G.I., soon it widened to consider issues related to Patenting and the special aspects of patent drive, commercialization benefit sharing with inventors etc. The session ended at 9:00 PM when there were still queries which the Patent Drive team are to take up offline, on a one to one basis.

We share two videos of this launch function, the address by Prof. Hingmire and the Q & A session for the benefit of the inventors. Some photos from the launch function follow.

#Patent Drive 2016 launch is supported by MHRD IPR Chair Professor grant.