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Patents drag executives back to school

Freny Patel & Janaki Krishnan

Why are managing directors, vice-presidents, scientists, legal advisers and technologists at companies like Cadila Healthcare, Marico Industries, Balmer Lawrie, Godrej Industries, and Novartis, apart from principals of colleges, going back to school over the weekend in Mumbai?

They're trying to understand how industry will be affected by the new patents regime, which comes into effect in 2005, when India has to fall in line with the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights agreement, of which it is a signatory.

CEOs and fresh graduates are rubbing shoulders with high court judges, lawyers and scientists at the weekend programmes conducted by the Institute of Intellectual Property Studies, part of the Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal.

The institute is among the few educational institutes in the country that imparts this kind of education, and flies in judges and lawyers from around the country to teach students.

The one-year diploma in patents law and practice, among other things, teaches students about the implications of TRIPs and how to file and draft patents.

"We are learning it the hard way by going back to school again. But this is the only option available to us today if we have to replicate the overseas experience based on what is relevant to us in India," says the president of a leading Hyderabad-based pharmaceuticals company.

Some of the top pharmaceuticals companies - Dr Reddy's, Ranbaxy and Cipla - have an intellectual property management cell, but not all can boast of a well structured one.

The institute's director, Margi Patel, says that Indian pharmaceutical companies have woken up to the need to understand and draft patents and set up their own intellectual property management cells, but the engineering industry continues in its slumber.

"Awareness and expertise on the subject of intellectual property rights is still inadequate. Present skills do not extend to protecting indigenous inventions or understanding the implications of patents granted to competitors. Further, the ability to read or write patents is grossly lacking when viewed in the context of global practices," Mukesh Patel, president of the institute, says.

The scope open to Indian software firms is immense considering the size of the export market, but unfortunately, they fail to capitalise on it. Software is now covered by copyright but is not protected from reverse engineering unless companies file for patents, Margi Patel says.

Indian companies exporting their software overseas have failed to realise the need for filing patents in the US market. "A patent is a territorial right and there is nothing like an international right," she points out.

Indian companies do not have the in-house expertise in filing and drafting patents, and hence need to set up patent management cells. These cells need to be manned by scientists, legal personnel and managers.

Investment bankers also study at the institute, where they learn how to value patents as intangible assets --in this case, an invention--which have become more valuable than tangible assets today. "Industry today does not have chartered accountants to value patents," Margi Patel points out.

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