NIRJULI, Aug 4: The intellectual property rights (IPR) cell of the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science & Technology (NERIST), in collaboration with the Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science & Technology (APSCST) organized a two-day webinar on the theme ‘Understanding the dynamics of intellectual property rights’ on 3 and 4 August.
About 150 participants, including faculty members and staffers of academic institutes, personnel from industries, research scholars and students from all over India participated in the programme.
The first day of the webinar was dedicated to understanding the IPR concepts and the patenting process in India. The technical session was led by Assistant Professor Nabam Teyi, who briefed the participants on the global IP ecosystem.
Teyi, who also owns a patent for an engineering product, explained the concept of IPR with landmark IPR cases like the Novartis AG Glivec vs Union of India, the Robert Kearns episode, and the MP3 patent.
The patent application process in India was described by Prof Mohammed Rajik Khan, who holds two industrial product patents.
IIT Guwahati’s EEE Department Professor Praveen Kumar spoke on “the importance and procedure of patentability search.” Being in charge of the IPR cell at the IIT Guwahati, he provided the participants with in-depth information on the subject matter.
The opening day of the webinar also saw the participation of NERIST Director Prof HS Yadav and APSCST Director CD Mungyak.
The second day of the webinar was dedicated to bio-related IPRs.
IIT Guwahati’s Biosciences & Bioengineering Department Head, Prof Latha Rangan spoke about “the IPR issues arising out of GM seeds and biodiversity,” with special emphasis on the NE region.
Scientist C at the Patent Information Centre, Assam, Siddhartha Devnath discussed geographical indications. With nearly 50 patents filed along with 30 other IPRs, Devnath has guided more than 1000 innovators.
Co-inventor of patent 334815 and NERIST Mechanical Engineering Department Associate Professor Sandeep Singh spoke about his journey in filing a patent and getting it granted.
A feedback session was also held.
