ITANAGAR, 12 Mar: The Himalayan University (HU) here in association with Aligarh-based Manglayatan University and Ranchi-based Usha Martin University organized a webinar on ‘Role of intellectual property rights (IPR) in innovation and value creation’ on Friday.
In the inaugural address, the central government’s registered patent expert Pooja Kumar explained various types of IPR. She explained patents, copyright, design patent, GI patents, trade secrets, etc.
Kumar highlighted how once an American firm patented the Basmati rice of India as Texamati in the USA and how turmeric was patented in the USA for its wound healing properties.
“Both the patents were revoked when India raised concern and said that it’s a centuries-old knowledge of India and thus cannot be patented,” she said, and elaborated what can be patented and what cannot be.
HU registrar Dr Vivek Mittal spoke about how corporates create value through patents. He said that, like Assam tea, Arunachal could file for GI patent for Arunachal tea. “In fact in India, tea was first discovered in Arunachal Pradesh only. The wild tea of Tirap and purple tea of West Siang can get GI,” he said.
He further discussed case studies of companies like Xerox, GE, Walmart, Dell and Texas Instrument and explained how these companies created value through IPR.
