Contextualising the Patent Regime.

SPICY IP:

As a law student, I am constantly reminded to always contextualise any principles that I may learn as a part of my syllabus. Mechanical application is not just brushed aside by professors of law, and is abhorred by the more competent ones. What this means in much simpler terms, is that no principle can be applied across the board- one should always look at prevailing circumstances and apply the principle accordingly. In this light, I just read an article by Ms. Latha Jishnu in the Business Standard that I thought would be interesting to reproduce for our readers.

“Intellectual Property (IP) is still a strange beast in this country. People eye it rather warily, uncertain of its temperament (how hard will it bite or is it the clawing sort?) and the hidden threat in its still unfolding contours. To familiarise businessmen with this creature, industry organisations have been doing a fair amount of spadework – organising seminars, workshops and talks by visiting experts. It was only towards the end of 2006, however, that such events became high-profile, regular and more widespread.That’s when Dominic Keating of the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) began functioning as First Secretary (IP) at the US embassy in Delhi. He put together a small team, one lawyer, IP specialist Sanjit Kaur Batra, and two assistants, and made it an evangelist station for spreading the light on IPR or intellectual property rights. He forged an alliance with the Confederation of Indian Industry to make IPR as much of a talking point with businessmen as VAT (value added tax), another much-distrusted concept some years ago, and appears to have succeeded to a large extent. He also began reaching out to sections of society one would normally not both with –schoolkids and housewives – to allow the…


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