As a forerunner in all aspects of IPR, the State of Kerala plans to introduce IPR as a core subject in its curriculum both at the school and university level.
Readers may recall our earlier post where we had mentioned that Kerala is approaching its IPR initiatives in a systematic bottom up approach.Introducing policy initiatives, gearing up the IP- admin infrastructure and inculcating awareness and educating the young, the State is on a robust IPR mission.
Unnikrishnan of Livemint reports:
The government has already directed universities to include IPR law and implementation in the syllabus at the degree level from the next academic year. The move is aimed at motivating students to take up a career in patents and their protection.
“The state will initially start five or six centres of excellence to provide degree-level classes to students in all five universities, and faculty will be provided in the universities and its affiliated institutions over a period of time,” said a senior official in the state education ministry who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
“The Kerala government’s move to include IPR in general education will also help overcome the severe shortage of professionals in the field of intellectual property rights and related areas in the country,” says R.S. Praveen Raj, a scientist at the Intellectual Property Management and Technology Transfer office, National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, who played a key role in drafting the state policy.
I think Kerala is only aiming at being a TK-savvy state, rather than an IP-savvy state… considering the prevalent communist attitude. However, i completely support its move to generate IP awareness and have a TK protection in place.
Appreciative step……….hope to get news from other states as well!!!!!!!
Hi Divya and Namrata,
Thanks for your comments.
Hope this inspires other states to undertake similar IPR based capacity building initiatives
Aysha
An exponential growth is expected in terms of patent litigations & patent filing in India in the near future. While this is the condition prevailing in the country, we still starve for IPR Professionals, may it be patent agents/attorneys, IPR Managers or IP Academicians.
Foreign attorney outfits are looking forward to grab this potential market of highly skilled labour. Many of the Indian attorneys, who registered as patent agents prior to 2002 amendment (of patent act) lack the technical skill to prepare patent documents and so would be happy to have alliances with foreign firms who know very well that only Indian nationals registered as patent agents in the country can practise before the Indian Patent Office.
“Should we act as virtual corporate offices of foreign attorney firms for petty financial benefits or should acquire adequate technical skill to counter the invasion of foreigners for whom our national interest is of little concern.”
We should endeavor for setting up IP Services ‘companies of Indian origin’ and rear them as MNCs. So it is highly imperative that we address the issue of severe shortage of IPR Professionals in this country. As Ms. Namrata Shukla has rightly mentioned other states also should take policy decisions to integrate IPR in curriculum.
It is great to note that IPR initiatives in Kerala are backed by strong political will. Kerala Science Congress 2010 held at Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Peechi, Thrissur had “IPR and Development – A National Perspective” as the focal theme. It was in fact a brave decision that the organisers of a science congress opted IPR as their main theme. The organisers also published a compendium of invited papers on IPR.
The compendium includes the message of Kerala Chief Minister, which reflects the political reasons behind the IPR Policy initiatives of the State. It reads as follows.
“I’m extremely happy to note that the Kerala Council for Science, Technology & Environment has rightly chosen Intellectual Property Rights and Development as the focal theme for 22nd Kerala Science Congress. It is high time that the Kerala science community debated the pros and cons of establishing a strong IPR Regime that has been imposed on us by the powerful globalisation lobby. While Intellectual Property Rights serve as catalyst for development and recognizes and values creativity and innovation, recent years have witnessed gross misuse of the IPR legislations by the greedy multinational companies.
India’s future is very much dependent on its human resources and their potential to innovate in the field of Science & Technology. However a larger cross-section of our students, teachers and scientists are yet to be made fully aware of the necessity of harnessing the IPR system to their best advantage. It is in this context that the Government considers the inclusion of IPR as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of Higher Education.
The Government intends to make Kerala state “IP savvy” by imparting adequate IPR awareness to different layers of the society. We are totally against creation of monopoly on Knowledge. That is why the IPR Policy of Kerala 2008 reiterates the government commitment to prevent private appropriation of the traditional knowledge.
I congratulate the organisers and wish every success to the Kerala Science Congress 2010″
Is is a very wonderful and happy news that the government has initiated to start and promot IPR..I congratulate the organisers…
ADV. V DEVADETHAN
IPR ATTORNEY
Kerala IPR Academy on the anvil – says Law Department, Govt. of Kerala
In his address to the Legislative Assembly on 2oth February 2008, the Governor of Kerala had announced that an Intellectual Property Rights Academy would be constituted in the State.
It is learnt that the proposal for the constitution of the IPR Academy is under deliberations at vide file no. 20311/nodal(1)/08/Law. It was informed by Special Secretary of Law Department (who is also the appellate authority of Law department under Right to Information Act), while disposing an RTI Appeal requesting the following information on IPR Academy
i) Aims/Mandates of the IPR Academy
ii) Reasons for proposing an IPR Academy (To know whether it is essential for Kerala)
iii) Proposed budget, proposed location and proposed area of the CAMPUS for the IPR Academy
iv) Constitutional details of the proposed IPR Academy including the functions of councils/committees (if any), faculty and Infrastructure.
v) The progress report and the latest status on setting up the IPR Academy.
Vide Letter 10508/Nodal I/09/Law dated 24.06.2009, he informed Mr. S. Prasanth that his department was unable to give any further information in respect of the above RTI Queries than what was offered by the Public Information Officer (and Additional Secretary) vide his RTI Reply dated 1372/Nodal I/09/Law dated 22.01.2009, which stated plainly that the IPR Academy was not constituted and the various details relating to the same was not finalized.