During the course of a random discussion, with a friend, on prominent voices and faces on the Indian IP scene I discovered that a disproportionately large number of these prominent voices and faces were from ‘God’s own Country’ – Kerala. People from Kerala, are sometimes fondly referred to as ‘Mallus’ or ‘Mals’, after the language that they speak which is, Malyalam. When I was at NLSIU in Bangalore, we even had a ‘Mal Mafia’, in the senior batches, whose members were undoubtedly some of the most awe-inspiring dudes on campus. Sometimes, especially in certain Indian cities, the Malyali is, fortunately or unfortunately, grouped under the generic ‘Madrasi’ category, which fortunately or unfortunately, refers to all South Indians. In any case I digress. Let us get back to the topic at hand. When I started compiling this list with some help from the ‘Mal’ brigade, I discovered that they are spread over all spheres, from academics to journalists to law firms to the government to of course this blog – both Shamnad and Sumathi are from Kerala. I’m pretty sure that a small minority of our readership are going to be flapping their wings, accusing me, and my long-deceased french beard, of parochialism, regionalism and several other ‘isms’. My advise to them is to relax, take a deep breath, have some tender coconut water, preferably fermented, without infringing this patent and chill out before you decide to pound away at your keyboard. Each community in India makes its own special contribution to the ‘Idea that is India’ and it just so happens that IP law is one of the many valuable contributions of the Malyali community. What I present to you in this post is an extraordinary, and maybe amusing, coincidence which warrants deeper sociological and anthropological research as to the link between the ‘Spicy’ nature of Indian IP and the ‘Mallus’ from the land of Kerala, which incidentally is famous for its Spices! On a more serious note it is interesting to observe that so many of the eminent voices shaping the IP debate in India are from Kerala a state which, politically speaking, swings between the Communist Parties and the Congress during every state elections. The tussle between the Left and the Congress on various issues from the trade union movement to land reforms movement has moved on to the IP scene. Maybe this is the reason for the ‘spice’ in our IP debates. I’ve presented below a list of these prominent voices:
(a) Academics/Researchers/Activists:
1.Prof. N.S.Gopalakrishnan, Chair Prof. on IPR Laws at Cochin University of Science and Technology: Prof NSG is the undisputed parens pateris of the Indian IP scence having advised successive Governments and WIPO on a number of IP issues. Prof. NSG has also authored an endless numbers of articles and books on Indian IP.
2.Dr Pushpangadan who in his capacity as the Director of Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI) spearheaded the unique initiative of ‘benefit-sharing’ for the traditional knowledge owned by the Kani Tribe.
3.Ms. Elizabeth Verkey, a practicing advocate from the High Court of Kerala who has authored several books on Indian IP.
4.Prof. V.K.Unni who is currently an academic at India’s leading business school (IIM-C (Public Policy and Management) was formerly an IP professor at NALSAR, a leading Indian law school. From what I hear Prof. Unni was the inspiring force behind a couple of graduates from NALSAR who went ahead to join the IP bar.
5. Mr. Praveen Raj, currently a scientist at one of the CSIR labs and a frequent commentator on this blog, is probably the only activist I know of, who actively takes up the cause of trademark law in India by filing petitions before the judiciary. We’ve blogged about several of his efforts on this blog.
6.Mr. K.M.Gopakumar, formerly with CENTAD, is one of the most prominent academic-activists on the Indian patent law scene, especially on the issues pertaining to access to medicines.
7.Mr. Zakir Thomas, who is currently heading the much publicized Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) project at CSIR which recently successfully mapped the TB Genome.
(b) Government:
1.The present Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks Mr. P.H.Kurian heads the Patent and Trademarks Offices in India.
2.Mr. T.C.James, who is currently a director at the NIPO, was formerly a very senior bureaucrat at the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce which is responsible for the patent and trademark policy of the Indian Government. Mr. James recently authored a widely publicized report on contentious pharmaceutical patents.
(c) Journalists:
1.Mr. C.H. Unnikrishnan, who writes for the Mint is one of the most prominent IP journalists on the Indian scene.
2.Mr. Joe C. Mathew, who writes for the Business Standard is another prominent IP journalists on the Indian scene.
3.Ms. Latha Jishnu, who formerly used to write the ‘Patently Absurd’ column for the Business Standard. She now writes this column for ‘Down to Earth’, a publication by CSE.
(d) IP Practitioners/Lawyers/Industry:
1.Mr. Manoj Pillai, founder of Lex Orbis, one of the fast growing IP law firms in India, located in Delhi.
2.Mr. Saikrishna Rajagopal, founder of Saikrishna & Associates, one of the most reputed IP law firms in New Delhi which provides legal support to Microsoft and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) amongst others.
3.Dr. Gopakumar Nair, founder of Gopakumar Nair Associates, a leading IP consultancy and legal advisory firm. Dr. Nair had appeared for one of the opponents in the pre-opposition against Novartis’s, Glivec patent which has now ended up before the Supreme Court.
4.Ms. Latha Nair, Partner at K&S and one of the leading lawyers on India’s G.I. Law. Ms. Nair has also authored the leading book on Gis in India.
5.Mr. Feroz Ali, Founder of Ali and Associates, a rapidly growing IP firm in Chennai. Feroz is also the author of several books on patent law in India. He has appeared in several leading patent cases such as the recently concluded Valcyte post-grant opposition.
6.Ms. Sunita Sreedharan, Founder of SKS Law Associates, a fast growing IP Law Firm in Delhi. We recently blogged about one of her cases wherein she sucessfully represented Rediff before the Delhi High Court.
7.Mr. Subodh Kumar, one of the chief IP Advisors at the industry chambers of the Confederation of Indian Industry. He also heads the IPR cell for the CII-APTDC venture.
8.Dr. Sudhir Raja Ravindran, CEO of Altacit Global, a leading IP law fims.
Spicy IP may also compile the list of influential non-mallus.
Like Prof. Sridhar of NALSAR, Prof. Vivekanandan, Prof. Ramakrishna of NLS etc.
A bit away from the main theme of discussion,But the “MAL MAFIA” is still strong in Law School!
Why did you leave Mr.Kurian,the Bullet CG, and Mr. Dr.S.Bala Ravi,Advisor on Biodiversity, Plant Varieties and GI in M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation and formerly Assistant Director General (IPR) ICAR.
Where were these Mallus when Keral Government tried to formulate state IPR Policy which was unconstitutional as it falls in Centre List.
Mr. P.H.Kurian has been included. I get back that comment.
I completely agree with Prashant that we are quite regularly clubbed as ‘madrasis’ by some geographically challenged persons… When I read it I remembered a real life incident that took place years ago to which a friend was part of. She was traveling on a train from Delhi to Bangalore, her home town, and was chatting up a co-passenger who happened to be an amiable Sardarji. When she told him that she is from Bangalore, he very innocently cheerily remarked, “Accha! Pata hain, sare Madras mein mujhe Bangalore Achha laga!” 🙂
You have missied several Influencial IP Persons (senior people)in India Like Jose Madan Of Khaitan & Co, Biju K Nambiar of Majumudar & Co, Elizabeth Puthran of Puthran & associates, S. Venugopalan Nair of Kochhar & Co, M.R Nair of R K Dewan,RR Nair if Depenning & Depenning, etc etc. Apart from that there are thousands of mallu IP Lawyers/Practitioners in the Junior Level…
If possible, please compile most influence IP professionals in pharma companies. Separately for NCE, API and formulations, this might be useful to most of our readers from pharma companies.
I did not understand the objective of this post. If it is entertainment then the purpose is more than served. But if it is to show the power of mallus to non-mallus then i shall not appreciate it. Let Spicy-ip devote its valuable time in compiling the list of influential Indians rather than “regionalising”. [i may sound over-patriotic…but i m not :)]
Spicy IP missed a few doyens …
Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon, Dr. M.D. Nair, Dr. A.D. Damodaran etc…
Prashant,
I don’t know how does your Mallu ego stroking Post helps the following objective of ‘Spicy IP’.
“WE AIM TO INCREASE TRANSPARENCY IN INDIAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY/INSTITUTIONS. WE ALSO STAND FOR FAIR, OBJECTIVE AND ACCURATE REPORTING/REVIEW OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVATION POLICY NEWS FROM INDIA”
Was this a show of strength exercise ? Especially, when it is a known fact that Mallus always prefer Mallus in whatever way they can.
@ Anon (11:32 AM)
Since when did ‘Reddys’ become Mallus? I’m from Hyderabad, the one in Andhra Pradesh, another state in South India, not the one in Pakistan.
And I will let you know that Mallus have given me, a non-Mallu, several opportunities in life.
I strongly suggest you chill out with some fermented coconut water. You need to relax, you stress out easily.
Warm Regards,
Prashant
This post fortifies my long-held belief that a Mal is a Superman. Much of their influence has come out of their home land. Like Superman who is flightless and powerless in Krypton, (most) Mals for some reason have not demonstrated their IP powers in Mal-land.
Hi Feroz,
Excellent observation! :-)The list above has very few resident Mallus.
Must be those Kerala spices.
Cheers,
Prashant
@ Adv Ali: may be one of the reasons wld be “crab mentality” :))
[with due respect to all supermen and superwomen and uttermost respect to u 🙂
Prashant REDDY, a non-mallu from Hyderabad of India and not Pakistan, (12:29 PM)
Why do you always leave out or escape answering the relevant question and attack the other irrelevant part. How does it matter that you are a mallu or non-mallu. What matters is you have penned a very irrelevant post.
There I go again:
“how does your Mallu ego stroking Post helps the following objective of ‘Spicy IP’.
“WE AIM TO INCREASE TRANSPARENCY IN INDIAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY/INSTITUTIONS. WE ALSO STAND FOR FAIR, OBJECTIVE AND ACCURATE REPORTING/REVIEW OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVATION POLICY NEWS FROM INDIA””
Shamnad: In my opinion, you should invoke your editorial powers and not allow such irrelevant posts. Please do note that I have nothing against Mallus, Non-mallus, or anybody. You would also notice that the reply from PR contained personal comments.
It seems PR is the Mallu Raj Thackery converted from Andhra Raj Thackery !!
sigh!
sigh of relief or sigh after suffering?? he he he !!
thus an elderly advice…don’t do “aa bail muje maar” again. You are a good blogger. Blog on constructive issues in IPs instead of counting supermen and supewomen…:)
folks,
the post by PR was to bring in a lighter touch and more humour to a blog that, of late, has been very “heavy” in its tone. If you don’t appreciate that, i suggest you leave for other pastures where you’re likely to find more gravity.
Also, PR merely stated “facts”…the ratio of mallus in this filed does appear to be highly skewed….one of you so inclined can pontificate on the anthropological or other cultural reasons behind it. But please appreciate that PR has put in a lot of work on the post.
We’ll bring you another one where we categorise the leading IP figures (by segments: industry, practice, govt, judiciary etc). This will take a while…as it requires data collection and categorisation etc…so please bear with us.