Moving from Faith-based positions to Fact-based positions has been a topic that Prof Shamnad Basheer had long been propounding on this blog, with several prominent examples such as the petition to the Government to make Indian patent information available online more than 15 years ago, to displaying glaring gaps in Form 27 declarations, from the “Indian Bayh Dole” issues, to countering claims about textbook prices, and more. Indeed, this commitment to fostering accountability and transparency in the Indian IP eco-system is central to the blog. Thus, it is with great excitement that today, on Shamnad’s 47th birth anniversary, we are launching the SpicyIP Empirical Scholarship Database Series!
As anyone who has researched on the Indian IP landscape would know, even if you are looking for data, it is very hard to find. How does one make informed thoughts on issues without the required information? Of course, even when data does exist, that doesn’t’ mean that it is accurate data, or that it is data that has come out of a rigorous methodology. Nonetheless, knowing what data currently exists is a valuable starting point, from which evidenced based policy making, or fact-based IP can authentically build upon. The SpicyIP Empirical Scholarship Database Series aims to help address this gap, by collating various empirical studies that have been done vis-a-vis Indian IP and put them together for researchers and stakeholders to utilise.
At the time of launch, we have put together about 50+ Copyright related studies, and 50+ Patent related studies. Over time, we will add other areas of IP as well. In order to facilitate usage of the database, we have put together short comments on the central proposition and main findings from these studies, so that interested stakeholders have a grasp of what type of data is available, as well as what type of further studies or data could further be required. Currently, we have only focused on the recent past (last 15 years or so), and we will continue to update this over time. General tips: The database’s search feature instantly searches all the entries and can be very useful. Given the size of the database, mobile view is not recommended.
Without further ado, here are the links to the 2 pages!
SpicyIP Copyright Empirical Scholarship Database
SpicyIP Patent Empirical Scholarship Database
Please note:
(1) The presence of any studies here do not reflect any type of endorsement of the paper or data or authors. We are simply providing data that we have found and leave it to the discretion of readers to discern how useful the data may be. Further, these comments are only meant to be indicative and it is very possible that errors may have crept in. In case you think any modifications are needed, please let us know.
(2) On the same note, we have almost definitely not covered all the studies that have happened even in the recent past. So, in case you know of other studies that could be included here, please let us know. It would also be very helpful if you could include your own brief comments on the proposition and findings of the paper.
For both the above points, as well as for anything else related to SpicyIP, you can contact us at contact [at] spicyip [dot] com
