After a rigorous round of reviewing several exceptional entries, we are delighted to announce the shortlisted teams for the 1st National Policy Brief Competition on Intellectual Property & Innovation, 2025! We’re thrilled to say that we received close to 100 entries for this competition! Though we are only able to proceed with a shortlisted lot, we saw several fantastic entries and ideas and do hope that teams, selected or not, will look to further research in this area, be it in the form of publications, talks, blogs, or other avenues.
It was a very interesting and challenging exercise as we ended up having multiple teams tied at the same score, and eventually decided there was no fair way to break the tie. Instead, we have increased the number of shortlisted teams to 15.
A big congratulations to the teams that have made it! The shortlisted policy briefs demonstrated strong research depth, originality of thought, and thoughtful engagement with contemporary IP and innovation policy concerns surrounding Trade Secrets, and Standard Essential Patents, making the shortlisting process particularly challenging.
Without much ado, the following teams have made it and will proceed to the pre-final rounds of the competition.
The list of the teams that have made it to the pre-final rounds are as follows:
| S No. | Team Codes of Qualified teams | Name of the College |
| 1 | TEAM 73u | NALSAR University of Law |
| 2 | TEAM 141k | Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow |
| 3 | TEAM 17q | Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow |
| 4 | TEAM 02b | ILS Law College Pune |
| 5 | TEAM 117m | Ramaiah College Law, Bangalore |
| 6 | TEAM 145o | Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law |
| 7 | TEAM 135e | National Law University Delhi |
| 8 | TEAM 133c | Department of Laws, Panjab University |
| 9 | TEAM 99u | NALSAR University of Law |
| 10 | TEAM 62j | Integrated Law Course, Faculty Of Law, University of Delhi |
| 11 | TEAM 41o | Lloyd Law College |
| 12 | TEAM 15o | Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab |
| 13 | TEAM 77y | Gujarat National Law University |
| 14 | TEAM 144N | O.P. Jindal Global University |
| 15 | TEAM 143m | Keshav Memorial College of Law – Osmania University |
Judges for the Pre-Final Rounds
The shortlisted teams will make their oral presentations before the following distinguished judges during the pre-final rounds, who have graciously accepted our invitation to support us.
Murali Neelakantan
Murali Neelakantan is the Principal Lawyer at amicus and a dual-qualified lawyer (English solicitor and Indian advocate). His current research interests focus on healthcare policy, competition law, and intellectual property. He has previously served as Global General Counsel at Cipla and as a Senior Partner at Khaitan & Co. In London, he was a partner at Arnold & Porter and later Ashurst.
Murali has served on the boards of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and TTK Prestige Ltd., and is a prolific commentator on IP, competition, and healthcare policy, with op-eds published in platforms such as The Hindu, Indian Express, NDTV Profit, BloombergQuint, Scroll, and The Wire, among others. A 1996 graduate of NLSIU, Bangalore, he is also a co-editor of “An Idea of a Law School” and has published academic work in journals including NLSIR and The Lancet.
A long-time friend of SpicyIP, Murali has not only contributed through his writing but has been closely associated with several SpicyIP initiatives (SpicyIP Summer School, SpicyIP TV) and was also a judge for the 2024 Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition.
Sumathi Chandrashekaran
Sumathi Chandrashekaran is a policy lawyer with extensive experience in legal and public policy research. She was one of our core team members from 2007-2012. Sumathi is a Consultant at Obhan & Associates and has formerly worked as a Senior Research Fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
She holds an LL.B. from Delhi University and a postgraduate degree in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.
Sumathi has extensively written on IP, public health, judicial reforms and is also a co-author of the State Drug Regulatory Authorities Capability Assessment Report (Thakur Foundation), a comprehensive analysis of regulatory capacities across Indian states, and a co-author of one of the finest books on Indian IP- Create Copy Disrupt (Oxford University Press).
Abhilasha Nautiyal
Abhilasha Nautiyal is a Partner at Ira Law, New Delhi, specialising in IP litigation, mediation, and commercial dispute resolution. Her practice spans complex IP and competition law matters, including patent licensing disputes, standard essential patents, trademark enforcement, and antitrust issues. She regularly appears before the Delhi High Court and other judicial forums.
Abhilasha holds a B.A., LL.B. from the Army Institute of Law, Mohali, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, and is a recipient of the Microsoft Intellectual Property Scholarship. She has previously worked with Anand and Anand, served as a visiting lecturer at NLU Delhi. Abhilasha is a long-time friend of SpicyIP and has contributed several guest posts on patent and competition law (see here, here, here, and here).
The teams will be judged by the above panel based on their written submissions, core policy recommendations, the content and delivery of their oral presentations, and their responses to questions posed by the judges.
The pre-final rounds will be conducted online on 10 February 2026. We will be reaching out to the shortlisted teams shortly with further details regarding schedules and presentation logistics.
Once again, congratulations to all the shortlisted teams. We look forward to an engaging and stimulating set of discussions in the pre-final rounds.
