Indian IT industry: Is the future secure without patents?

Balwant Rawat and Hedda Pahlson-Moller (Evalueserve)

According to a Datamonitor report [1], the global software and services industry generated total revenue of $2,239 billion in 2008, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.2% for the 2004-08 period. The industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.4% from 2008 to 2013. Looking at the Indian market, the impressive growth of this sector takes on even more significance – the success of the Information Technology (IT) and services businesses (of which off-shored software services comprise a large component) has changed the entire economic landscape. India's exports of software and services in the year ended March 31, 2009 are estimated to have grown 16-17% to about $47 billion, according to the lobby group National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM).

The success of the Indian industry has so far been mainly due to the cost advantage and vast pool of skilled IT professionals. However, in order to maintain this growth, Indian IT firms will need to concentrate on innovating to maintain competiveness and continue to move up the value chain [2, 3 and 4].

This article explores the role of intellectual property (IP) rights in ensuring future growth of the Indian IT industry. It is a well-established fact that IP rights play a significant role in industries by protecting innovation, deriving value out of innovation and in turn, promoting further innovation on a long-term basis. This article looks into the patent-specific issues for the IT industry, and provides suggestions for incorporating IP strategy in overall business strategy to ensure India maintains its pole position.

Click here to view the entire article.

Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) and the Great Recession

The economic recession (the Great Recession) of 2008 and 2009 resulted in a sharp drop in international trade, impacting the entire global economy. Recent studies by BTI Consulting Group and Hildebrandt-Citi Private Bank reported that 2008 and 2009 were among the worst years for the legal market in the United States during the last 50 years with billable rates and realised rates dropping by almost 10% (after including inflation). On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean too, the Great Recession took its toll; the Clementi proposals in the United Kingdom are further expected to change the way the law firms operate, forcing them to become more efficient and competitive. In light of the recent developments mentioned above, Evalueserve forecasts a revenue growth of 26% percent for the LPO-industry between 2010 and 2015. Even during the recession, the LPO sector grew by 40% each year. Currently, there are over 5,200 professionals in the LPO industry in India and the Philippines, contributing an annual revenue of USD 300 million, and this is expected to reach 18,000 professionals with an annual revenue of USD 960 million by December 2015.

You can access the full article at Evalueserve's website

Press coverage:

1. CFO.com
2. IP Frontline
   

Won Silver medal in Knowledge Olympics

I along with my colleague (Savi) won silver medal in our company's annual competition - Knowledge Olympics 2009. The Knowledge Olympics are a way in which Evalueserve encourages its employees to do something new, to think in new and path breaking ways and convert their ideas into something functional.

We are also filing a patent application based on the paper presented in the forum. Our entry related to an innovative way of filing the patent application in multiple countries. More details to follow after filing the patent.

Conference on Higher education (EDU 2010)

EDU 2010 brought together senior leaders from a variety of private higher education institutions to consider new approaches to fostering and harnessing innovation, creativity and technology to drive the growth of their institutions. It helped them develop an agenda for their institutions to capitalise on these emerging opportunities.

I prepared two presentation for the event
1) Converting Knowledge to Wealth: Monetizing IP, patents and content
2) Cost Center to Profit Center: Identifying and capitalizing on opportunities for commercial research, consultancy and training

The first one was given by our COO and Country head, Ashish Gupta. The second one was presented by me.

Conference on Patinformatics in India
I spoke on a topic "Patentinformatics and it's future in India" in December 2009. The conference (SIS-2009) was organized by URDIP- CSIR and Society for Information Science (SIS). The photographs are provided below.

Patent Dispute Resolution in India

My latest article on the above topic was published in IPFrontline and IPPangea. Links below:

• IP Frontline : http://www.cafezine.com/depts/article.asp?id=23983&deptid=6
• IP Pangea : http://www.ippangaea.com/2010/01/27/evaluserve-publishes-article-about-patent-dispute-resolution-in-india/