Article of the Month (Les Novellus)

I was delighted to receive email from the editor of Les Novellus that they have chosen my article as the "article of the month" on Licensing Executives society LES website (www.les.org). The title of the article is Patenting Dispute Resolution in India.

The link for the article is http://www.lesi.org/content/article_of_the_month.aspx

Conference On "ICT-IPR Trends and Challenges in Globalised World"

I was invited to speak in the above mentioned conference on April 21, 2011. The conference was organized by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), C-DAC and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India. I have reproduce the conference objective from their brochure at the end of this post.

The topic given to me was "Role of IPR in the digital economy : European perspective". The session was chaired by Dr. Anindya Sircar, Head IP Cell, Infosys. Other speakers included Ms. Archana Shankar, Senior Partner, Anand & Anand; and Mr. Nishant Ramani, Head IP Consulting and Strategy, Brain League.

It was a nice experience presenting to the audience and participating in a panel discussion with the distinguished speakers. More details to follow in later posts.

Conference Objective:
Electronics and Information technology has emerged as an enabler for innovations in virtually all fields of technology. Technology changes are taking place rapidly, creating more avenues for business. The commercial stakes are very high which can be gauged from the fact that between 10-15% of patenting activities in the world are related to this field. Being a specialized and rapidly evolving field, handling IPR issues requires specialized knowledge. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), a premier institute under the patronage of the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MC&IT), Government of India along with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is organizing a one day conference on “ICT-IPR Trends and Challenges in Globalised World” at New Delhi. The main objective of the conference is to discuss issues and methodologies so that the Indian ICT community especially SME’s and Researchers get updated, so as to meet the challenges of the present innovation based global economic ecosystem. The conference also aims to build greater awareness and develop insights into the complex mechanism of creation, ownership and protection of Intellectual Property (IP).

Awards @ Evalueserve(EVS).

I am honored and humbled to receive recent awards at EVS, i.e. citizenship and tenure award, from the COO (Ashish Gupta) and the CEO (Marc Vollenwieder) of EVS.

A quick note on the citizenship award:

• Awarded to an employee who demonstrates EVS values, shows integrity, quality in work related habits, and displays professional conduct,
  
• Demonstrates actions that have brought laurels to the group/organisation;
• Demonstrates professional conduct, quality and adherence to EVS values
• Understands and collaborates effectively with other cultures (internally and externally)
• Adapts to change and new methodology quickly and positively

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/

Patenting Landscape in India 2009

My latest whitepaper about the status of Patenting Landscape in India is getting coverage in leading IP blogs and news media. I have listed the links below for quick reference:

1. Patent Baristas: Patenting Landscape in India
2. IPFrontline : Patenting Landscape in India 2009
3. ScienceBusiness: India's Patent Progress

More to come.

Evalueserve's India and China IP Whitepaper quoted in Business Standard

IITs to market patents with help from investment firms

Kalpana Pathak & Shivani Shinde / Mumbai June 8, 2009, 0:07 IST

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/iits-to-market-patentshelpinvestment-firms/360369/

Sitting on a pool of close to 900 patents, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are, for the first time, planning to monetise these intellectual properties (IPs) by exploring tie-ups with firms that invest in "inventions".

IIT Bombay, for instance, recently joined hands with Intellectual Ventures (which has drawn criticism for being a "patent troll" — those who acquire patents not to develop products but to pressure companies to pay licensing fees) to seek support in marketing and licensing patents the institute holds. IIT Delhi too has signed up with the venture fund and others like IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur and IIT Guwahati are considering such offers.

Other than the US-based Intellectual Ventures, Imperial Innovation — an arm of UK's Imperial College — has approached a few IITs for the same purpose.

PATENT OPPORTUNITIES
Institutes No. of patents
IIT-D 240
IIT-B 200
IIT-K 100
IIT-M 125
IIT-KGP 200
IIT-R 12
Source: Industry estimates

“Most of our faculty does research and there’s no inclination towards inventions. With this tie-up there’s a clear incentive to invent,” said Devang Khakkar, director, IIT Bombay. IIT Delhi Director Surendra Prasad agrees: “Securing the intellectual property (IP) has never been a major ambition for a faculty member. Since this tie-up, we have a regular series of patent filing which is picking up now. Besides, arrangements like these would help us protect the IP to an extent.” On an average, IIT Delhi files 20-25 patents annually.

Most of the IITs agree that while faculty members are interested in research, few actually take this as an opportunity for innovation. They are discovering that tying with companies like Intellectual Ventures helps because it provides them the wherewithal to market and monetise their patents.

Moreover, IITs say these companies not only facilitate the institute in filing for patents, but also to invent in the knowledge gap areas, called open invention.

Filing a patent in India, for instance, costs between Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000, compared to around $25,000 to $30,000 (Rs 12 lakh to Rs 14 lakh) in the US. Indian universities still lack the capability to raise funds for innovation. A majority of large universities globally have a Technology Licensing Officer who works towards raising commercial investment in the development of innovation.

Industry observers agree that patent disclosures have increased dramatically since the IITs started tying up with these companies. “In a year’s time, patent disclosures have more than doubled. And in the next few years, it would go three-four times higher,” said a senior executive from one of the invested companies. Agrees IIT-B, which has seen the number of patent disclosures double.

The number of patents filed for 2007-08 is still not available. The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks said the number of patents filed in 2006-07 was 28,940 — a 19 per cent increase over 24,505 filed in 2005-06. The number of applications for patents originating from India was 5,314 — approximately 18 per cent of the total number of applications.

India, though, is a laggard when compared to China which is the third-most prolific patent-filing country in the world after the United States and Japan. The State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) received more than 694,000 patent applications in 2007, says an Evalueserve report.

The Indian Patent Office, on the other hand, received just 35,000, 20-year patent applications in 2007-08. “Patent filing has been growing in both China and India at about 20 per cent a year, compared with a 7 per cent growth rate for the US. However, SIPO received approximately the same number of 20-year applications in 1997 as the IPO did in 2007-08. This implies that India is approximately 10 years behind China,” the report added.

If patent filings in China continue to grow at the present rate, SIPO will overtake the US Patents Office by 2012 in innovation patents.

There are several reasons for the rapid proliferation of patenting in China, especially after that country joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001. In China, patents are issued faster than in India: the average time taken from filing to grant in 2007 was 26 months for invention patents, 6.8 months for utility model patents and 6.6 months for design patents. In India it takes three to five years for a patent to be granted.

The Chinese government also gives grants to research institutes and universities filing a large number of patent applications. The patent office also has many initiatives to create intellectual property awareness among Chinese companies.

Summary of presentations and whitepapers authored by me I have created a short profile providing my key achievements in authoring whitepapers and delivering IP presentations.

You can view my profile and download PDF copies of all my presentations and whitepapers till date by visiting http://balwantonline.googlepages.com/

IPR Tools for effective growth of SMEs

On the occasion of World IP Day, FICCI and Department of Commerce and Industrial Promotion, Government of India, organized an IP seminar on April 27, 2009 for Small and Medium Scale Industries (SMEs). I participated in the seminar and presented a session on the topic - "IPR Tools for effective growth of SMEs". The Programme aimed to showcase how SMEs have created and protected their IP for sustained business growth and to provide an opportunity to the SMEs to have an insight so as to empower them with in-depth knowledge.

It was a nice experience presenting in such a good forum. The presentation can be found at FICCI's website. It is my second presentation at the FICCI forum. Last time I presented a session in October 2008 on the topic "Software patents".

I have attached the photographs from the recent event.

Patents may stall Nano's int'l sales
The Times of India- 16 February 2009

My Tata Nano whitepaper listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list


-----Original Message-----
From: management@ssrn.com [mailto:management@ssrn.com]
Sent: Mon 09-Feb-09 2:53 PM
To: bsrawat@gmail.com
Subject: Your Paper Makes SSRN Top Ten List
Dear Balwant Rawat:

Your paper entitled, "Patent or Perish: Why Your Innovation Can Be Your Competitor's Free Lunch" was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for Chicago Booth School of Business Economics Research Papers, LSICL: International Intellectual Property Protection (Topic), Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition & Tax Law Research Paper Series and Max Planck: Intellectual Property & Competition Law (Topic). To view the top ten list for the journal click on its name Chicago Booth School of Business Economics Research Papers Top Ten, LSICL: International Intellectual Property Protection (Topic) Top Ten, Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition & Tax Law Research Paper Series Top Ten and Max Planck: Intellectual Property & Competition Law (Topic) Top Ten and to view all the papers in the journals click on these links link(s) Chicago Booth School of Business Economics Research Papers All Papers, LSICL: International Intellectual Property Protection (Topic) All Papers, Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition & Tax Law Research Paper Series All Papers and Max Planck: Intellectual Property & Competition Law (Topic) All Papers.

As of 02/09/2009 your paper has been downloaded 20 times. You may view the abstract and download statistics at the URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1331899.

Your paper may be listed in the Top Ten for other networks or journals and if so, you will receive additional notices at that time. If your paper was classified for additional SSRN journals, you may receive this announcement prior to distribution of your abstract in those additional journals.

To view the any of the Top Ten lists, click the TOP button on: http://www.ssrn.com/Browse

To view your SSRN Author Page: http://ssrn.com/author=1052624.

If you have any corrections or additions please use the email form available on your author page to send them to us.

You can use these URLs to refer readers directly to your paper and SSRN Author Page. Many authors include links to their SSRN papers and their SSRN Author Page on their own home pages, and in the signature on their emails. Here is an example of an email signature reference to your author page:

My papers are available on SSRN at: http://ssrn.com/author=1052624

To view the Top Authors Lists:
http://ssrn.com/TopAuthors

Thank you for your participation in the Social Science Research Network. We welcome any comments or suggestions and hope you will submit additional papers to the SSRN eLibrary.

Sincerely, Michael C. Jensen
Chairman
Social Science Research Network

Patent or Perish: "Why your innovation can be your competitor’s free lunch”
Author: Navtej Saluja and Balwant Rawat

Global research and analytics firm, Evalueserve, drew an interesting comparison between Tata’s much awaited Nano and the colorful Crocs footwear. The funny-looking Crocs footwear that initially elicited stares and snickers had suddenly become serious business after its launch. However, since the beginning of 2008, the share price of Crocs has fallen by 97%. One of the main reasons behind the mighty fall of Crocs is the wide availability of cheap knockoffs, which Crocs would like to eliminate from its primary markets, but it does not have the adequate patent protection to do so. In a similar vein, the unveiling of Nano, at a price of about USD 2,500 by Tata Motors in January 2008 has catapulted the image of the company, and renewed people’s interest in cheap and fuel efficient cars. Unlike the Crocs-inspired Chery S16 compact car, the Tata Nano is a smart-looking car, but is it innovative? Is this innovation sufficiently protected by patents? How can the carmaker avoid the mistakes and pitfalls that have plagued Crocs Inc.? These are some of the questions that Evalueserve has addressed in its recently released article titled, ‘Patent or Perish - Why your innovation can be your competitor’s free lunch?

Click here to get full text of the whitepaper

The full text is also available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1331899

View Balwant's other whitepapers at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1052624

FICCI - EPO - IPO Programme on Prosecuting And Litigating Patents In Europe And India, October 24, 2008

I recently presented a session on 'Software Patenting in India' on a workshop organized by FICCI, The European Patent Office and the Indian Patent Office. It was a nice experience to present at such a forum. The other co-presenters in the session were Mr. Richard Howson, Partner, Kilburn & Strode, and Dr. Pinaki Ghosh, IPR Head, Infosys Technologies Ltd.
In the session, the current state of software patenting in India and Europe was discussed. I also presented some recent trends related to software patenting in the Indian Patent Office. The presentation can be downloaded from this link

Coverage of my Indian IP paper in EPO and PIUG newsletter

I feel proud in telling that my whitepaper on "Patenting landscape in India" has been selected to be published in the newsletters of European Patent Office(EPO) and Patent Information Users Group (PIUG).

The EPO article will be published in Patent Information News 3/2008, which should be online by about 22 September. You can access it at the following link: http://www.epo.org/about-us/publications/patent-information/news/2008.html

The PIUG article will be published in Fall 2008 issue (http://www.piug.org/newsletter.php).

Prior to this the paper has received coverage in Managing IP, Live Mint (the Wall Street Journal), Rediff, Business Standard, IAM Magazine, TMC Net, SSRN, and Pluggd.in

From:

management@ssrn.com [management@ssrn.com]

Sent:

Sun 07-Sep-08 2:32 PM

Dear Balwant Rawat:

Your paper entitled, "IP Competitive Intelligence: What is My Competitor Really Up To?" was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for:

1. Law & Society: Private Law. To view the top ten list for the journal click on its name Law & Society: Private Law Top Ten and to view all the papers in the journals click on these links link(s) Law & Society: Private Law All Papers.
2. GSB Economics Research Papers. To view the top ten list for the journal click on its name Chicago GSB Economics Research Papers Top Ten and to view all the papers in the journals click on these links link(s) Chicago GSB Economics Research Papers All Papers.
3. Economics Research Centers Papers. To view the top ten list for the journal click on its name Economics Research Centers Papers Top Ten and to view all the papers in the journals click on these links link(s) Economics Research Centers Papers All Papers.

As of 09/07/2008 your paper has been downloaded 59 times. You may view the abstract and download statistics at the URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1154001.

Your paper may be listed in the Top Ten for other networks or journals and if so, you will receive additional notices at that time. If your paper was classified for additional SSRN journals, you may receive this announcement prior to distribution of your abstract in those additional journals.

To view the any of the Top Ten lists, click the TOP button on: http://www.ssrn.com/Browse

To view your SSRN Author Page: http://ssrn.com/author=1052624.

If you have any corrections or additions please use the email form available on your author page to send them to us.

You can use these URLs to refer readers directly to your paper and SSRN Author Page. Many authors include links to their SSRN papers and their SSRN Author Page on their own home pages, and in the signature on their emails. Here is an example of an email signature reference to your author page:

My papers are available on SSRN at: http://ssrn.com/author=1052624

To view the Top Authors Lists:
http://ssrn.com/TopAuthors

Thank you for your participation in the Social Science Research Network. We welcome any comments or suggestions and hope you will submit additional papers to the SSRN eLibrary.

Sincerely, Michael C. Jensen
Chairman
Social Science Research Network

India far behind China in patent filings, needs 5 years to catch up

LiveMint.com The Wall Street Journal

http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/02001943/India-far-behind-China-in-pate.html
Posted: Wed, Jul 2 2008. 12:19 AM IST
China got 245,161 applications against India’s 35,000 last year; but some warn not to read too much into it

Bhuma Shrivastava

New Delhi: Patent filings in India were one-seventh of the number in China last year and have just scratched the level achieved by the neighbour as long as 10 years ago, according to a study by global analytics firm Evalueserve, which says the gap will remain for up to five years more.

The report also recommends that India introduce a new class of 10-year patents—half the normal lifetime—that will attract lesser scrutiny and encourage smaller domestic companies to seek patents, a suggestion spurned by public health advocates who don’t want the bar lowered.

Indian patent offices received more than 35,000 applications across sectors in 2007-08—up 21% from the preceding year and a more than three-fold increase during the last six years. In China, the number of patent applications last year reached 245,161.

“Indian companies lag substantially in patent-filing intensity compared with their Chinese counterparts,” Evaluserve said. Filing of invention patent applications in India was at about the same level as in China in 1997, “thereby lagging behind China by a decade”. It predicts India will need 4-5 years to catch up.

China’s manufacturing sector is largely responsible for the country’s lead over India in patent filings, said Ram Deshpande, senior manager for intellectual property in Evalueserve’s Shanghai office.

“India has seen a lot more investment in the services sector which doesn’t need patents,” Deshpande said. According to him, the question boils down to how innovative Indians are in the manufacturing sector.

The chemicals and pharmaceuticals sector constituted the biggest bulk of patent filings in India. Patenting activity in the information technology sector was 115 times lower.

China is also faster in granting patents. China’s timeline of 22.5 months for a 20-year-patent grant compares with 3-5 years in India, mainly due to the absence of pre-grant or post-grant opposition in China, which merely allows patent invalidation proceedings. China has more than 2,000 patent examiners, compared with 240 in India.

Some caution that too much shouldn’t be read into the statistics.

“The numbers are important to a certain extent but beyond that they don’t say a lot,” said Amit Sengupta, a health affairs activist and secretary of the Public Health Movement. “They don’t tell you the quality of patents filed, the way local patent laws are defined or the number of patents actually granted.”

China is a bigger economy with a larger industrial base and had a headstart in introducing the product patent regime over India, which got on board fully only in January 2005. And unlike India, China allows the patenting of new uses of an existing product.

The real concern for India is that domestic companies are not filing enough patent applications in their own country, said Deshpande.

Chinese companies make up 62% of patent applications filed in that country. In 2005-06, Indian companies accounted for just 20% of the applications in India, with foreign entities making up the remainder.

Only 22 “pure-bred” Indian organizations figured in the list of top 200 Indian filers.

“Indian companies are going to lose out in the long run. Patents that we think are inconsequential right now may come to bite us later,” warned Deshpande.

Indian companies and researchers could benefit a lot more from “cross-licensing” if they had their own bunch of patents that would act “as a protective shield” while negotiating with global companies, he said.

To encourage domestic companies and research institutes to seek patents, the Evalueserve report has recommended “utility model patents” that attract a smaller patent fee, lesser scrutiny from patent examiners and grant a monopoly right only for 10 years, as in Japan, Germany and China.

Public Health Movement’s Sengupta says it won’t work. “One first needs to prove that patents spur research and only then can we talk about 10-year patents. Evidence is not clear on the first assumption itself,” he said.

“Moroever, we run the risk of protecting innovations that don’t fulfil the basic tenets of patentability as per our law.”