MVJ College of Engineering, Bangalore, in association with Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC) – Ministry of Education Initiative & IQAC, organized a ‘Workshop on IPRs & IP Management for Start-Up’, on 19th April 2023, from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm.
The main aim behind arranging this programme was to provide detailed information to students about Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) – i.e., Patents, Designs, Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Copyrights, and to make them understand the process of obtaining patents. The objective was to enhance their knowledge on these matters, and motivate them to file maximum patents in order to provide weightage and recognition to their innovative projects.
The event started with the arrival of the honorable Chief Guest Dr. Brindha K Varma, Intellectual Property & Technology Licensing Officer, and IP Consultant, IISc. Bangalore, in the presence of Dr. M. Brindha (Vice-Principal, MVJCE) and Dr. P. Mahabaleswarappa (Principal, MVJCE).
The event started at 10:30 am with a welcome speech and introduction of the Guest, following which the Guest addressed the gathering.
The Guest Speaker:
Dr. Brindha K. Varma is an Advocate and Patent Attorney, with over 15 years of experience in dealing with IPRs, including patents and trademarks. She is associated with the research wings of several institutes, helping them to frame their IPR strategies. She is the Managing Partner of Aekam Legal, a law firm based out of Bangalore, which handles and assists research entities and businesses including start-ups, in various legal matters, from inception of a company to protecting their IP. Her primary focus areas are patent drafting and prosecution, IP litigation, technology transfer negotiations, training researchers of various educational institutes and start-ups on various aspects of IP-related areas.
She is associated with the Intellectual Property and Technology Licensing office of Indian Institute of Science as an Advocate and IP consultant. She handles technology transfer deals for IISc. inventions, drafting and negotiating research and license agreements. She was instrumental in transforming the IP cell of IISc., from a service facilitator to a service provider. She was involved in handling several research-based collaborations with industries. She worked towards pursuing a systematic, mutually beneficial engagement with research-based national and international companies, to encourage them to partner with IISc.
Dr. Brindha holds a PhD from NLSIU Bangalore, a Master’s degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology, and an LLB degree from Bangalore University. She also holds a Post-graduate degree in Business Administration from Symbiosis, Pune. She is a registered Indian Patent Agent, and qualified to practice before the Indian Patent office. She is the recipient of Association of Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) for Patent Experts.
Dr. Brindha is also active in IPR and commercial law litigation, and in the field of contract law. She is a regular speaker at various forums and organisations, and has delivered talks on IPR, across the country. She is also involved in corporate training, in the fields of IPR, commercial laws, contracts, and consumer related laws, for entities such as IIM, DRDO, IISER, L&T, CMTI etc. She is also associated with Visvesvaraya Trade Promotion Centre (VTPC) and KSCST (Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology), Govt. of Karnataka, as an IPR consultant.
Session Details:
Dr. Brindha K. Varma spoke about patents, the various forms of patents that can be registered in India, and on other forms of IPRs like copyright, trademark, geographical indications etc. She gave many examples of how very simple inventions have made people’s daily lives better, and benefited the inventor too, financially.
She gave insights into the basics of IPR, IP Policy, Ownership rights, Role of IP in a Start-Up, Licensing, and the difference between patentable and non-patentable inventions.
A gist of the topics covered by the Speaker:
- Types of IPRs
- Converting Idea into Prosperity
- Role of IP policy in Academic Institutions
- Innovation Process (Creation, Development, Prototype, Marketing and Commercialization)
- IP Office: Interface with Inventors, Patent Attorneys and Business Management
- Ownership Rights
- Disclosure of Inventions
- Licensing/Assignment of IPR
- Revenue Sharing
- Impact of TRL (Technology Readiness Level) for a patent
- Case Study of Success and Failure Start-Ups
At the end of the session, students posed querries to the Speaker for around half an hour.
The students felt that all the topics were very informative. They got many technical inputs and motivation regarding start-ups and IPR. It was a captivating talk that surely fired up our young engineers.
The major outcomes of the event:
- Students understood that intellectual property (IP) is an important skillset in today’s increasingly dynamic, information-based economy.
- They gained awareness on IP – this awareness is important in academic institutions, where many of society’s brightest minds first learn about, and begin practising, innovation and entrepreneurship.
- They got to know the various IPR terminologies, innovative ideas, and types of patent applications.