Intellectual property is an offspring of the 19th century industrial development and grew to adulthood in the technological boom of the 20the century. It became the buzzword of the 21st century information era, with the WTO in 1995 giving it great prominence through its TRIPS agreement, which obliged all member nations to become TRIPS compliant by 2005. Enabling legislations have been passed to make the Indian Patents Act and the entire IP scenario “TRIPS compliant”.

Intellectual Property has thus gained tremendous importance in the New World of globalization and free trade where innovativeness and inventiveness are the key tools for success. The TRIPS regime was set into motion to promote research and development and competition and at the same time protect the expression, design, patent or trademark of the owner of the work. Intellectual Property encapsulates the legal regimes of copyrights, patents, designs, trademarks and secrets and protection against unfair competition.

Property has been at the center of man’s disputes for too long, whether tangible or intangible: real or intellectual. Ownership issues within fixed boundaries itself creates enough confusion, not to mention the trouble it sparks off when such limits vanish, as in the knowledge business. For companies, and equally for governments, there is now a dramatically altered environment setting up new rules for the ownership and exploitation of knowledge and intangible assets The rapid convergence of business, law and corporate intellectual assets makes it imperative for all of us to understand how these streams interact; what destroys proprietary rights and what factors are beneficial for industry leadership and corporate earnings

Against this backdrop the SVKM set up the Institute for Intellectual Property Studies ('IIPS') in 2000, to enrich people from different walks of life be it the industry, government, law or just individuals with a better understanding of the intricacies of intellectual property. IIPS derives its core strength from committed management, dedicated and professional staff, world-class facilities and rich forum of renowned faculty. The Post Graduate Diploma in Patent Law and Practice, which started out in 2000 is a pioneer course in this area in India and has gathered substantial momentum in terms of a constantly updated curriculum and pedagogy. It was observed that present skills do not extend towards protecting indigenous inventions or understanding the implications of patents granted to competitors. Further, the ability to read or write patents is grossly lacking when viewed in the context of global practices. Indian industry and businessmen cannot afford to be indifferent to these new requirements.
India's knowledge-based industries will be looking at filing international patents and their skills in filing, reading and exploring patents will be very crucial in the years to come. This course provides a holistic view of the fundamentals of patents, its drafting, filings, protection and strategies to derive optimum benefits arising from the patents.

The program provides an understanding of how to identify intellectual property, knowledge resources, protect future earnings and avoid litigation losses. Those who wish to go into consulting can formulate a road map for working with corporates and institutions, specializing in areas like prior art search and filings, specification drafting and negotiation strategies.

Keeping in mind the growing importance and need, IIPS also offers a 4 month short term Certificate course in IP which will cover all areas of IP including patent, copyright, trademarks, know-how, confidential information. This we believe would provide both professionals and students understanding of the basic legal concepts and the issues pertaining to different Intellectual Properties. This will especially benefit the students in having a good overview of the legal and commercial issues pertaining to different Intellectual Properties. Although, it would specifically touch upon the issues faced by the Information Technology and Media and Entertainment Industries, it would be just as useful to those who either study, practice, deal with, exploit and evaluate Intellectual Properties – whether they are students, professionals, investment bankers, teachers or entrepreneurs.

Welcome to IIPS. A bright and challenging future beckons!

Radhika C Pereira
Director