Course Overview
Introduction to Law and Indian Legal System: The course provides an overview of the Indian and international legal system and the basic terms and concepts of law. As the course expects no prior legal knowledge it provides the introduction to statute interpretation, case law analysis etc. It examines the judicial structure and common law principles applicable to India.
Introduction to Intellectual Property: Apart from introduction to the concept of Intellectual Property Rights, it discusses the different forms of
Intellectual Property such as Patents, Copyrights, Geographical indications, etc. and their nature and scope. The course examines the basic substantive requirements and procedures of obtaining, maintaining and enforcing various
intellectual properties. Beyond the basics the course explores the overlap between different
Intellectual Property Rights
Patent law fundamentals: The course examines important concepts related to patents
like conditions to patenting. What can and cannot be patented. It explains the concepts of novelty, non-obviousness, utility, anticipation, prior art, etc. It also examines the conditions vis-a-vis the Indian Patent Act. While providing a historical review and a detailed study of the Indian Patent Act it also examines the administrative setup and structure of the Indian patent office.
International and comparative Patent Law: This course has two components international as well as comparative patent law. It firstly introduces the patent provisions of the Paris Convention, PCT, TRIPS Agreement. Secondly it will cover comparative patent law based more on functional than on country by country setup. Nonetheless the important end of understanding and appreciating differences between various jurisdictions will be addressed.
Drafting: It is most crucial to define invention correctly while drafting a patent application, such that the twin goals of “maximum protection minimum opposition” are achieved as in avoiding ambiguous or excessive claims, which would be struck down. Participants will learn to draft patent claims that are acceptable to the Patent office. They will become familiar with the statues, regulation and practice that guide the drafting of acceptable patent claims. Over four weeks of training/practice in this area is provided at the end of which the students take a Patent Drafting examination.
Patent Application: Here the students will build on their basics of patent drafting skills by learning the rules, regulations and practices, which need to be understood and kept in mind while responding to the Patent office and/or while prosecuting the patents. It also emphasizes on the procedure of patent filing. Both conventional and non-conventional filing, are discussed. An in depth study of the practice followed in the Indian Patent Office, USPTO, JPO and EPO is undertaken. One segment of the module is devoted to the study of the procedures and merits under the Patent Co-operation Treaty, which enables filing patent applications worldwide. Amendment procedures and grounds for opposition of patents are also examined in this module.
Documentation & Search: Prior Art search is the most crucial before filing a patent. This course is designed to provide students with an introductory, working knowledge of ways and means of searching. It explains how to search for previously issued patents, using resources available on the Internet. Students will conduct interviews, research and perform a prior art search. The Faculty shall be covering both the paid sites and the free web-based databases. Case studies and assignments will be used to promote hands-on learning, and the scope of the workshop will go beyond just pure search. Patent mining and mapping, use of search data as a tool in a SWOT Analysis for decision making, search strategy, searching towards new product identification etc, will be addressed. This would give searchers a management perspective as well, and help them to appreciate the wider issues that would govern decisions they meet with, or influence, at the workplace
Revocation of Patent: A grant of a patent does not guarantee its validity. The course discusses the grounds for revocation available under the Indian Law. It explores in detail the practices in UK, EPO and USA by bringing in case law from various jurisdictions. Grounds of invalidity, re-examination proceedings, examination to prior disclosure etc. are examined in this course.
Litigation and Infringement: The course expands the development of basic skills related to legal research and legal analysis within the Legal System. It enhances the legal skills through the drafting of an appellate brief which deals with a patent infringement. The brief will be defended through presentation of an oral argument before a panel of judges. It teaches the general principles of Patent Litigation including a detailed exploration of procedures, forum and jurisdictions. In-depth detailed consideration is given to powers and limitation of courts to grant various reliefs. It also examines the principles underlying an act of infringement of a patent, what constitutes an act of infringement of patent, types of infringement viz., direct literal, induced, contributory, doctrine of equivalents, reverse doctrine of equivalents etc. and also analyses the determination of infringement in various jurisdictions.
Licensing: It discusses the scope of licenses, types of licenses, monetary considerations, valuation and royalty determination, sub-licensing etc. Important considerations to licensing as of a licensee and licensor are discussed. To the greatest possible extent we shall use the class as a lab for negotiating and crafting of patent licensing agreements. Through interactive exercises, preparation, and actual negotiations in a realistic IP setting, skills are explored and developed.
IP Management: Topics included are “harvesting” inventions, how to maintain invention record, employer/ employee law as it relates to ownership of inventions and proprietary information, employed inventor incentive plans, dealing with inventors and inventions , lab notebook keeping, various types of patent searches , criteria and procedures for decisions on whether to file patent applications in US and other countries or to keep trade secrets, public disclosure problems, outside inventor problems, secrecy agreements, IP audits etc.
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Course Overview
