Safir Anand, Senior Partner, Anand & Anand
Do the tools of Intellectual property (IP) like trade secretes, patent law, trade marks hurt or help the technical and industrial innovations in Indian IT and Pharma sector?
To understand the impact it is necessary to know what exactly IP is. Intellectual property right grants the owners exclusive rights to variety of assets.
IP is unequivocally important for the Pharma and IT sectors. For Pharmaceutical companies, Intellectual Property (IP) laws are critical for both defensive and aggressive purposes. On an aggressive front, IP aids in protecting the brand names and ensures a safe distance from identical and deceptively similar names that can mislead consumers. Similarly, patents allow the ability to look and protect the processes so that their R&D activities are duly rewarded. It is unfair utilise the labour and of others for personal benefits. To implement the law successfully, the intellectual right focused on product packaging.
Product packaging falls within the ambit of trade dress and allows pharmaceutical companies the ability to monitor identical or look-alike packaging. This occasionally also involves the law of copyright including color combination, layout and arrangement of features as may be original. Legal actions will be taken to the companies who copy the packaging style of the products of other companies. The provisions of recordal of IP before the Custom Authorities can be useful for tackling counterfeiting drugs from entering the country through the import route.
However, companies are not very comfortable with the government’s initiative of making it mandatory to register a trademark for the product before putting it to use in the pharma sector. Protection of IP is also significant for companies when they look at future commercial transactions. For example, Wockhardt was recently subjected to heavy due diligence on account of issues relating to inter alia ownership of IP. An IP portfolio that is well protected and enforced not only has a higher value for the company itself but also a higher transactable commercial value.
In case of IT, IP involves documentation relating to trade secrets and confidential information. Hardware is effectively protected under the law of patents including when it is embedded with software. However, business methods are currently not protected directly under the Statute but can be protected through a combination of contracts, essentially focusing on trade secrets, non-disclosures and indemnity provisions. Of course, brands can be protected as trademarks but greater focus is on patents and copyright. Copyright plays an important role in the look and feel of the product.
Domain names which are critical of IT operations also falls within the combination of copyright law and in some cases, involve protection through contractual law. There are some specific names such as Infosys that also spill over to company’s law in order to prevent mis-appropriation.
Case studies reveal that the highest value ascribed to software companies has been attributed to intangibles comprised in IP, both protected and secured.
Do the tools of Intellectual property (IP) like trade secretes, patent law, trade marks hurt or help the technical and industrial innovations in Indian IT and Pharma sector?
To understand the impact it is necessary to know what exactly IP is. Intellectual property right grants the owners exclusive rights to variety of assets.
IP is unequivocally important for the Pharma and IT sectors. For Pharmaceutical companies, Intellectual Property (IP) laws are critical for both defensive and aggressive purposes. On an aggressive front, IP aids in protecting the brand names and ensures a safe distance from identical and deceptively similar names that can mislead consumers. Similarly, patents allow the ability to look and protect the processes so that their R&D activities are duly rewarded. It is unfair utilise the labour and of others for personal benefits. To implement the law successfully, the intellectual right focused on product packaging.
Product packaging falls within the ambit of trade dress and allows pharmaceutical companies the ability to monitor identical or look-alike packaging. This occasionally also involves the law of copyright including color combination, layout and arrangement of features as may be original. Legal actions will be taken to the companies who copy the packaging style of the products of other companies. The provisions of recordal of IP before the Custom Authorities can be useful for tackling counterfeiting drugs from entering the country through the import route.
However, companies are not very comfortable with the government’s initiative of making it mandatory to register a trademark for the product before putting it to use in the pharma sector. Protection of IP is also significant for companies when they look at future commercial transactions. For example, Wockhardt was recently subjected to heavy due diligence on account of issues relating to inter alia ownership of IP. An IP portfolio that is well protected and enforced not only has a higher value for the company itself but also a higher transactable commercial value.
In case of IT, IP involves documentation relating to trade secrets and confidential information. Hardware is effectively protected under the law of patents including when it is embedded with software. However, business methods are currently not protected directly under the Statute but can be protected through a combination of contracts, essentially focusing on trade secrets, non-disclosures and indemnity provisions. Of course, brands can be protected as trademarks but greater focus is on patents and copyright. Copyright plays an important role in the look and feel of the product.
Domain names which are critical of IT operations also falls within the combination of copyright law and in some cases, involve protection through contractual law. There are some specific names such as Infosys that also spill over to company’s law in order to prevent mis-appropriation.
Case studies reveal that the highest value ascribed to software companies has been attributed to intangibles comprised in IP, both protected and secured.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
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Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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