As innovation due to
the rapidly advancing technology increasingly becomes core to the college
education, campuses are stepping ahead to protect the Intellectual
Property Rights (IPRs) of their students.
Intended to help
students identify their Intellectual
Property (IP) while respecting others’ IP, they are
setting up dedicated IPR cells to streamline paperwork, offer legal counseling,
etc. With these efforts by campuses, the students can now apply for and obtain
copyrights and patents for almost everything. No matter whether it is a
product, an image, or a simple text, a student can secure the same. The only
condition is that the project and product should be new and unique.
The copyright or
patent is owned by both the student and the institute. Here, the college plays
the role of an applicant, and the student is the inventor. So, the inventorship
credit goes to the student.
IPR cells aid students
to promote their work. And, it further helps the students in the
commercialization of their products, ideas, etc., by attracting potential
buyers.
Plugging the Gaps
It is due to the lack
of separate Intellectual Property Law (IP
Law) for universities that the campuses are working on their own policies.
Indeed, the colleges are doing so while keeping in mind the objectives and
privileges of the National IPR Policy adopted by the Indian government in 2016.
According to the IPR Law in India, one of the prerequisites
for filing the copyright or patent application is that the work must be:
·
New,
·
Non-obvious, and
·
With tangible utilities or outcomes.
As India follows the
first-to-file rule, it is always in the best interest of the applicant to
e-register and then proceed further only if a prototype is ready. Moreover,
he/she should ensure that the novelty isn’t lost even by prior publication in a
journal. The kind of IPR is selected based on the type of work. For instance,
if it is a new process or material product, then it comes under Patent
Protection. Nevertheless, if it is aesthetic and design-based
innovation, film, or video, then fall under the Indian Copyright Act of 1957.
Time and Money
Although some patents
get registered within a month of filing application, many others take around
four months or even more. Most of the time, it is due to the queries amid the
students, faculty member, and Patent
Attorney and Officer. Whatever is the reason, these
things show that ‘obtaining patent protection’ is not an easy task. Note that
the final granting of patents can take years even.
From all these
statistics, we can conclude that though patenting is a long-drawn-out process,
yet going for this is beneficial in many ways. By obtaining Patent
Protection in India or anywhere, the
inventors can gain the confidence to conduct more researches and come up with
more inventions. They can become more industry-ready.
Considering these
advantages of patenting, universities are involved in practices to help
students with this process. The campuses are supporting the inventors in the entire
process, from filing to responding to patent administrators if needed. They
appear supportive from the perspective of expenses also. The cost of Applying
for a Patent, in general, ranges from Rs 4,000 to Rs 9,000.
Universities also
support students by paying renewal fees for half the 20-year life of a patent.
Nonetheless, they also share royalties on ideas, inventions, and products
produced by students in college using university facilities. Terms of sharing
vary based on universities.
Many times, students
wish to leave the campus and move out of the nation. In such cases, the college
takes care of the rest of the Patent
Registration Process in India with the help of
an authority letter from the student.
Well, this is one of
the best moves that campuses in India took to motivate students to utilize
their intellect as more as they could. It is a good way to shape present
students into great creators and inventors who will make the nation proud in
the future. In a single line – this effort by the colleges will for sure be
beneficial for not just the students but campuses and the nation as well. For
more visit: https://www.kashishipr.com/
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