Articles : Intellectual Property

The long-term lifespan of many IP assets results in returning investment and supports the importance of having a well-documented strategy to create, record, protect, and exploit the IP assets. In this article, after defining the IP strategy and its importance, the factors that should be considered for developing an IP strategy, are described.

In the current COVID-19 situation, many researchers and pharmaceutical companies are rushing to find both treatment and vaccines. The pandemic is still continuing and the financial uncertainty related to Covid-19 will undoubtedly impact the business's choices and prioritizes. Intellectual Property may be an estimated low priority at this moment where businesses will face many other challenges, but there must be a balance between IP rights and public access and interest. 

The COVID-19 outbreak raises many questions relating to the patent system: How to deal with patent barriers to the production and provision of low-priced treatments? How would be the effects of compulsory licensing to make the patent available for the public?

One of the key pieces of equipment getting a lot of attention these days Is ventilator. As the number of Covid-19 cases surges, worldwide governments and hospitals are demanding for more ventilators and facing a dearth of supplies.

There are a number of indices that measure innovation based on various indicators and rank the worldwide countries. In this article, two indices and their basic measures are shortly introduced an then the list of top innovative countries of those indices is compared. 

Research results show Although there is still a small share of women in the world of inventions, even in this small portion, women are less likely to work in All-female teams. Women make up half of the population. Despite many women empowerment programs and many conversations about harassment and equity in recent years, but in the invention world, there is still a huge gender gap. Statistical data show less than 13% of women's participation in patent applications worldwide. But what is more interesting is All-female teams are nearly non-existent, making up just 0.3% of applications, So, why are there so few women in the world of invention? And why even among this little portion, there is so little teamwork among women in all-female teams?

Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer, who recently passed away in an unfortunate accident, was one of the most influential IP personalities of our generation. His contributions to intellectual property rights resonated beyond his home country – India. He was also the founder of multiple humanitarian projects like IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access) and P-PIL. After completing his law degree from the National Law School of India University, Prof. Basheer went on to complete his master’s and a doctorate in law from the University of Oxford. Thereafter, he taught at many internationally renowned universities, including George Washington University and the University of Pennsylvania in the US. He also holds the distinction of becoming one of the youngest professors in India, when he went on to become the Chair Professor of Intellectual Property Rights at the WB National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata. Despite his stellar academic achievements, Prof. Basheer’s interests went much beyond academia. In fact, towards the latter part of his life, he devoted a substantial amount of his time towards fostering a transparent environment within India's IP rights ecosystem, as well as creating a democratized, dynamic, and equal society for all. Through the IDIA project, which he established in 2010, he embarked on a mission to ensure that the best law schools across India are accessible to students from the most marginalized sections of the society. The end-goal of the project is to help create an equal society, where diversity of opinions and identities is not just respected but encouraged. Keeping in line with the values he stood for, he founded the blog "SpicyIP" in 2005 to democratize the discussions surrounding intellectual property rights in India. This blog has been one of the most popular IP rights websites not only in India but also worldwide.  Last December, we had the honor of hosting Prof. Basheer, when he visited Iran as a visiting instructor at a workshop hosted by the Iranian Ministry of Justice, and partially sponsored by Kanoon IP. In a friendly and wide-ranging interview, we talked to him about his work and what motivates him to continue fighting the good fight.