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The Cell for IPR Promotion & Management (CIPAM) under the aegis of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade on September 14th 2019 released the draft guidelines for use of IPR in Academic Institutions. The role of IPR in academic institutions is of substantive importance with it governing almost every aspect of the institution like the use of books, literature.etc. A strong IPR Policy is needed to combat the instances of plagiarism and also to provide incentives to students and teachers to engage in cutting edge research. The Draft Guidelines derive inspiration from the WIPO Guidelines on the same, setting up with the international mandate already existing in this regard.
Some important definitions given in the guidelines are that of author, patent, copyright, design and geographical indication. The Guidelines introduce a two-tier system for regulation of patent, trademark and copyright . The relevant portion of the Guidelines is given below-
PATENTS
COPYRIGHT
TRADE MARKS
The Guidelines also introduce a provision for commercialization and benefit sharing. This is an important provision as it acts as an incentive for any academic institution to get into any foreign collaboration for research and at the end the institution has the option of either commercializing it and gaining revenue or putting it to the public for overall benefits of the research. A three tier mechanism is set up in this regard.
The Guidelines recommend the creation of an institutional repository upon a public access system where the projects, thesis, dissertations of the students, teachers and research scholars can be uploaded to ensure full public access for dissemination of knowledge and to ensure that no copyright infringement occurs and makes it easy to detect if it does occur.
To encourage promotion of startups and entrepreneurs the academic institution has an option to transfer the intellectual property rights to the original creator. The Draft Guidelines also provide details on license agreement and sharing of revenue between the researcher and the institution. This varies upon whether the IP filing was done by the institution and the researcher together nor not. Clarification on payment of royalty and further use of the research by the academic institution has also been elucidated regarding the terms of use and details of expiry.
Given the recent judgement like K Puttaswamy v Union of India that asserts the mandate privacy as a fundamental right, the Guidelines also lay heavy emphasis on the necessity of privacy and confidentiality. The guildines recommend the provision of non-disclosure agreements in this regard.
Regarding disputes if any arise, the Guidelines lay heavy emphasis on the academic institution for speedy resolution of the dispute through the formation of a committee. If the aggrieved party is not satisfied with the decision of the Committee, then other means like ADR, Court suit in the Court nearest to the academic institutions can be followed.
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