Report of World Intellectual Property Day Celebration at SSPU By Tanvi Golecha

The event began with a warm welcome to dignitaries, faculties, and students to celebrate the power of human creativity and its impact on the world. It begins with a Sanskrit shloka honoring knowledge and innovation.

The host of the event, Dr. Shailesh Kediya, an enthusiastic researcher and Associate Professor at the School of Ports Terminal Management and Logistics shared a few compelling statistics. As of January 2024, Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft – collectively known as GAMAM command a combined market value of almost $7 trillion. This staggering figure is nearly 1.7 times India’s entire GDP. A key driver of their phenomenal success is their unwavering commitment to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Together, these five companies hold a remarkable 339,739 global patents as of January 2024.

Meanwhile, India, the world's fifth-largest economy, continues to demonstrate its innovation prowess. In 2023, our nation filed 90,300 patents and granted over 100,000, with an average of 250 patents granted per working day. This dynamic activity reinforces the undeniable link between intellectual property and the wealth of both organizations and nations.

He then requested the honorable dignitaries to join for the “Deep Prajwalan” ceremony. 

Dr. Swati Mujumdar, Pro-Chancellor, SSPU extends a special welcome to the esteemed Chief Guest, respected Ms. Shweta Uttam, CEO of AIC Seed, IISER.

Dr. Shailesh Kediya says how he had an idea to contribute 21 new copyrights from the students and faculty members of all the schools of BBA on this day. When consulted with Registrar Sir, he wanted this to be an even bigger event with the help of the IPR cell of SSPU. Dr. Khushboo Bhurat, contributed a lot to make it a grand event.

Dr. Khushboo Bhurat, Head of IPR, Publications, and MOU addresses the event and gives her heartfelt regards to Dr. Swati Mujumdar, Pro-Chancellor, SSPU, Chief Guest of the event, Ms. Shweta Uttam, Mr. Sudhakar Shinde, Registrar and all the IP enthusiasts present. She wishes everyone a happy World Intellectual Property Day and is fortunate for the opportunity to celebrate it here at SSPU. She says it’s a grand stage that shines on the brilliance of an individual irrespective of where they come from or who they are. Celebrating this day is like celebrating the melodies of a composer’s symphony, dancing along with designs of an engineer’s blueprint, or imagining this date as a stroke of painter’s brush which are performed alongside the course of a programmer’s hands. The day is one of its kind with no bias, celebrating every individual who has created. It’s a realm of imagination that knows no boundaries, IP-aware people are an endangered species that should be protected and promoted. 

Dr. Swati Mujumdar, Pro-Chancellor, SSPU, also welcomes and wishes a Happy World IP Day to everyone present. She feels that it's very heartening that the university is celebrating the day with a big announcement of so many students filing for IPR as well as patents. She thinks it's an excellent way to celebrate innovative ideas coming from the students by felicitating and recognizing their efforts and making them feel supported guided and mentored throughout their journey. Though it may take some time till the paperwork is done since it's quite a long process she’s glad that the journey has begun and the efforts of the students are being announced. 

She talks about her journey with copyright which started with developing an assessment engine as part of Symbiosis Centre of Business Learning which was a software that caters to around 8 lakh examinations annually with a technique that is quite evolved. It also had a feature of combining objective tests and subjective which she is happy to share that no other assessment engine in the world offers. She thinks that it was a wonderfully developed system that they filed a copyright for and even received it but the publication of that is what she failed to do. There was nobody to guide and tell that for a product to really be useful, a commercial has to be done to many other universities. Looking back, although it was a successfully created innovative product, and also got a copyright for it, there is still a frustration of failing to commercialize it. She is proud that today, the university has not only an IPR cell but also an incubation center to guide the students in not only making a product but also commercializing it. Also, the university being a skills university has a lot of potential to create an environment where students can create these ideas. 

The inauguration of the new IP policy was done which was a testament to SSPU’s commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and providing active support for the intellectual property endeavors of its students and faculty. Recognizing the power of collaboration and the importance of resources, this policy offers both financial and technological support to empower the inventors. The esteemed dignitaries were asked to join in officially launching this transformative policy, marking a new era of innovation at SSPU. 

Ms. Shweta Uttam starts by mentioning how 50% of India’s population is below the age of 25. This will have a boost in the economy as the creative potential increases with the youth. She answers why student-led startups are important as it’ll be rich in ideas, and have a fresh approach and mindset. She presents inspiring examples of such student-led startups like Facebook, Google, yahoo etc. Everything begins with an idea. It’s the ground zero of a startup. But when you have an idea and just need an investor and an engineer to do all the work then the economic term of what you have is nothing. The second step after the lightbulb moment in the startup journey is to file a patent to protect your idea. 

What is a patent? She answers by saying that it is a contract between an inventor and a state. One form of IPR for scientific inventions along with trademarks, copyrights, industrial design, plant varieties, geographical indicators, trade secrets, and semiconductor integrated circuits layout design. Knowing about patents is important for researchers and academia to gain credibility and recognition for their intellectual contributions and for their economic benefits. For entrepreneurs, startups and businesses to protect their market, gain clarity on scope and limits, prevent competition, investing, and economic benefits. She explains the evolution of IPR where everything began with rights related to land then eventually evolved to trade and new technology. IPR is like real property. It can be bought, sold, licensed, exchanged, and protected. 

She then covers common misconceptions and debunks myths surrounding patents. Some of them are that patents can make you rich but in reality, 97% of patents never make any money and that people should strive to join the elite 3%. She also says that its not important or fixed that the inventor will own the patent’s rights and that there is a difference between inventorship and authorship. You also cannot have a patent and keep the invention a secret too. An applicant must disclose information in sufficient detail, along with the best mode of working, and preferred embodiment. She gives the example of creating the anti-gravity illusion which was shown in Michael Jackson’s performance. There is also a misconception where people say that they have a global patent. There’s no such thing as a global patent. There is an Indian patent that only the government of India can provide similarly if a patent is acquired in another country, then you will have the rights there. These are some of the common misconceptions that she debunked during the session. 

She concludes by saying that the patenting process is a very long process that starts with invention disclosure to filing an application. Patents are like a time machine she says. Earlier, The Wright brothers, made history and today lanes have become so common but this patent application was there and records their invention. Around the same time, there was other information of a mechanical design that automatically raised hats of people which was done to show respect but it became irrelevant over time. So which problem is being selected is also important. She says that we must have the awareness to spot a problem and then work on the solution. 

Students and Faculty members who have made significant efforts were honored to protect their innovative ideas through IP filings.