The Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala (RGNUL)hosted a one day workshop on Intellectual Property Rights on February 11, 2012. The workshop was conducted in collaboration with IP law firm, Knowledgentia Consultants (KC). The workshop mainly dealt the issues relating to patents, designs and patent applications.

The goal of the workshop was to acquaint the students with the latest trends and developments in the field of IPR and also to impart some practical knowledge. The workshop had KC Partners, Aparna Jain and Harinder Narvan as speakers.

Narvan, a registered Patent Agent, led the first session by providing a brief introduction to IPR before moving on to the intricacies of drafting patent applications giving examples from actual court cases.

The second session, chaired by Aparna Jain dealt with industrial designs. She too began with the basic concepts before moving onto the more complex issues and also included a brief overview of registration and licensing in IPRs.

IPRs have steadily been increasing in importance with companies willing to invest a huge amount of resources to ensure protection and dissemination of intellectual property. Naturally, IPR-related fields have become one of the most sought after areas of study and practice for the law student. The workshop was a recognition of this fact and also served to generate interest and awareness amongst RGNUL students.

(This report is courtesy RGNUL student Aritra Sinha)