IPR Attorney: A career of saving clients’ intellectual property

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India is set to jump into the bandwagon of the global patent regime and national patent laws, thus needing a vast pool of people with expertise in patents, copyrights and trademarks. Generally speaking, intellectual property rights (IPR) is the current buzz in India. At the same time, the Indian market is facing a huge deficit of talent in the field with just 607 registered patent attorneys.
 
With the arrival of new patent regime, the need of skilled people to fight for a business’ or individual’s intellectual property would jump manifold to fight with the global business houses. A good patent attorney will have to lead businesses towards suitable research and development to always remain ahead of their rivals.

Intellectual property, also IP, is all about allowing people to own their creativity and innovation like they hold any physical property. IP protects innovation and ideas, thus paves way for intellectual work to flourish without any hindrance. 

Whatever comes under creations of the mind is called IP. The domain of IP is quite broad and includes inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.

Intellectual property is applied in two categories of Industrial Property and Copyright. In industrial property, people are given rights for inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source.  

In copyright, people are given rights for their literary and artistic. This category includes novels, poems, plays, films, musical works, paintings,   architectural designs etc.  

Intellectual property covers the whole area of intellectual inventions that cannot be quantified. It is to provide the right of ownership of the products which are created out of one’s intelligence. 

IPR attorneys tend to be a vital aspect of in-house teams of business organizations to identify and stop copyright and IP infringements. Specialty Law Firms, Government and Self supported Think Tanks, Law Enforcing bodies and universities give job prospects for IPR attorneys to save their intellectual property.
 
Scope 

Now businesses can easily make instant access to the global storehouse of information due to the fast advent of internet. With this ease in sharing information and accessing it, a whole lot of evils have appeared on the scene.  Information is no longer a proprietary with such an easy access. Business organizations have easily been applying this easily accessible information, thus leaving no scope for the inventor to gain advantage. 

To save businesses from this wide-spread privacy evil, the concept of IPR attorney has been evolved. An IPR attorney is entrusted with the task of safeguarding the commercial interests of his or her client. He is responsible to defend the Intellectual Property Rights of individuals and organizations at the same time. 

It is the job of an IPR attorney to ensure that any innovation, improvement or invention has been patented and protect clients’ intellectual property.

The IPR attorney makes patent applications, and shields the client in case of a violation. His duty is to curb intellectual theft to maintain the benefit of IP with the clients. Through his/her apt knowledge of law, an IPR attorney brings the guilty persons to book. 
 
Eligibility for IPR attorney courses 

Anyone who is at least a graduate in science, technology or engineering can become an IPR attorney. There is no need to already have a law degree to become an IPR attorney. Students have to pass an exam to be registered as a patent attorney. The exam would be held every year in November, comprises two papers (100 marks each) followed by a viva voce (100 marks). 
 
Institutes of IPR Attorney 

• Institute of Intellectual Property Studies (IIPS), Mumbai- 1 year PG diploma in patent law and a four-month certificate course on IPR
• Institute of Intellectual Property Development (IIPD), New Delhi
• Bioinformatics Institute of India- Noida- A PG diploma in IPR
• Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad 
• Symbiosis Society Law College, Pune 
• ICFAI Law School, Noida 
 
Remuneration 

For those who start, the salary will depend on the base qualifications. A BSc graduate can hope to start with around Rs 8,000, while an MSc student can reach about Rs 10,000 as the starting salary. In case of a B. Tech, BE or an M. Tech, the starting salary may touch around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000.