The Hindu : New Delhi News : 33 law students receive IPR scholarships from Microsoft

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Thursday, Jan 24, 2008
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33 law students receive IPR scholarships from Microsoft

J. Venkatesan

Move to make students take up IPR as a specialised subject

“A stronger IP legal community helps us take on violations of our intellectual property abroad”
Legal affairs chief of Microsoft says more lawyers will be needed to deal with IPR issues

NEW DELHI: As part of its initiative to make law students take up Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) as a specialised subject, Microsoft Corporation (India) has distributed IPR scholarships to 33 students drawn from 11 law universities/colleges across the country.

A new website www.legaladda.com, a legal online community portal, was launched on the occasion for the benefit of law students to interact and share ideas.

In his felicitation message, the Union Law Minister, H. R. Bharadwaj, said: “The goal of promoting intellectual property law represents a fundamental attempt to promote the overall technological, innovative and artistic capacity of the nation. Also, a stronger IP legal community in India helps us take on violations of our intellectual property abroad, ensuring Indian inventions are protected and worked domestically and internationally.”

Talking to The Hindu, Rakesh Bakshi, Director, Legal and corporate Affairs, Microsoft, said the Microsoft Intellectual Property Scholar Program was launched in 2006 with scholarships for the students of NALSAR, Hyderabad. He said: “The program has now been extended to other law colleges and universities across the country and the scholarship amount is Rs. 80,000 per student.”

He was of the view that India had some of the most progressive IP laws in the world and one of the highest piracy rates acting as a deterrent to innovation. He said that at present only a handful of specialists were dealing with IPR laws.

In the changing scenario with more and more patents being registered in the automobile, manufacturing and pharma sectors, India would require several lawyers to deal with IPR issues.

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