The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : State to launch ‘Mission IPR’

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Saturday, Jul 19, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

State to launch ‘Mission IPR’

Staff Reporter

National seminar on IPRs begins
Move to include topic in school syllabus

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State government will launch an intellectual property mission titled “Mission IPR” in a couple of months. This will serve as a mechanism for governing the entire spectrum of Intellectual Property Rights administration in the State, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs M. Vijayakumar has said.

He was inaugurating a national seminar on Intellectual Property Rights organised by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) here on Friday.

The Minister said that the government was committed to spreading awareness regarding IPRs among school and college students.

“The topic has already been pushed as a compulsory paper for degree syllabus,” he said. “Now we will propose to the Education Department to include it at the high school and higher secondary level,” Mr. Vijayakumar said.

“Our traditional know-how in areas such as tribal medicine, ayurveda and bio-diversity has to be protected from being appropriated by private sector organisations,” Mr. Vijayakumar said. “Codification of traditional knowledge into digital libraries is not a complete solution,” he said.

Through introduction of concepts such as “traditional knowledge commons” and “commons licence” the State has the right tools to protect its rich traditional wealth from usurpation, he said.

E.P. Yesodharan, executive vice president, KSCSTE said that with growing competition, there was urgent need to protect traditional knowledge in medicine, healing and on manufacture of metal mirrors.

The two-day seminar will create awareness on aspects of IPR such as patent cooperation treaty, patenting system, patent drafting and filing, copyrights and geographical indications. Apart from experts from the State, the sessions are also handled by specialists from patent offices in Chennai and Mumbai. Opportunity will also be provided for inventors to interact with patent officials and clarify doubts regarding patent filing procedures and requirements.

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