BRMK557

Model Question Paper-1 with effect from 2022(CBCS Scheme)

Fifth Semester B. Tech Degree Examination
Research Methodology and Intellectual Property Rights

MODULE-1

Q.01

a) List the different types of research misconduct and provide a brief explanation
for each one.

➔ Engineering research should be conducted to improve the state-of-the-art of

technologies. Research integrity encompasses dealing fairly with others, honesty about
the methods and results, replicating the results wherever possible so as to avoid errors,
protecting the welfare of research subjects, ensuring laboratory safety, and so forth. In
order to prevent mistakes, peer reviews should take place before the research output is
published.

There may be different types of research misconduct as described, which can be

summarized as follows:

• Fabrication (Illegitimate creation of data): Fabrication is the act of conjuring data or

experiments with a belief of knowledge about what the conclusion of the analysis or
experiments would be, but cannot wait for the results possibly due to timeline pressures
from supervisor or customers.

• Falsification (Inappropriate alteration of data): Falsification is the misrepresentation

or misinterpretation, or illegitimate alteration of data or experiments, even if partly, to
support a desired hypothesis even when the actual data received from experiments
suggest otherwise.

• Plagiarism (Taking other’s work sans attribution): Plagiarism takes place when
someone uses or reuses the work (including portions) of others (text, data, tables,
figures, illustrations or concepts) as if it were his/her own without explicit
acknowledgement. Verbatim copying or reusing one‘s own published work is termed as
self-plagiarism and is also an unacceptable practice in scientific literature.

➢ The increasing availability of scientific content on the internet seems to encourage

plagiarism in certain cases, but also enables detection of such practices through
automated software packages.

• Other Aspects of Research Misconduct: Serious deviations from accepted conduct

could be construed as research misconduct. When there is both deception and damage,
a fraud is deemed to have taken place. Sooner or later ethical violations get exposed.

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Simultaneous submission of the same article to two different journals also violates
publication policies.

➢ Another issue is that when mistakes are found in an article or any published content,
they are generally not reported for public access unless a researcher is driven enough to
build on that mistake and provide a correct version of the same which is not always the
primary objective of the researcher.

Q.01
b) Define Engineering Research and list its aims and objectives.

➔ Research refers to a careful, well-defined (or redefined), objective, and systematic

method of search for knowledge, or formulation of a theory that is driven by
inquisitiveness for that which is unknown and useful on a particular aspect so as to
make an original contribution to expand the existing knowledge base.

• OBJECTIVES OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH

The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of

scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden
and which has not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own
specific purpose, we may think of research objectives as falling into a number of
following broad groupings:

1. Exploratory or Formulative research studies: To gain familiarity with a phenomenon

or to achieve new insights into it.

2. Descriptive research studies: To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular

individual, situation or a group.

3. Diagnostic research studies: To determine the frequency with which something occurs
or with which it is associated with something else.

4. Hypothesis-testing research studies: To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship

between variables.

➢The objective of engineering research is

• To solve new and important problems, and since the conclusion at the end of one’s
research outcome has to be new, but when one starts, the conclusion is unknown.

• Research objectives can sometimes be convoluted and difficult to follow. Knowing

where and how to find different types of information helps one solve engineering
problems, in both academic and professional career.

• Lack of investigation into engineering guidelines, standards, and best practices result
in failures with severe repercussions. As an engineer, the ability to conduct thorough
and accurate research while clearly communicating the results is extremely important
in decision making.

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• The main aim of the research is to apply scientific approaches to seek answers to open
questions, and although each research study is particularly suited for a certain
approach

• The objectives of engineering research should be to develop new theoretical or applied

knowledge and not necessarily limited to obtaining abilities to obtain the desired result.

• The objectives should be framed such that in the event of not being able to achieve the
desired result that is being sought, one can fall back to understanding why it is not
possible, because that is also a contribution toward ongoing research in solving that
problem.

Q.02

a) What ethical considerations and responsibilities should be taken into account when
determining authorship in engineering research?

➔ Academic authorship involves communicating scholarly work, establishing priority

for their discoveries, and building peer-reputation, and comes with intrinsic burden of
acceptance of the responsibility for the contents of the work. There are several
important research conduct and ethics related issues connected to authorship of
research papers as described by Newman and Jones as follows:
1) Credit for research contributions is attributed in three major ways in research
publications: by authorship (of the intended publication), citation (of previously
published or formally presented work), and through a written acknowledgment (of
some inputs to the present research). Authorship establishes both accountability and
gives due credit. A person is expected to be listed as an author only when associated as a
significant contributor in research design, data interpretation, or writing of the paper.

2) The primary author dubiously bestows coauthor ship on a junior faculty or a student
to boost their chances of employment or promotion, which can be termed as Career-
boost authorship.

3) unfortunate malpractice of co authorship that can be described as “Career-

preservation authorship” wherein a head of the department, a dean, a provost, or other
administrators are added as Coauthors because of quid pro quo arrangement wherein
the principal author benefits from a “good relation” with the superiors and the
administrator benefit from authorship without doing the required work for it.

4) Sometimes, an actual contributor abstains from the list of authors due to

nondisclosed conflict of interest within the organization. Such coauthor ships can be
termed as ghost coauthor ship.

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Q.02

b) Enlist and Explain different types of engineering research.

➔Types of Engineering Research The different types of research are

(i) Descriptive versus Analytical: Descriptive research includes comparative and

correlational methods, and fact-finding inquiries, to effectively describe the
present state of art. The researcher holds no control over the variables;
rather only reports as it is. Descriptive research also includes attempts to
determine causes even though evaluation are utilized. Some research studies
can be both descriptive and analytical [3].
(ii) Applied versus Fundamental: Research can either be applied research or
fundamental (basic or pure) research. Applied research seeks to solve an
immediate problem facing the organization, whereas fundamental research is
concerned with generalizations and formulation of a theory. Research
concerning natural phenomena or relating to pure mathematics are examples
of fundamental research. Research to identify social or economic trends, or
those that find out whether certain communications will be read and
understood are examples of applied research. The primary objective of
applied research is to determine a solution for compelling problems in actual
practice, while basic research is aimed at seeking information which could
have a broad base of applications in the medium to long term.
(iii) Quantitative versus Qualitative: Quantitative research uses statistical
observations of a sufficiently large number of representative cases to draw
any conclusions, while qualitative researchers rely on a few nonrepresentative
cases overall narrative in behavioral studies such as clustering effect in
intersections in Transportation engineering to make a proposition.

MODULE-2

Q.03

a) How does the new and existing knowledge can contribute to the research process?
Explain with relevant points.

➔ NEW AND EXISTING KNOWLEDGE

• New knowledge in research can only be interpreted within the context of what is
already known, and cannot exist without the foundation of existing knowledge.

• The new knowledge can have vastly different interpretations depending on what the
researcher’s background, and one‘s perception of that new knowledge can change from
indifference to excitement (or vice versa), depending on what else one knows.

• The significance can normally be argued from the point of view that there is indeed an
existing problem and that it is known by looking at what already exists in the field.
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• The existing knowledge is needed to make the case that there is a problem and that it
is important.

• One can infer that the knowledge that is sought to be produced does not yet exist by
describing what other knowledge already exists and by pointing out that this part is
missing so that what we have is original. To do this, one’s again need’s the existing
knowledge: the context, the significance, the originality, and the tools.

• Normally, one finds this knowledge by reading and surveying the literature in the field
that was established long ago and also about the more recent knowledge which is in fact
always changing.

• With this foundation in place, the new knowledge that one will make will be much
more difficult to challenge than without that strong foundation in place which is
ensured with lots of references to the literature.

• Often, but not always, the textbooks contain the older established knowledge and the
research papers the newer work. Reading the textbooks on one’s topic provide the
established knowledge and the background to be able to read the newer work usually
recorded in the research papers.

• The research paper is written for other researchers out on the edge of knowledge and
it assumes that the reader already knows a lot in that field.

• The review process must explain how a research item builds on another one. An
effective review of literature ensures a firm foundation for advancing knowledge,
facilitates theoretical growth, eliminates as areas that might be of interest, and opens
new avenues of possible work.

• Generally, a good literature survey is the first expectation of a supervisor from the
research student, and when done well can create a good impression that the state of art
in the chosen field is well understood.

• A good literature review would not draw hasty conclusions and look into the
individual references to determine the underlying causes/assumptions/mechanisms in
each of them so as to synthesize the available information in a much more meaningful
way.

• A good literature survey is typically a two-step process as enumerated below:

* Identify the major topics or subtopics or concepts relevant to the subject under
consideration.

* Place the citation of the relevant source (article/patent/website/data, etc.) in the

correct category of the concept/topic/subtopic.

• It could be that as one is reading and comes across something that one considers to be
very important for one’s work. Naturally, one highlights that section or underlines it, or

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put an asterisk in the margin, so that one could come back to it later. Effectively, one is
saying that it is important and hence the marking so as not to forget it.

• A comprehensive literature survey should methodically analyze and synthesize quality

archived work, provide a firm foundation to a topic of interest and the choice of suitable
research methodologies, and demonstrate that the proposed work would make a novel
contribution to the overall field of research.

Q.03

b) How can researchers effectively use search engines to find relevant literatures in their
field?

➔ A researcher must consider what type of information is needed, and where it could
be found. Not all information is available online. Some information is only available in
print.
It can take time for scholarly and peer-reviewed information to be published. One
might not be able to find scholarly information about something currently being
reported in the news. The information may not be available, or studies on a topic of
interest to the researcher have not occurred.

Searching is an iterative process:

o Experiment with different keywords and operators

o Evaluate and assess results, use filters

o Modify the search as needed; and

o When relevant articles are found, look at their citations and references.

After the search is complete, the researcher needs to engage in critical and thorough
reading, making observation of the salient points in those sources, and summarize the
findings.
A detailed comparison and contrast of the findings is also required to be done.

This entire process may be needed to be done multiple times.

The conclusion of the entire process of literature survey includes a summary of the

relevant and important work done, and also the identification of the missing links and
the challenges in the open problems in the area under study.

One must note that the literature survey is a continuous and cyclical process that may
involve the researcher going back and forth till the end of the research project.

It is very important to not lose sight of the purpose of an extensive search or

literature survey, for it is possible to spend a very significant amount of one‘s time doing
so and actually falsely think that one is working hard.

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 Nothing will come of it unless one is an active reader and spends sufficient time to
develop one‘s own ideas build on what one has read.

It is not as if literature survey ends and then research begins, for new literature keeps
appearing, and as one‘s understanding of the problem grows, one finds new connections
and related/evolving problems which may need more search.

Q.04

a) Explain how knowledge flows through a citation network using a flow diagram.

➔ • Knowledge flows through verbal communications, books, documents, video, audio,

and images, which plays a powerful role in research community in promoting the
formulation of new knowledge.

• In engineering research, knowledge flow is primarily in the form of books, thesis,

articles, patents, and reports. Citing a source is important for transmission of
knowledge from previous work to an innovation.

• Knowledge flow happens between co-authors during research collaboration, among

other researchers through their paper citation network, and also between institutions,
departments, research fields or topics, and elements of research.

• If paper A is cited by paper B, then knowledge flows through citation networks across
institutions.

• The complex interdisciplinary nature of research encourages scholars to cooperate

with each other to grab more advantages through collaboration, thereby improving
quality of the research.

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• The below figure shows a relationship between co-authorship and different types of
citations. Three articles (X, Y, and Z) and five references (X1, X2, X3, Y1, and Y2) of
article X and Y, respectively, are considered. A, B, and C are authors of article X, and D,
E, F, G, and also A are authors of article Y. Article Z has two authors H and E.
References X1, X2, X3, Y1, and Y2 have authors (A, P), (H, R), (D), (Q, B, F), and (R),
respectively.

Q.04

b) What is impact of Title and Keywords on citations? Explain Citation based

Knowledge flow.

➔ • The citation rate of any research paper depends on various factors including
significance and availability of the journal, publication types, research area, and
importance of the published research work.

• Other factors like length of the title, type of the title, and selected keywords also
impact the citation count. Title is the most important attribute of any research paper.

• It is the main indication of the research area or subject and is used by researcher as a
source of information during literature survey.

• Title plays important role in marketing and makes research papers traceable.

• A good title is informative, represents a paper effectively to readers, and gains their
attention. Some titles are informative but do not capture attention of readers, some titles
are attractive but not informative or related to the reader’s research area.

• The download count and citation of a research paper might be influenced by title.

• There are three different aspects which provide a particular behavior to the title:

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o Types of the title

o Length of the title, and

o Presence of specific markers

• Longer titles mainly include the study methodology and/or results in more detail, and
so attract more attention and citations.

• In general, titles containing a question mark, colon, and reference to a specific

geographical region are associated with lower citation rates, also result-describing titles
usually get citations than method-describing titles.

• Additionally, review articles and original articles usually receive more citations than
short communication articles.

• At least two keywords in the title can increase the chance of finding and reading the
article as well as get more citations.

• Keywords represent essential information as well as main content of the article, which
are relevant to the area of research. Search engines, journal, digital libraries, and
indexing services use keywords for categorization of the research topic and to direct the
work to the relevant audience.

MODULE-3

Q.05

a) Describe Intellectual Property Rights and List its types?

➔ • Intellectual Property (IP) is the terminology attributed to intangible assets having

commercial value, and arising from human intelligence, creativity, and imagination, but
typically lacking physical form.

• Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is the privileges accorded to the creator/inventor (of
IP) in conformance with the laws. These rights are given to the creator/inventor in
exchange for revealing the process of creation/invention in the public domain. The
inventor is conferred with the special rights to use, sell, distribute, offering for sale and
restricting others from using the invention without his prior permission.

• Broadly, IP comprises of two branches i.e. Copyrights and Related Rights and
Industrial Property Rights.

o Copyrights and Related Rights refer to the creative expressions in the fields of
literature and art, such as books, publications, architecture, music, wood/stone carvings,
pictures, portrays sculptures, films and computer-based software‘s/databases.
o The Industrial Property Rights refer to the Patents, Trademarks, Trade Services,
Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications.

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• Copyright: Copyright is the right bestowed on the owner or creator in relation to
publication, and distribution of a piece of writing, music, picture or related works.
Copyright also applies to technical contents such as software, datasheets and related
documents.

• Patents: A patent is a legal record that bestows the holder the exclusive right over an
invention as per the claims, in a limited geographical domain and for a limited duration
by thwarting possible interested parties from any form of manufacture, use or sale of
the product or outcome of the invention.

• Trademarks: A trademark is a sign that suitably differentiates the owner’s goods or

services from those of others.

• Trade services: Any services in relation to trade or any trade related financing,
lending or other financial accommodation provided (or to be provided) by the bank,
including but not limited to issuance/amendment of letter of credit, document arrival
under letter of credit, application for negotiation and inquiries etc.

• Industrial Designs: An industrial design protection is related to certain specific

ornamental shapes associated with products whose duplication the owner may wish to
prevent.

• Geographical Indications: A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on

products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin. Items that
meet geographical origin and quality standards may be endorsed with a government-
issued stamp which acts as official certification of the origins and standards of the
product.

Q.05
b) Explain the following major steps involved in the process of Patent Registration:
i)Prior Art Search ii)Choice of application to be filed iii)Pre-grant opposition.

➔ PRIOR ART SEARCH

• Before an inventor embarks upon the patent filing process, he has to ensure that his
invention is novel as per the criterion for the grant of a patent. For this, he/she has to
check whether or not his invention already exists in the public domain.

• For this, he/she needs to read patent documents and Non-Patent Literature (NPL),
scientific journals/reports/magazines, etc.

• The information lying in the public domain in any form, either before the filing of the
patent application or the priority date of the patent application claiming the invention,
is termed as Prior Art.

• The commonly used databases for prior art search fall in two categories i.e. Patents
Databases and NPL. The patent databases are:

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o Indian Patent Advanced Search System (InPASS-
http://ipindiaservices.gov.in/publicsearch/).

o Patentscope (WIPO- https://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/).

o Espacenet (EU- https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/).

o USPTO (USA- https://www.uspto.gov/).

CHOICE OF APPLICATION TO BE FILED

* Once a decision has been made to patent the invention, the next step is, what kind of
application needs to be filed i.e. provisional patent application or complete (Final)
patent application - generally, the provisional patent application is preferred for the
following reasons:

• It is cheaper, takes less time, and involves fewer formalities.

• Any improvements made in the invention after the filing of the provisional application
can be included in the final application. In other words, the provisional application does
not require complete specifications of the inventions. The application can be filed even
though some data is yet to be collected from pending experiments.

• A provisional application allows you to secure a priority date for the patent applied.

PRE-GRANT OPPOSITION

• If anybody has an objection to the invention claimed in the patent application, he/she
can challenge the application by approaching the Controller of Patents within 6 months
from the date of publication. It is termed as Pre-grant Opposition

• Depending on the outcome of the case, the patent application may be rejected or
recommended for the next step, i.e. patent examination.

• Although the patent application is kept secret for 18 months, but under special
circumstances, this period can be reduced when the patentee/applicant plans to sell or
license the patent or seek an investor).

• For this, the applicant has to fill a Form-9 and submit it to the Controller General.

Q.06

a) In which circumstances Indian residents are not required to file a patent application
first in India to get patent protection in another country? Explain.

➔ In general, Indian residents are required to file the patent application first in India.
Subsequently, they may file for patent protection in other countries. But for this, prior

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approval is needed from the Patent Office. However, this approval can be waived off
under the following circumstances:

1. The applicant is not an Indian resident.

2. If 6 weeks have expired since the patent application was filed in India by an Indian
resident.

3. If two or more inventors are working on an invention in a foreign country and one of
the inventors is an Indian resident. The invention does not have a potential market in
India and hence does not wish to file the patent in India. In such a scenario, the Indian
resident has to seek Foreign Filing Permission (FFP) from an Indian Patent Office.
4. In case of international collaboration, if one part of the invention originated in India
and the inventor is an Indian resident, he has to seek permission to file the patent
outside India.

5. If the invention is related to defense or atomic energy or utility model, the inventor/s
needs to seek permission from the Indian Patent Office because inventions related to
these domains are not the subject matter of patentability in India.

➢ There is no such term as ‗Universal Patent or ‗World Patent or International Patent

as the patent rights are territorial. An application for a patent must be filed with the
Patent Office of the country in which one wishes to seek patent protection.
Unfortunately, this option becomes laborious, cumbersome, time- consuming and
expensive if one wishes to file a patent application in many countries. To ease out this
issue, many Regional Offices have been established which receive patent applications on
behalf of a group of nations e.g. European Patent Office and African Regional
Intellectual Property Organization. A single application is sufficient to cover many
nations that are members of a particular regional office/organization. However, if one
wishes to seek patent protection in several countries worldwide, it is preferred to file an
international patent under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The only condition is
that the applicant’s country should be a member of PCT. India, along with over 190
nations, is a member of PCT.

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Q.06

b) Explain step by step process of obtaining the patent from the initial idea to the grant
of patent.

➔ In India, the process of grant of a patent is a lengthy procedure that may take
anywhere 3-4 years or more.

The major steps involved in this process are listed in figure .

Figure 2.1: Flow chart of major steps involved in the grant of a patent.

i) Prior Art Search - Before an inventor embarks upon the patent filing process,
he has to ensure that his invention is ‘novel‘ as per the criterion for the grant
of a patent. For this, he has to check whether or not his invention already
exists in the public domain.
ii) Patent Application Forms As per the Patent Act, 1970 (Section 39) and the
Patents Rules, 2003 (Rule 7, 54, 135 and sub- rule (1) of rule 20, the
application for the grant of patent is filed using Form-1 and Form-2.
iii) Jurisdiction of Filing Patent Application - India has four offices for filing
patent applications. The applications can be filed only in one of the offices
based on the applicant ‘s residence or domicile or place of business or origin
of the invention. These are termed as jurisdictions to file patents.
iv) Publication - Once the patent application has been filed at the Regional
Patent Office, the patent application is kept secret for 18 months in the
Patent Office. After the expiry of 18 months (from the date of filing of the
application or the priority claimed date, whichever is earlier), the application
is published in the Official Journal of Patent Office
(http://www.ipindia.nic.in/journal- patents.htm). The purpose of publishing
the application is to inform the public about the invention. The publication of
an application is a mandatory step.

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 v) Pre-grant Opposition - If anybody has an objection to the invention claimed
in the patent application, he can challenge the application by approaching the
Controller of Patents within 6 months from the date of publication. It is
termed as Pre-grant Opposition. Depending on the outcome of the case, the
patent application may be rejected or recommended for the next step, i.e.
patent examination.
vi) Examination - Patent examination is a critical step in the process of grant of a
patent. All the important criteria (novel, inventive step, etc.) are scrutinized
by the professionals depending on the content of the invention. Usually, the
examiner raises certain queries/doubts which need to be addressed by the
inventors. Once the examiner is satisfied with the answers received from the
inventors, the application is recommended for the grant of a patent. It is
pertinent to mention that a patent application is not examined automatically
after clearing the publication stage. The applicant or his representative has to
make a request for examination of the patent by filing Form-18A and
submitting the same within 48 months from the date of filing of the
application.
vii) Grant of a Patent - After fulfilling all the requirements for the grant of a
patent, including all objections/queries raised by the ‘Patent Examiner‘ and
the public at large, the patent is granted to the applicant. The granted patent
is published in the Official Journal of the Patent Office. This journal is
published every Friday and contains information related to patent
applications published under section (u/s) 11A, post-grant publication,
restoration of patent, notifications, list of non-working patents and public
notices issued by the Patent Office.
viii) Validity of Patent Protection The patent protection is granted to an applicant
for a limited period, generally 20 years, starting from the date of filing of the
application. Once a patent is granted for an invention in India, the next vital
step is to ensure that it is renewed annually by paying Patent Renewal Fee as
per Section 53, Rule 80 of the Indian Patents Act, till the expiry of the patent
grant period. Non-payment of Patent Renewal Fee might result in the
cancellation of the patent.
ix) Post-grant Opposition Once the patent has been granted by the Patent Office,
it still can be challenged by anyone within one year from the date of
publication of the grant of the patent. The granted patent can be challenged
either via a Patent Office or in a Court of Law.

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 MODULE-4

Q.07

a) Using a flowchart, explain the steps involved in the process of Trademarks

Registration.
➔

• The steps involved in the registration process are as follows:

• After the prior art search has been conducted, the applicant can apply for the
registration on his own or with the help of a certified agent.
• The application is assigned an application number within a few days. (The same
can be tracked online at https://ipindiaonline.
gov.in/tmrpublicsearch/frmmain.aspx.)
• The application is scrutinized by a professional examiner. If everything is in
order, the particulars of the application are published in the official Trademark
journal (http: //www.ipindia. nic.in/journal-tm.htm). Otherwise, he will send the
objections to the applicant for rectification. Based on the satisfactory response,
the examiner would recommend the revised application to be published in the
journal. If the application is rejected, the applicant may approach the

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 Intellectual Property Division to challenge the rejection of an application by the
examiner.
• Once the Trademark is published in the official journal, the public has an
opportunity to file an objection, if any, within 90 days. After hearing both the
parties, the officer decides whether to proceed further for the grant of
Trademark or disallow the grant of Trademark. In case of unfavorable outcome,
the applicant has the right to contest the decision in front of the IPAB.
• Once the application has successfully completed all formalities, a Trademark
registration certificate is issued in the name of the applicant.

Q.07

b) Define the term Copyright and write its classes. What are the two exclusive rights
owned by the copyright owner? Explain briefly.

➔ • Copyrights refer to the legal rights provided by law to the original creator of the
work in the fields of literature and computer software.
CLASSES OF COPYRIGHTS

• Literature: Books, Essays, Research articles, Oral speeches, Lectures, Compilations,

Computer programs, Software, Databases.

• Dramatics: Screenplays, Dramas.

• Sound Recordings: Recording of sounds regardless of the medium on which such

recording is made e.g. a Phonogram and a CD-ROM.

• Artistic: Drawing, Painting, Logo, Map, Chart, Photographs, Work of Architecture,

Engravings, and Craftsmanship.

• Musical: Musical notations, excluding any words or any action intended to be sung,
spoken or performed with the music. A musical work need not be written down to enjoy
Copyright protection.

• Cinematograph Film: It is a visual recording performed by any medium, formed

through a process and includes a sound recording. For example, Motion Pictures, TV
Programs, Visual Recording, Sound Recording, etc

The Copyright laws clearly state the ownership of Copyright.

• The person who created the work is considered as the first (original) holder (owner) of
the Copyright.

• In case the author is an employee and has been contracted to do the work by a
proprietor (of the company/firm/society /organization, etc.), the owner of the Copyright
shall be the proprietor.

• The government will be the primary owner of the government work in the absence of
any kind of arrangement.
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• The person delivering a speech is the first owner of the Copyright.

Q.08
a) Using a flowchart, explain the steps involved in the process of Copyright
Registration.
➔

• It is not necessary to register a work to claim Copyright. Once a work is created via
any medium, the work receives automatic Copyright safety.

• In other words, there is no formal request to be submitted to the office of the

Copyright, for acquiring Copyright.

• Copyright registration does not confer any rights. It is merely a prima facie proof of
an entry in respect of the work in the Copyright register maintained by the Registrar of
Copyrights.

• The certificate of registration serves as prima facie evidence in a court in cases of

disputes relating to ownership or creation of Copyright, financial matters, transfer of
rights, etc.
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• It is advisable that the author of the work registers for Copyright for better legal
protection. In India, Copyrights matters, including Copyright registration, are
administered under the Copyright Act, 1957 and Copyrights Rule, 2013.

Q.08

b) Copyright Infringements, Copyright Infringement is a Criminal Offence. Copyright

Infringement is a Cognizable Offence Explain.

➔ COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENTS

As per the Copyrights Acts, 1957, the following acts are regarded as an infringement of
Copyrights:

• Making copies for sale or hire or selling or letting them for hire without permission.

• Permitting any place for the performance of owned work (in public) where such
performance constitutes an infringement of Copyright.

• Distributing infringing copies for trade or to such an extent to affect the interest of the
owner of the Copyright prejudicially.

• Public exhibition of infringing copies for trade purposes.

• Importation of infringing copies.

• Translating a work without the permission of the owner.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE

• According to Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957, if any person knowingly infringes
the Copyright, he qualifies for the criminal offence.

• The punishment awarded for the infringement (of Copyright) is imprisonment for six
months with the minimum fine of ₹50,000/-.

• In case of a second and subsequent conviction, the minimum punishment is

imprisonment for one year and a fine of ₹ 1,00,000.

• There is a dedicated IP division to deal with Copyright cases. Also, there is a

Copyright Board constituted by the Central Government in 1958 to adjudicate certain
claims about Copyright.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS A COGNIZABLE OFFENCE

• A police officer (rank of a sub-inspector or higher) can confiscate the infringed

Copyright material without issuing a warrant and produce the same in the court of law.

18 SQ
 MODULE-5

Q.09

a) Explain the process of industrial design registration.

➔

PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS

Prior Art Search

• Before filing an application for registration of Industrial Designs, it is prudent to

ensure that the same or similar Design has not been registered earlier.

• This search can be carried out using various search engines, such as: Design Search
Utility (CGPDTM), Global Design Database (WIPO), etc. Application for Registration

• Once the applicant is satisfied that his Design is novel and significantly distinguishable
from other Designs, he can proceed with filing an application for Design registration.

• The application for registration of Design can be filed by an individual, small entity,
institution, organization and industry. The application may be filed through a
professional patent agent or legal practitioner.

• If the applicant is not a resident of India, an agent residing in India has to be

employed for this purpose.

19 SQ
• The applicant submits the registration application at the Design Office Deputy
Controller of Patents & Designs, Patent Office, Intellectual Property Office Building,
CP-2 Sector V, Salt Lake City, Kolkata- 700091.

• After the application has been filed, an officer (examiner) analyses the application for
qualifying the minimum standards laid down for eligibility criteria for registration.

• In case of any query, the same is sent to the applicant and he is supposed to respond
within 6 months from the objection raised.

• Once the objections are removed, the application is accepted for registration.

Q.09

b) Define Geographical Indications (GI) with an example. What are the rights granted
to GI holders?

➔ • A GI is defined as a sign which can be used on products belonging to a particular

geographical location/region and possesses qualities or a reputation associated with that
region.

• In GI, there is a strong link between the product and its original place of production.

OWNERSHIP OF GI

• The ownership/holders of GI (registered) can be of the producers, as a

group/association/ cooperative society or association or in certain cases, government.

RIGHTS GRANTED TO THE HOLDERS

• Right to grant the license to others - The holder has the right to gift, sell,
transfer/grant a license, mortgage or enter into any other arrangement for
consideration regarding their product. A license or assignment must be given in written
and registered with the Registrar of GI, for it to be valid and legitimate.

• Right to sue - The holder of GI has the right to use and take legal action against a
person who uses the product without his consent.

• Right to exploit - The holder of GI can authorize users with exclusive right to use
goods for which the GI is registered.

• Right to get reliefs - Registered proprietors and authorized users have the right to
obtain relief concerning the violation of such GI products.

Q.10
a) Explain Case study of Curcuma (Turmeric) Patent, Case study of Neem Patent.
➔ To be done on your own.

20 SQ
Q.10
b) Using a flow chart, explain the process of GI registration.
➔

PROCEDURE FOR GI REGISTRATION DOCUMENTS

• Prior to filing an application for registering GI, it is prudent to search whether the
concerned GI is already protected or not. This can be done by using search engines
created by WIPO.

• The list of registered GI in India can be accessed from the official website of
CGPDTM.

• Once the prior search for registered GI is done, the applicant has to file an
application.

• The application for GI can be forwarded by an individual or an organization or

authority of people established under Indian law.
21 SQ
• The application in a prescribed format is submitted to the Registrar, Geographical
Indications along with the prescribed fee.

• In the application, the applicant needs to mention the interest of the producers of the
concerned product.

• The application should be duly signed by the applicant or his agent with all the details
about the GI that how its standard will be maintained.

• The submission of three certified copies of the map of the region where the GI belongs
is mandatory. Once the application is filed at GI Registry, the Examiner will scrutinize
the application for any deficiencies or similarities.

• If the examiner finds any discrepancy, he will communicate the same to the applicant,
which is to be replied within one month of the communication of the discrepancy.

• Once the examiner is satisfied with the response/s, he files an examination report and
hands over the same to the Registrar. Once again, the application is scrutinized.

• If need be, the applicant is asked to clear any doubts/objections within two months of
the communication otherwise, the application will be rejected.

• After getting a green signal from the Registrar, the application is published in the
official Geographical Indication Journal for seeking any objections to the claims
mentioned in the application.

• The objections have to be filed within four months of the publication. If no opposition
is received, the GI gets registered by allotting the filing date as the registration date.

• Initially, GI is registered for ten years but is renewable on the payment of the fee

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR GI REGISTRATION

• Details about the applicant’s name, address and particulars.

• Application form GI-1A.

• Statement about the designated goods being protected under GI.

• Class of goods.

• Affidavit to establish the claim of genuinely representing the interest of the producers.

• Characteristics of GI.

• The special human skill required (if any).

22 SQ