3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

MODULE 1
Meaning of Research:
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 the unknown and useful on a particular
aspect to make an original contribution to expand the existing knowledge base. Research involves formulation of
hypothesis or proposition of solutions, data analysis, and deductions; and ascertaining whether the conclusions fit the
hypothesis. Research is a process of creating, or formulating knowledge that does not yet exist.
As per Booth, research cycle starts with basically a practical problem: one must be clear what the problem
being attempted to solve is and why it is important. This problem motivates a research question without which one
can tend to get lost in a giant swamp of information. The question helps one zero in onto manageable volume of
information, and in turn defines a research project which is an activity or set of activities that ultimately leads to result
or answer, which in turn helps to solve the practical problem that one started with in the first place as shown in the
figure below.

Figure: The categories of knowledge in research

Good research involves systematic collection and analysis of information and is followed by an attempt to
infer a little bit beyond the already known information in a way that is a significant value addition. Usually, engineering
research is a journey that traverses from a research area (example: Control Systems), to the topic (example: Control of
Microbial Fuel Cells) and finally onto the problem (example: Adaptive Control of Single Chamber Microbial Fuel
Cells) (Area → Topic → Problem). Getting a good problem to solve is more than half the work done. However,
sometimes he journeys can be reverse, for example, the traversal from (Problem → Topic → Area). This can happen
when one is led to a problem through a connection to another problem whose top structure is different.
Engineering research is the process of developing the perspectives and seeking improvements in knowledge
and skills to enable the recognition, planning, design, and execution of research in a wide range of forms relevant for
engineering and technology investigations and developments. We can start off by describing some problem in the
world that exists that is bugging or worrying us and that we should be addressing. It could be that there is something
we would like to do or accomplish but currently cannot because we lack the knowledge to do so. It could be that there
is something that already works, but we do not know why and we would like to understand it better. It could be that
Figure: The research flow diagram we want to do something to see what will happen.

The building up of background for doing research includes one to acquire the ability to connect different Objectives of Engineering Research
areas. The purpose is to prepare the mind for active work as opposed to becoming a repository or an encyclopaedia. The objective of engineering research is to solve new and important problems, and since the conclusion at
Research is not just about reading a lot of books and finding a lot of, gathering a lot of existing information. It is the end of one’s research outcome must be new, but when one starts, the conclusion is unknown. So, the start itself
instead adding, maybe small and specific, yet original, contribution to that existing body of knowledge. So, research is is tricky, one may say. The answer is, based on “circumstantial evidence”, intuition, and imagination, one guesses what
about how one poses a question which has relevance to the world that we are living in, and while looking for that may be a possible conclusion. A guess gives a target to work toward, and after initial attempts, it may turn out that the
answer one must be as systematic as one can be. There must be a balance between what is achievable in a research guess is incorrect. But the work may suggest new worthy avenues or targets which may be based on some
program with a finite endpoint and, the contribution it is going to make. The objective of a good research program is modifications of the initial target, or may need new techniques, or one may obtain negative results which may render
to try and gain insight into something. Or indeed, to try and solve a problem. Good research questions develop the initial target or some other targets as not realizable, or may lead to fortunate discoveries while looking for
throughout the project actually and one can even keep modifying them. Through research, one would like to make, something else (serendipity). Research objectives can sometimes be convoluted and difficult to follow. Knowing where
or develop, new knowledge about the world around us which can be written down or recorded in some way, and that and how to find different types of information helps one solve engineering problems, in both academic and
knowledge can be accessed through that writing or recording. The ways of developing and accessing knowledge come professional career.
in three, somewhat overlapping, broad categories.
Lack of investigation into engineering guidelines, standards, and best practices result in failures with severe
Observation is the most fundamental way of obtaining information from a source, and it could be significant repercussions. As an engineer, the ability to conduct thorough and accurate research while clearly communicating the
if the thing that we are trying to observe is strange or exciting, or is difficult to observe. Observation takes different
results is extremely important in decision-making. The main aim of the research is to apply scientific approaches to
forms from something like measurements in a laboratory to a survey among a group of subjects to the time it takes seek answers to open questions, and although each research study is particularly suited for a certain approach, in
for a firmware routine to run. The observational data often needs to be processed in some form and this leads to the general, the following are different types of research studies: exploratory or formulative, descriptive, diagnostic, and
second category of knowledge, the model. hypothesis-testing. The objectives of engineering research should be to develop new theoretical or applied knowledge
Models are approximated, often simplified ways of describing sometimes very complex interactions in the and not necessarily limited to obtaining abilities to obtain the desired result. The objectives should be framed such
form of a statistical relationship, a figure, or a set of mathematical equations. For instance, the modelling equation that in the event of not being able to achieve the desired result that is being sought, one can fall back to understanding
captures the relationship between different attributes or the behaviour of the device in an abstract form and enables why it is not possible, because that is also a contribution toward ongoing research in solving that problem. Of course,
us to understand the observed phenomena. The final category is a way of arranging or doing things through processes, someone else might come along and propose a different approach where the desired objective is indeed possible to
algorithms, procedures, arrangements, or reference designs, to get a certain desired result. The categories of knowledge be achieved.
as enumerated above are shown in the below figure.
5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Motivation in Engineering Research A worthwhile research problem would have one or more attributes. It could be nonintuitive/counterintuitive
even to someone who knows the area, something that the research community had been expecting for some time, a
The possible motives may be the result of one or more of the following desires: major simplification of a central part of the theory, a new result which would start off a new subject or an area,
(i) Studies have shown that intrinsic motivations like interest, challenge, learning, meaning, purpose, are provides a new method or improves upon known methods of doing something which has practical applications, or a
linked to strong creative performance result which stops further work in an area. The researcher has to be convinced that the problem is worthwhile before
(ii) Extrinsic motivating factors like rewards for good work include money, fame, awards, praise, and status beginning to tackle it because best efforts come when the work is worth doing, and the problem and/or solution has
are very strong motivators, but may block creativity. For example: Research outcome may enable a better chance of being accepted by the research community.
obtaining a patent which is a good way to become rich and famous. Not all problems that one solves will be great, and sometimes major advancements are made through
(iii) Influences from others like competition, collaboration, commitment, and encouragement are also solutions to small problems dealt with effectively. Some problems are universally considered hard and open, and have
motivating factors in research. For example: my friends are all doing research and so should I, or, a deep implications and connections to different concepts. The reality is that most researchers in their lifetime do not
person that I dislike is doing well and I want to do better. get into such problems. However, hard problems get solved only because people tackle them. The question a
(iv) Personal motivation in solving unsolved problems, intellectual joy, service to community, and researcher has to grapple with whether the time investment is worth it given that the likely outcome is negative, and
respectability are all driving factors. so it is a difficult personal decision to make. At the same time, even in the case of failure to solve the intended hard
The following factors would be a mix of extrinsic and intrinsic aspects: problem, there may be partial/side results that serve the immediate need of producing some results for the dissertation.
George Pólya (1887–1985) suggested a 4-step procedure for mathematical problem-solving which is relevant
 Wanting to do better than what has been achieved in the world
to engineering researchers as well. Recent work such as suggest the relevance of these recommendations. The
 Improve the state of the art in technology recommended steps to solve a research problem are
 Contribute to the improvement of society
 Fulfilment of the historical legacy in the immediate sociocultural context. (i) Understand the problem, restate it as if it’s your own, visualize the problem by drawing figures, and
determine if something more is needed.
Several other factors like government directives, funding opportunities in certain areas, and terms of employment, can (ii) One must start somewhere and systematically explore possible strategies to solve the problem or a
motivate people to get involved in engineering research. simpler version of it while looking for patterns.
(iii) Execute the plan to see if it works, and if it does not then start over with another approach. Having
Types of Engineering Research delved into the problem and returned to it multiple times, one might have a flash of insight or a new
The different types of research are idea to solve the problem
(iv) Looking back and reflecting helps in understanding and assimilating the strategy, and is a sort of
(i) Descriptive versus Analytical: Descriptive research includes comparative and correlational methods, investment into the future.
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 Ethics in Engineering Research
causes even though the variables cannot be controlled. On the contrary, in analytical research, already Ethics generally refers to a set of rules distinguishing acceptable and unacceptable conduct, distinguishing
available facts for analysis and critical evaluation are utilized. Some research studies can be both right from wrong, or wise aphorisms like the sayings of Chanakya. Most people learn such norms in their formative
descriptive and analytical. years but moral development continues through different stages of growth. Although everyone recognizes some
common ethical norms, but there is difference in interpretation and application. Ethical principles can be used for
evaluation, proposition, or interpretation of laws. Although ethics are not laws, but laws often follow ethics because
(ii) Applied versus Fundamental: Research can either be applied research or fundamental (basic or pure) ethics are our shared values.
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 International norms for the ethical conduct of research have been there since the adoption of the Nuremberg
concerning natural phenomena or relating to pure mathematics are examples of fundamental research. Code in 1947. According to Whitbeck, the issues related to research credit dates to the establishment of the British
Research to identify social or economic trends, or those that find out whether certain communications Royal Society (BRS) in the seventeenth century to refine the methods and practices of modern science. This event
will be read and understood are examples of applied research. The primary objective of applied research altered the timing and credit issues on the release of research results since BRS gave priority to whoever first submitted
is to determine a solution for compelling problems in actual practice, while basic research is aimed at findings for publication, rather than trying to find out who had first discovered. Whitbeck raised two simple but
seeking information which could have a broad base of applications in the medium to long term significant questions to address the tricky issue of authorship in research:
(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 1. Who should be included as an author and
nonrepresentative cases or verbal narrative in behavioural studies such as clustering effect in 2. The appropriate order of listing of authors.
intersections in Transportation engineering to make a proposition.
In an increasingly interconnected world, the issue of coauthorship is very relevant to all researchers. There
Finding and Solving a Worthwhile Problem are issues around individuals who may be deeply involved during the conduct of the research work, but may not
contribute in the drafting phase. Additionally, certain universities now put restrictions on coauthorship to prevent
A researcher may start out with the research problems stated by the Supervisor or posed by others that are malpractices.
yet to be solved. Alternately, it may involve rethinking of a basic theory, or need to be formulated or put together
from the information provided in a group of papers suggested by the Supervisor. Research scholars are faced with the Government bodies, and universities worldwide have adopted certain codes for research ethics. Research
task of finding an appropriate problem on which to begin their research. Skills needed to accomplish such a task at ethics and the responsible conduct of research are often erroneously used interchangeably. Research ethics examines
the outset, while taking care of possible implications are critically important but often not taught. Once the problem the appropriate application of research outcomes, while responsible conduct of research deals with the way the work
is vaguely identified, the process of literature survey and technical reading would take place for more certainty of the is undertaken.
worthiness of the intended problem. However, an initial spark is ideally required before the process of literature survey
Ethics in Engineering Research Practice
may duly begin. Sometimes, an oral presentation by somebody which is followed by asking questions or introspection
provides this perspective which reading papers do not. At other times, a development in another subject may have Technological developments raise a whole range of ethical concerns such as privacy issues and data related
produced a tool or a result which has direct implications to the researcher’s subject and may lead to problem to surveillance systems, and so engineering researchers need to make ethical decisions and are answerable for the
identification. repercussions borne out of their research as outcomes. The reason that ethics matter in data used in engineering
research is usually because there is impact on humans. Certain practices may be acceptable to certain people in certain
7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 8 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

situations, and the reasons for unacceptability may be perfectly valid. We have unprecedented access to data today, plagiarism is more difficult to evaluate. There are simple and ethical ways to avoid a high similarity count on an about
and unprecedented options for analysis of these data and consequences in engineering research related to such data. to be submitted manuscript. Sometimes, certain published content is perfect for one’s research paper, perhaps in
Are there things that are possible to do with this data, that we agree we should not do? Engineering ethics gives us making a connection or fortifying the argument presented. The published material is available for the purpose of being
the rule book; tells us, how to decide what is okay to do and what is not. Engineering research is not work in isolation used fairly. One is not expected to churn out research outcomes in thin air.
to the technological development taking place. Researchers make many choices that matter from an ethical perspective
and influence the effects of technology in many ways: However, whatever is relevant can be reported by paraphrasing in one’s own words, that is, without verbatim
copy. One can also summarize the relevant content and naturally, the summary invariably would use one’s own words.
(i) By setting the ethically right requirements at the very outset, engineering researchers can ultimately In all these cases, citing the original source is important. However, merely because one has cited a source, it does not
influence the effects of the developed technology. mean that one can copy sentences (or paragraphs) of the original content verbatim. A researcher should practise
(ii) Influence may also be applied by researchers through design (a process that translates the requirements writing in such a way that the reader can recognize the difference between the ideas or results of the authors and those
into a blueprint to fulfil those requirements). During the design process, decision is to be made about that are from other sources. Such a practice enables one to judge whether one is disproportionately using or relying
the priority in importance of the requirements taking ethical aspects into consideration. on content from existing literature.
(iii) Thirdly, engineering researchers must choose between different alternatives fulfilling similar functions.
(iv) Other Aspects of Research Misconduct: Serious deviations from accepted conduct could be
Research outcomes often have unintended and undesirable side effects. It is a vital ethical responsibility of researchers construed as research misconduct. When there is both deception and damage, a fraud is deemed to have
to ensure that hazards/risks associated with the technologies that they develop, are minimized and alternative safer taken place. Sooner or later ethical violations get exposed. Simultaneous submission of the same article
mechanisms are considered. If possible, the designs should be made inherently safe such that they avoid dangers, or to two different journals also violates publication policies. Another issue is that when mistakes are found
come with safety factors, and multiple independent safety barriers, or if possible, a supervisory mechanism to take in an article or any published content, they are generally not reported for public access unless a
control if the primary process fails. 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.
Types of Research Misconduct
Ethical Issues Related to Authorship
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 Academic authorship involves communicating scholarly work, establishing priority for their discoveries, and
possible to avoid errors, protecting the welfare of research subjects, ensuring laboratory safety, and so forth. To building peer-reputation, and comes with intrinsic burden of acceptance of the responsibility for the contents of the
prevent mistakes, peer reviews should take place before the research output is published. work. It is the primary basis of evaluation for employment, promotion, and other honours. There are several important
research conduct and ethics related issues connected to authorship of research papers as described by Newman and
There may be different types of research misconduct as described in research articles, which can be summarized as Jones and are summarized herewith in the context of engineering research.
follows:
Credit for research contributions is attributed in three major ways in research publications:
(i) 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  By authorship (of the intended publication),
cannot wait for the results possibly due to timeline pressures from supervisor or customers.  Citation (of previously published or formally presented work), and
(ii) Falsification (Inappropriate alteration of data): Falsification is the misrepresentation or  Through a written acknowledgment (of some inputs to the present research).
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. Falsification and Authorship establishes both accountability and gives due credit. A person is expected to be listed as an author
fabrication of data and results, hamper engineering research, cause false empirical data to percolate in only when associated as a significant contributor in research design, data interpretation, or writing of the paper.
the literature, wreck trustworthiness of individuals involved, incur additional costs, impede research Including “guest” or “gift” (coauthorship bestowed on someone with little or no contribution to the work) authors
progress, and cause actual and avoidable delays in technical advancement. Misleading data can also crop dilutes the contribution of those who did the work, inappropriately inflates credentials of the listed authors, and is
up due to poor design of experiments or incorrect measurement practices. The image of engineering ethically a red flag highlighting research misconduct. Sometimes, the primary author dubiously bestows coauthorship
researchers as objective truth seekers is often jeopardized by the discovery of data related frauds. Such on a junior faculty or a student to boost their chances of employment or promotion, which can be termed as Career-
misconduct can be thwarted by researchers by always trying to reproduce the results independently boost authorship. There is also an unfortunate malpractice of coauthorship that can be described as “Career-
whenever they are interested to do further work in a published material which is likely to be part of their preservation authorship” wherein a head of the department, a dean, a provost, or other administrators are added as
literature survey. Coauthors because of quid pro quo arrangement wherein the principal author benefits from a “good relation” with
(iii) Plagiarism (Taking other’s work sans attribution): Plagiarism takes place when someone uses or the superiors and the administrator benefits from authorship without doing the required work for it.
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 Sometimes, an actual contributor abstains from the list of authors due to nondisclosed conflict of interest
published work is termed as self-plagiarism and is also an unacceptable practice in scientific literature. within the organization. Such coauthorships can be termed as ghost coauthorship. Full disclosure of all those involved
The increasing availability of scientific content on the internet seems to encourage plagiarism in certain in the research is important so that evaluation can happen both based on findings, and whether there was influence
cases, but also enables detection of such practices through automated software packages (Eg: iTheticate: from the conflicts. In another type of questionable authorship, some researchers list one another as coauthors as a
http://www.ithenticate.com/.) reciprocal gesture with no real collaboration except minimal reading and editing, without truly reviewing the work
threadbare. Some authors, in trying to acquire a sole-authored work, despite relying on significant contribution to the
How are supervisors, reviewers or editors alerted to plagiarism? research work from others, recognize that effort only by an acknowledgment, thereby misrepresenting the
contributions of the listed authors. The unrecognized “author” is consequently, unavailable to readers for elaboration.
 Original author comes to know and informs everyone concerned. All listed authors have the full obligation of all contents of a research article, and so naturally, they should also be
 Sometimes a reviewer finds out about it during the review process. made aware of a journal submission by the corresponding author. It is imperative that their consent is sought with
 Or, readers who come across the article or book, while doing research. respect to the content and that they be agreeable to the submission. In case of misconduct like inappropriate
authorship, while the perpetrator is easier to find, the degree of appropriate accountability of the coauthors is not
Although there are many free tools and paid tools available that one can procure institutional license of, one always obvious. Being able to quantify the contributions to appropriately recognize and ascertain the degree of
cannot conclusively identify plagiarism, but can only get a similarity score which is a metric that provides a score of associated accountability of each coauthor, is appealing. Double submission is an important ethical issue related to
the amount of similarity between already published content and the unpublished content under scrutiny. However, a authorship, which involves submission of a paper to two forums simultaneously. The motivation is to increase
low similarity score does not guarantee that the document is plagiarism free. It takes a human eye to ascertain whether publication possibility and possibly decrease time to publication. Reputed journals want to publish original papers, i.e.,
the content has been plagiarized or not. It is important to see the individual scores of the sources, not just the overall papers which have not appeared elsewhere, and strongly discourage double submission.
similarity index. Setting a standard of a maximum allowable similarity index is inadequate usage of the tool. Patchwork
9 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 10 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

MODULE-2 To build the knowledge foundation, one needs to be reading and learning continually. But that is not enough,
one also needs to be writing about what one has read. A comprehensive literature survey should methodically analyze
New and Existing Knowledge and synthesize quality archived work, provide a firm foundation to a topic of interest and the choice of suitable
New knowledge in research can only be interpreted within the context of what is already known, and cannot research methodologies, and demonstrate that the proposed work would make a novel contribution to the overall
exist without the foundation of existing knowledge. In this chapter, we are going to look at how that foundation of field of research.
knowledge needs to be constructed so that our new knowledge is supported by it. The new knowledge can have vastly Analysis and Synthesis of Prior Art - Bibliographic Databases
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 After collecting the sources, usually articles, intended to be used in the literature review, the researcher is
normally be argued from the point of view that there is indeed an existing problem and that it is known by looking at ready to break down each article and identify the useful content in it, and then synthesize the collection of articles
what already exists in the field. The existing knowledge is needed to make the case that there is a problem and that it (integrate them and identify the conclusions that can be made from the articles as a group). A literature survey grid of
is important. One can infer that the knowledge that is sought to be produced does not yet exist by describing what N topics and M sources is shown below to help crystallize the information in different categories. A researcher should
other knowledge already exists and by pointing out that this part is missing so that what we have is original. To do analyse the relevant information ascertained in Table below by undertaking the following steps:
this, once again needs the existing knowledge: the context, the significance, the originality, and the tools.
(i) Understanding the hypothesis
Where does this existing knowledge come from? Normally, one finds this knowledge by reading and (ii) Understanding the models and the experimental conditions used
surveying the literature in the field that was established long ago and about the more recent knowledge which is in (iii) Making connections
fact always changing. With this foundation in place, the new knowledge that one will make will be much more difficult (iv) Comparing and contrasting the various information, and
to challenge than without that strong foundation in place which is ensured with lots of references to the literature. (v) Finding out the strong points and the loopholes.
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 It is always good to be suspicious of the claims made in the sources that have been thoroughly reviewed,
newer work usually recorded in the research papers. Very often, reading a textbook is not too difficult for it is written especially in the case of tall claims. If one is amenable to easily accept whatever is available in the literature, one may
as a teaching instrument, and the author of the textbook normally starts from the basics and take the reader, through find it difficult to go beyond it in one’s own work and may also fail to carefully analyse with a suspicious bent of mind
everything that one needs to be able to understand that topic. This is not at all the case with a research paper where one’s own results subsequently. The goal of literature survey is to bring out something new to work on through the
the goal is normally to present a small piece of new knowledge, and that new knowledge will not have stood the test identification of unsolved issues, determine the problems in the existing models or experimental designs, and present
of time in the same way as the knowledge in a textbook would have. a novel idea and recommendations. No matter where one gets the available information, one needs to critically evaluate
each resource that the researcher wishes to cite. This methodology analyses available materials to determine suitability
The research paper is written for other researchers out on the edge of knowledge and it assumes that the for the intended research. Relying on refereed articles published in scholarly journals or granted patents can save the
reader already knows a lot in that field. A researcher may find oneself continually going back to other sources to try researcher a lot of time. Here are a few criteria that could help the researcher in the evaluation of the information
and interpret what is going on in a particular research paper. It can be difficult to find the right work to read, but the under study:
objective with all this reading and learning is to be able to get the knowledge that one needs to build the foundation.
Authority: What are the author’s credentials and affiliation? Who publishes the information?
The review process must explain how a research item builds on another one. This is because useful research
should elucidate how and why certain technical development took place, so that it is easy for the reader to comprehend Accuracy: Based on what one already knows about the topic or from reading other sources, does the information
why the present talk is being undertaken, and a good literature survey would provide a convincing under to that seem credible? Does the author cite other sources in a reference list or bibliography, to support the information
question. An effective review of literature ensures a firm foundation for advancing knowledge, facilitates theoretical presented?
growth, eliminates as areas that might be of interest, and opens new avenues of possible work. An efficient literature Scope: Is the source at an appropriate comprehension or research level? There are other criteria to consider as well,
review is centered around concepts and not authors. Generally, a good literature survey is the first expectation of a such as currency, objectivity, and purpose. It is important to ensure that the search question is neither too narrow nor
supervisor from the research student, and when done well can create a good impression that the state of art in the too broad.
chosen field is well understood. Simple rules for writing an effective literature review are important for a research
scholar, are provided. A good literature review would not draw hasty conclusions and investigate the individual
references to determine the underlying causes/ assumptions/ mechanisms in each of them to synthesize the available
information in a much more meaningful way.
A literature review should be able to summarize as to what is already known from the state of the art, detail
the key concepts and the main factors or parameters and the underlying relationships between those, describe any
complementary existing approaches, enumerate the inconsistencies or shortcomings in the published work, identify
the reported results that are inconclusive or contradictory, and provide a compulsive reason to do further work in the
field.
A good literature survey is typically a two-step process as enumerated below:
(i) Identify the major topics or subtopics or concepts relevant to the subject under consideration.
(ii) Place the citation of the relevant source (article/patent/website/data, etc.) in the correct category Table: The literature survey grid
of the concept/topic/subtopic (with the help of a, for example).
“Bibliographic databases” refer to “abstracting and indexing services” useful for collecting citation-related
It could be that as one is reading and comes across something that one considers to be very important for information and possibly abstracts of research articles from scholarly literature and making them available through
one’s work, a core principle, or a description of something that just sounds good, and one is excited to have found it. search. Performing simultaneous searches through such large databases may allow researchers to overtly rely on any
Naturally, one highlights that section or underlines it, or put an asterisk in the margin, so that one could come back one database and be limited by the intrinsic shortcoming of any one of them for quality research. A researcher should
to it later. Effectively, one is saying that it is important and hence the marking so as not to forget it. After having be able to quickly identify the databases that are of use in the idea or problem that one wishes to explore. In this
marked or highlighted the section, it is suggested that the paper be put away or the book be closed. Then one should section, we present some details about a few of the popular bibliographic databases most sought after by engineering
write about the highlighted part without copying it. As one writes about why one thinks that part is important and researchers, but do not attempt to provide exhaustive details.
what it contains, one is automatically changing it and making it fit into one’s foundation in the way that makes sense.
There are shaping and crafting of that piece of knowledge to fit where one needs it to be.
11 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 12 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Web of Science To find the best resources on a topic, one should search in academic databases, in addition to Google.
Databases provide access to journal articles and conference proceedings, as well as other scholarly resources. One gets
Web of Science (formerly known as ISI or Thomson Reuters) includes multiple databases, as well as more relevant and focused results, because they have better quality control and search functionality. One should
specialized tools. It is a good search tool for scholarly materials requiring institutional license and allows the researcher choose a database based on subject area, date coverage, and publication type. Interfaces vary between databases, but
to search in a particular topic of interest, which can be made by selection in fields that are available in drop down the search techniques remain essentially the same.
menu such as title, topic, author, address, etc. The tool also allows sorting by number of citations (highest to lowest),
publication date. (https://clarivate.com/products/web-of-science/) Effective Search: The Way Forward
Put quotes around phrases, add more keywords, or use the “Refine Results” panel on the left to narrow A scholarly publication is one wherein the published outcome is authored by researchers in a specific field
down the search by keyword, phrases in quotation marks, type of material such as peer-reviewed journal articles, date, of skill. Such work cites all source contents used and is generally peer reviewed for accuracy and validity before
language, and more. Expanding the search results is possible by looking for alternate word endings, breaking the publication. Essentially, the audience for such works is fellow experts and students in the field. The content is typically
search concepts down, thinking of alternate search terms (including scientific names if applicable) and connecting more complex and advanced than those found in general magazines. While most of the engineering researchers need
them with OR, and using the database’s features for finding additional references. to refer articles that appear in scholarly journals, books or other peer-reviewed sources, there is also a substantially
useful content in more popular publications. These are informal in approach and aim to reach a large number of
“Cited reference search” option enables a researcher to trace articles which have cited a formerly published readers including both the experts in the field and also amateurs, but the content focuses on news and trends in the
paper. Using this element, it is possible to find how a familiar idea has been applied, improved, or extended field.
subsequently. A structured search like this that enables narrowing and refining what one is looking for is effective to
ensure that the results throw up relevant sources and time spent in studying those is likely to be well utilized. Based Research outcomes are not typically first disseminated here but are usually meant for general reading. A
on the researcher’s need the search result can be broadened or narrowed down using the built-in fields provided in researcher should use all search tools for comprehensive search. No one place or one source exists that will provide
this website. When clicked on any of the search results, this website provides the title of the paper, authors, the type all the information one needs; one will likely need to look in all the places that would be described in this chapter and
of journal, volume, issue number and year of publication, abstract, keywords, etc., so that the researcher has enough in others not mentioned. A researcher must consider what type of information is needed, and where it could be found.
information to decide if it is worthwhile to acquire the full version of the paper. 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
Google and Google Scholar currently being reported in the news. The information may not be available, or studies on a topic of interest to the
Google is a great place to start one’s search when one is starting out on a topic. It can be helpful in finding freely researcher have not occurred. In such a case, the researcher should look for similar studies that would be applicable
available information, such as reports from governments, organizations, companies, and so on. However, there are to the specific topic; look for broad information (general process, technology, etc.), as well as information that
limitations: addresses the specific context of the researcher’s report. Searching is an iterative process:

(i) It’s a “black box” of information. It searches everything on the Internet, with no quality control—one  Experiment with different keywords and operators
does not know where results are coming from.  Evaluate and assess results, use filters
(ii) There are limited search functionality and refinement options. What about Google Scholar? Google  Modify the search as needed; and
Scholar limits one’s search to scholarly literature.  When relevant articles are found, look at their citations and references
However, there are limitations: 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
1. Some of the results are not actually scholarly. An article may look scholarly at first glance, but is not a good source the findings is also required to be done. This entire process may be needed to be done multiple times. The conclusion
upon further inspection. of the entire process of literature survey includes a summary of the relevant and important work done, and also the
2. It is not comprehensive. Some publishers do not make their content available to Google Scholar. 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
3. There is limited search functionality and refinement options. There are search operators that can be used to help the end of the research project. Not many people begin research work in their graduate program with an already
narrow down the results. These help one find more relevant and useful sources of information. Operators can be acquired skill to efficiently parse math-heavy articles quickly, but those who eventually succeed in an engineering
combined within searches. research career quickly develop that skill from reading a lot of papers, seeking help in understanding confusing parts,
and getting through relevant coursework to build up the required skills and intuition.
Here are some basic ones that one can use:
It is very important to not lose sight of the purpose of an extensive search or literature survey, for it is
(i) OR—Broadens search by capturing synonyms or variant spellings of a concept. Example: Synchronous possible to spend a very significant amount of one’s time doing so and actually falsely think that one is working hard.
OR asynchronous will find results that have either term present. Nothing will come of it unless one is an active reader and spends sufficient time to develop one’s own ideas build on
(ii) Brackets/Parentheses ( )—Gather OR synonyms of a concept together, while combining them with what one has read. It is not as if literature survey ends and then research begins, for new literature keeps appearing,
another concept. Example: RAM (synchronous OR asynchronous). and as one’s understanding of the problem grows, one finds new connections and related/evolving problems which
(iii) Quotation marks “ ”—Narrow the search by finding words together as a phrase, instead of separately. may need more search. It is mandatory for a Ph.D. scholar to write a synopsis of the topic and submit it to the doctoral
Example: RAM (synchronous OR asynchronous) “Texas Instruments”. committee for approval. During this stage, the scholar needs to undertake an extensive literature survey connected
(iv) Site—limits the search to results from a specific domain or website. This operator is helpful when with the problem. For this purpose, the archived journals and published or unpublished bibliographies are the first
searching specific websites such as the BC government, which is Example: RAM (synchronous OR place to check out. One source led to another.
asynchronous) “Texas Instruments” site: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
(v) Filetype—limits the search to results with a specific file extension one could look for pdf’s, PowerPoint Introduction to Technical Reading - Conceptualizing Research
presentations, Excel spreadsheets, and so on. Example: RAM (synchronous OR asynchronous) “Texas
Instruments” site: http:// ieeexplore.ieee.org, filetype: pdf. It is now imperative for any active researcher to keep oneself abreast with research outcomes in their field
of interest. Finding the right work to read can be difficult. The literature where knowledge is archived is very
The Search Tools button at the top of the Google results gives you a variety of other options, such as limiting fragmented and there are bits and pieces all over the place. Very rarely will one find everything that one wants close
the results by date. There are other operators and tools that one can use in Google and Google Scholar. Google is but together in one place. However, it is obvious that the number of papers relevant to a particular researcher is very few,
one search tool a researcher can use—it is not the only one! It can be hard to sift through all the results in Google or compared to the actual number of research papers available from peer-reviewed technical sources. It is also important
Google Scholar, especially if the intent is to find scholarly resources from a specific subject area. to know where to read from; relying on refereed journals and books published by reputed publishers is always better
than relying on easily available random articles off the web.
13 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 14 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

While reading an engineering research paper, the goal is to understand the technical contributions that the Critical and Creative Reading
authors are making. Given the abundance of journal articles, it is useful to adopt a quick, purposeful, and useful way
of reading these manuscripts. It is not the same as reading a newspaper. It may require rereading the paper multiple Reading a research paper is a critical process. The reader should not be under the assumption that reported
times and one might expect to spend many hours reading the paper. A simple, efficient, and logical approach is results or arguments are correct. Rather, being suspicious and asking appropriate questions is in fact a good thing.
described in this section for identifying articles and reading them suitably for effective research. Amount of time to Have the authors attempted to solve the right problem? Are there simpler solutions that have not been considered?
be spent will get ascertained after an initial skimming through the paper to decide whether it is worth careful reading. What are the limitations (both stated and ignored) of the solution and are there any missing links? Are the assumptions
There will also be papers where it is not worth reading all the details in the first instance. It is quite possible that the that were made reasonable? Is there a logical flow to the paper or is there a flaw in the reasoning? These need to be
details are of limited value, or simply one does not feel competent to understand the information yet. ascertained apart from the relevance and the importance of the work, by careful reading. Use of judgemental approach
and boldness to make judgments is needed while reading. Flexibility to discard previous erroneous judgments is also
Start out the skimming process by reading the title and keywords (these are anyways, probably what caught critical.
the initial attention in the first place). If on reading these, it does not sufficiently seem to be interesting; it is better to
stop reading and look for something else to read. One should then read the abstract to get an overview of the paper Additionally, it is important to ascertain whether the data presented in the paper is right data to substantiate
in minimum time. Again, if it does not seem sufficiently important to the field of study, one should stop reading the argument that was made in the paper and whether the data was gathered and interpreted in a correct manner. It is
further. If the abstract is of interest, one should skip most of the paper and go straight to the conclusions to find if also important to decipher whether some other dataset would have been more compelling. Critical reading is relatively
the paper is relevant to the intended purpose, and if so, then one should read the figures, tables, and the captions easy. It is relatively easier to critically read to find the mistakes than to read it to find the good ideas in the paper.
therein, because these would not take much time but would provide a broad enough idea as to what was done in the Anyone who has been a regular reviewer of journal articles would agree to such a statement. Reading creatively is
paper. If the paper has continued to be of interest so far, then one is now ready to delve into the Introduction section harder, and requires a positive approach in search. In creative reading, the idea is to actively look for other applications,
to know the background information about the work and also to ascertain why the authors did that particular study interesting generalizations, or extended work which the authors might have missed? Are there plausible modifications
and in what ways the paper furthers the state of the art. that may throw up important practical challenges? One might be able to decipher properly if one would like to start
researching an extended part of this work, and what should be the immediate next aspect to focus upon.
The next sections to read are the Results and Discussion sections which is really the heart of the paper. One
should really read further sections like the Experimental Setup/Modelling, etc., only if one is really interested and Taking Notes while Reading
wishes to understand exactly what was done to better understand the meaning of the data and its interpretation. As A researcher reads to write and writes well only if the reading skills are good. The bridge between reading
one works through the literature in this way, one should consider not only the knowledge that is written down but and writing a paper is the act of taking notes during and shortly after the process of reading. There is a well-known
also the reputation of the people who made that knowledge. A researcher will always need to be searching for the saying that the faintest writing is better than the best memory, and it applies to researchers who need to read and build
relevant literature and keeping up to date with it. If one is busy with a small project, the advisor might just give a single on that knowledge to write building on the notes taken. Many researchers take notes on the margins of their copies
important paper to read. But with a larger one, you will be searching for one’s own literature to read. For this one will of papers or even digitally on an article aggregator tool. In each research paper, there are a lot of things that one might
need a strategy as there is just too much work out there to read everything. like to highlight for later use such as definitions, explanations, and concepts. If there are questions of criticisms, these
Conceptualizing Research need to be written down to avoid being forgotten later. Such efforts pay significantly when one must go back and
reread the same content after a long time.
The characteristics of a research objective are that it must have new knowledge at the centre, and that it must
be accepted by the community of other researchers and recognized as significant. But how do we conceptualize the On completing a thorough reading, a good technical reading should end with a summary of the paper in a
research? Besides being original and significant, a good research problem should also be solvable or achievable. This few sentences describing the contributions. But to elucidate the technical merit, the paper needs to be looked at from
requirement already asks us to think about the method and the tools that could be used to obtain that new knowledge. comparative perspective with respect to existing works in that specific area. A thorough reading should bring out
Now, the significance and the originality and all the theory that we read and tools and methods that we need to take whether there are new ideas in the paper, or if existing ideas were implemented through experiments or in a new
on a problem, all of these normally come from the existing recorded literature and knowledge in the field. application, or if different existing ideas were brought together under a novel framework. Obviously, the type of
contribution a paper is making can be determined better by having read other papers in the area.
Coming up with a good research objective, conceptualizing the research that meets all of these requirements
is a tough thing to do. It means that one must already be aware of what is in the literature. That is, by the time one Reading Mathematics and Algorithms
actually has a good research objective, one is probably already an expert at the edge of knowledge else it is difficult to Mathematics is often the foundation of new advances, for evolution and development of engineering
say with confidence that one has a good research objective. If one is doing research at the Ph.D. level or higher, then research and practice. An engineering researcher generally cannot avoid mathematical derivations or proofs as part of
conceptualizing the research is probably something that one needs to do oneself. This is a very tough step because research work. In fact, these are the heart of any technical paper. Therefore, one should avoid skimming them. By
one needs to know all that literature in the field. So, when working at the Ph.D. level, one needs to be prepared to meticulous reading of the proofs or algorithms, after having identified the relevance of the paper, one can develop
become that expert, one needs to be continually reading the literature so as to bring together the three parts: sound understanding about the problem that the authors have attempted to solve.
(i) Significant problem Nonetheless, one might skim a technical section if it seems like an explanation of something already known,
(ii) The knowledge that will address it, and or if it is too advanced for the research at the present moment and needs additional reading to be understandable, or
(iii) A possible way to make that new knowledge. if it seems to specialized and unlikely to be needed in the course of the research program in which case one can get
How these three aspects would come together will be different for every person doing research and it will back to it later on. Implementation of an intricate algorithm in programming languages such as C, C++ or Java is
be different in every field, but the only way to be that expert is by immersing oneself in the literature and knowing prone to errors. And even if the researcher is confident about the paper in hand, and thinks that the algorithm will
about what already exists in the field. However, if one is working on a research project that is of a smaller scope than work, there is a fair chance that it will not work at all. So, one may wish to code it quickly to check if it actually works.
a Ph.D., let us say a master’s thesis, then conceptualizing the research is possibly too tough to do, and one does not Reading a Datasheet
have the time that it takes to become that expert at the edge of knowledge. In this case, the researcher needs the help
of someone else, typically the supervisor who may already be an expert and an active researcher in that field, and may Researchers in different fields of engineering will need to read certain types of documents. For example,
advise on what a good research objective might be. An established researcher in any field should be able to immediately mechanical and civil engineers would need to read drawings related to mechanical parts and buildings. Researchers in
point to the landmark literature that one should read first. the field of electronics need to read datasheets. On occasions, researchers in other fields may also need to incorporate
a certain electronic part in which case careful reading of the datasheet is imperative. The same principles like initial
Otherwise, one would need to spend a lot of time reading the literature to discover. As engineers, we like to
skimming of the datasheet are required to ascertain whether further careful reading is needed. Datasheets are
build things, and that’s good, but the objective of research is to make knowledge. If one’s research is about building instruction manuals for electronic components, which (hopefully) details what a component does and how one may
something, one ought to take a step back and ask if new knowledge is being formulated. Even if what one is building use it.
is new and has never been built before, if it is something that any experienced and competent engineer could have
come up with, one runs the risk of one’s work being labelled obvious and rejected as research.
15 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 16 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Datasheets enable a researcher (or a working professional) to design a circuit or debug any given circuit with Most citation styles have the same or similar elements, but differ on the order of elements and layout. Unless
that component. The first page of the datasheet usually summarizes a part’s function and features, basic specifications, otherwise specifically required by a particular journal or a book, one may choose any style of one’s choice if one is
and usually provides a functional block diagram with the internal functions of the part. A pinout provides the physical consistent. The citation elements differ and so what is to be recorded can differ from one source to another. It is also
location of a part’s pins, with special mark for pin 1 so that the part can be correctly plugged into the circuit. Some important to mention the date the source was published and sometimes also the date it was accessed by the researcher
parts also provide graphs showing performance versus various criteria (supply voltage, temperature, etc.), and safe if it is related to web content. LaTeX, a document preparation system often used by engineering researchers to
region for reliable operation which should be carefully read and noted by the researcher. One should be also in the automatically format documents that comply with standard formatting needs, is very effective to track and update
lookout for truth tables which describe what sort of inputs provide what types of outputs, and timing diagrams which citations. LaTeX has a steep learning curve and will be repeatedly used in this book to address different issues
lay out how and at what speed data is sent and received from the part. pertaining to technical writing which is intimately linked with research for engineers.
Datasheets usually end with accurate dimensions of the packages a part is available in. This is useful for There are three main functions of citation:
printed circuit board (PCB) layout. When working with a new part, or when deciding which part to use in the research
work, it is recommended to carefully read that part’s datasheet to come up with a bit of shortcut that may potentially (i) Verification function: Authors have a scope for finding intentional or unintentional distortion of
save many hours later on. As already stated, an engineering researcher will have documents to read which are specific research or misleading statements. Citation offers the readers a chance to ascertain if the original
to the branch of engineering in which one is researching in. However, the objective of the authors herein has been to source is justified or not, and if that assertion is properly described in the present work
use datasheets as an example to state the need to pay attention to the art of reading such documents. Technical (ii) Acknowledgment function: Researchers primarily receive credit for their work through citations.
published papers or books are not the only contents that a researcher must master reading! Citations play crucial role in promotion of individual researchers and their continued employment.
Many reputed organizations and institutes provide research funding based on the reputations of
ATTRIBUTIONS AND CITATIONS the researchers. Citations help all researchers to enhance their reputation and provide detailed
background of the research work.
Giving Credit wherever Due (iii) Documentation function: Citations are also used to document scientific concepts and historical
It is important to extend attributions and acknowledgments to roles and responsibilities beyond primary progress of any technology over the years. Citations are the currency that authors would wish to
authors of journal articles or principal investigators of grant proposal documents. This would be applicable especially accumulate and the technical community gives them credit for these contributions.
to scientific research projects that involved diverse skill sets and expertise. Academic writing, by definition, must When other authors make citations, they honour those who initiated the ideas. Authors demonstrate their
follow certain rules and conventions. Among the most important of these are the rules and conventions about citing, comprehension skills by identifying, estimating, and incorporating other’s research work and then create and express
referencing, attributing, and acknowledging the works of others. That means giving proper credit wherever due. Citing their own ideas precisely while acknowledging ownership of ideas through citation. Authors should cite sources to
is the practice of quoting from, referring to other authors’ works and ideas in the text of our work in such a way that indicate significance of the work to the reader. Relevant citations help authors develop an easily understandable
the context is clear to the reader. Referencing is the listing of the full publication details of a published work that is argument and prevent the need to navigate through work irrelevant to the reader’s interest areas. Failure to cite
cited to give background information to the readers. Acknowledgment in research publications indicates contributions appropriately infringes on the rights of the researcher who did the original work.
to scientific work. However, acknowledgment, attributions, and citations differ in the manner of their application.
Acknowledgment is arguably more personal, singular, and simply an expression of appreciations and contribution. In There are certain cases when references do not fulfil the actual goal of citations and acknowledgments, and
this chapter, we address these issues in detail apart from the legal challenges when attributions and citations are not thus do not benefit the reader.
adequately done.
1. Spurious citations: In certain cases, when citation is not required or an appropriate one is not found, if
Citations: Functions and Attributes the author nevertheless goes ahead with including one anyways, it would be considered as a spurious citation. These
sorts of citations do not add any value to the reader in terms of properly understanding the paper. Such actions result
Citations (references) credit others for their work, while allowing the readers to trace the source publication in loss of time of the reader or reviewer in looking for the cited paper that is otherwise not relevant. Just as due credit
if needed. Any portion of someone else’s work or ideas in papers, patents, or presentations must be used in any new should be given to a paper through citation, inappropriate credit must be avoided so that the credibility of a research
document only by clearly citing the source. This applies to all forms of written sources in the form of texts, images, work or of the journal or conference proceedings where that paper is published is not lost through this sort of
sounds, etc. and failure to do may be considered plagiarism which will be described in detail in subsequent chapters carelessness.
of this book. One should avoid distress and embarrassment by learning exactly what to cite. Depending on the exact
type of material, the researcher may need to give due credit to the creator of the original source. The growth of 2. Biased citations: When authors cite the work of their friends or colleagues despite there being no
knowledge in any field of study, especially in technological fields, is primarily incremental and a researcher invariably significant connection between the two works, or when they do not cite work of genuine significance because they do
and naturally builds upon prior information. There are well-established means of preventing and spreading knowledge not wish to give credit in the form of citation to certain individuals, then such actions can be classified as biased
through publication of patents, papers (conference paper and the peer-reviewed journal paper), or articles, and through citations. Neglect of citations to prior work whose conclusions or data contradict the current work is also biased.
textbooks and classrooms. While it is true that research needs to leverage the prior art around research interest to
make further development, at the same time it is important to ensure that credit for that existing knowledge is suitably 3. Self-citations: There is nothing wrong in citing one’s prior work if the citation is relevant. Self-citation of
acknowledged. prior papers is natural because the latest paper is often a part of a larger research project which is ongoing. Sometimes,
it is also advantageous for the reader because citations of all the related works of the same author are given in one
When a bibliography of previously published patents or papers is placed in the new works of a researcher, a paper and this may reduce the effort of the reader in trying to find the full versions of those papers. However, it is
connection is established between the new and previous work. As per relevance to context, the researcher provides helpful and ethical only if all the papers are relevant to the present work. However, there can also be negative impact
due credit using a citation. Citations help the readers to verify the quality and importance of the new work and on the journal as well as individual researchers due to inappropriate and irrelevant self-citations. Self-citations in such
justification of the findings. It is a way to tell readers that certain material in the researcher’s present work has come cases may be either spurious or biased or even both. Editors of journals who ignore such types of citations and allow
from another source and as an ethical responsibility, appropriate credit has been given to the original author or writer. by negligence or otherwise, to be included in published materials end up directly or indirectly altering the impact factor
Materials that can be cited include journal papers, conference proceeding, books, theses, newspaper articles, websites, of those publications.
or other online resources and personal communication. Preferably, citations should be given at the end of a sentence
or the end of a paragraph as can be seen even in this paragraph. Citation must contain enough details so that readers 4. Coercive citations: Despite shortcomings, impact factors remain a primary method of quantification of
can easily find the referenced material. research. One side effect is that it creates an incentive for editors to indulge in coercion to add citations to the editor’s
journal. Even if not explicitly stated, the implied message is that the author could either add citations or risk rejection.
A researcher needs to cite each source twice: Such demands consequently diminish the reputation of the journal. From the above discussions, it is clear that the
author(s) must maintain a balance between too few and too many citations. At the same time, author(s) must give
(i) In-text citation, in the text of the article exactly where the source is quoted or paraphrased, and credit whenever due even if it is their own work.
(ii) A second time in the references, typically at the end of the chapter or a book or at the end of a
research article.
17 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 18 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Impact of Title and Keywords on Citations 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.
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 Based on co-authorship citation network, references X1 and Y1 are considered self-citation, reference X3 is
of the title, type of the title, and selected keywords also impact the citation count. a level-1 co-author citation because author of article Y is direct collaborator of author A, reference X2 is a level-1 co-
author network because author A is collaborator of E who collaborated with H. We conclude that papers which
Title is the most important attribute of any research paper. It is the main indication of the research area or frequently cite collaborators will also often cite collaborators of collaborators. Collaborations certainly impact citation
subject and is used by researcher as a source of information during literature survey. Title plays important role in counts.
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 readers’ 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 behaviour to the title:
(i) Types of the title
(ii) Length of the title, and
(iii) Presence of specific markers.
Stremersch analysed title characteristics of the papers published during 1990–2002 in research and studied
relationship between title characteristics and citation, which concluded that title length positively affects the number
of citations. In another study, Sagi and Yechiam found that highly amusing titles have fewer citations and pleasant
titles have no significant relation with citations.
In yet another study, Jacques and Sebire analysed different papers’ titles and their citations hit for 25 most-
cited and 25 least-cited research and review papers of a particular genre of journals, and found a strong association
between title lengths and citation rates, with highly cited articles having more than twice as many words in the title
compared with lower cited papers. Jamali and Nikzad analysed several open access papers and found that articles with
question-type titles are downloaded more but poorly cited compared to the descriptive or declarative titles. Declarative
titles are downloaded and cited less than descriptive titles but difference is not much. Figure: Citation-based knowledge flow

As per analysis of Habibzadeh and Yadollahie, longer titles are strongly associated with higher citation rates. Citing Datasets
Longer titles mainly include the study methodology and/or results in more detail, and so attracts more attention and
citations. In general, titles containing a question mark, colon, and reference to a specific geographical region are The nature of engineering research has evolved rapidly and now relies heavily on data to justify claims and
associated with lower citation rates, also result-describing titles usually get citations than method-describing titles. provide experimental evidences and so data citations must fetch proper credit to the creator of the dataset as citations
of other objects like research articles. Data citations should have provisions to give credit and legal attribution to all
Additionally, review articles and original articles usually receive more citations than short communication contributors, enable identification and access, while recognizing that a specific style may not apply to all data.
articles. At least two keywords in the title can increase the chance of finding and reading the article as well as get more Ascertaining the ownership of data can be a complicated issue especially with large datasets, and issues of funding can
citations. Keywords represent essential information as well as main content of the article, which are relevant to the also make it a difficult matter. A researcher should obtain necessary permission for using data from a particular source.
area of research. Search engines, journal, digital libraries, and indexing services use keywords for categorization of the Citations related to datasets should include enough information so that a reader could find the same dataset again in
research topic and to direct the work to the relevant audience. the future, even if the link provided no longer works. It is proper to include a mixture of general and specific
information to enable a reader to be certain that the search result is the same dataset that was sought.
Keywords are important to ensure that readers are aware about research articles and their content. If
maximum number of allowable keywords are used, then the chance of the article being found increases and so does
the probability of citation count of the article. Usage of new keywords should be minimal as such keywords may not
be well known to the research community and so may lead to low visibility of the article.
Knowledge Flow through Citation
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. Production of knowledge can be related to the
citation network. Knowledge flow happens between co-authors during research collaboration, among other
researchers through their paper citation network, and between institutions, departments, research fields or topics, and
elements of research. Figure below shows the relationship between citations, knowledge flow, and elements such as
researchers, papers, journal publications or conferences, and institutions. 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. Sooryamoorthy examined the citation impact of the South African publications among
different collaboration types, discipline, and sectors, and observed that co-authored publications had more citations
than single author paper and there was a positive co-relation between number of authors and the number of citations.
Figure below 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
Figure: Co-authorship network
19 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 20 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Styles for Citations 3. ASME style (The Association of Mechanical Engineers)

Citation styles differ primarily in the order, and syntax of information about references, depending on
difference in priorities attributed to concision, readability, dates, authors, and publications. Some of the most common
styles for citation (as well as other aspects of technical writing) used by engineers are as follows:
1. ASCE style (American Society of Civil Engineers)
(a) Reference list: This part is to be placed in the bibliography or references at the end of the article or report.
A template with example for the same is given below: Acknowledgments and Attributions
Acknowledgment section is a place to provide a brief appreciation of the contribution of someone or an
organization or funding body to the present work. If no guideline is available for the intended publication, then it can
be introduced at the end of the text or as a footnote. Acknowledgment is a common practice to recognize persons or
agencies for being responsible in some form or other for completion of a publishable research outcome.
Acknowledgment displays a relationship among people, agencies, institutions, and research. In some case, certain
individuals may help in the research work but may not deserve to be included as authors. As a sign of gratitude, such
contributions should be acknowledged. Classification of acknowledgment into six different categories like moral,
financial, editorial, institutional or technical, and conceptual support.
Acknowledgments and attributions are also very important in the publications of journal or conference
papers. Giving proper credit wherever it is due is very important and even if the contribution is minor, it should not
be neglected. A researcher should always recognize the proprietary interest of others. Whenever possible, author shall
give name of persons who may be responsible, even if nominally, for designs, inventions, writings, or other
accomplishments. Given the importance of work published, authorship is also important. The reward triangle theory
shows a relationship between citations, acknowledgment, and authorship.
In engineering research, acknowledgments are meant for participating technicians, students, funding agency,
grant number, institution, or anyone who provide scientific inputs, shared unpublished results, provided equipment,
or participated in discussions.
What Should Be Acknowledged?
Every author should know that what should/should not be acknowledged. Author should acknowledge
quotation, ideas, facts, paraphrasing, funding organization, oral discussion or support, laboratory, and computer work.
i. Quotation: In technical writing such as in the field of engineering, quotes are used very rarely. Quotations
(b) In-text citation for journals or books: The following part is to be placed right after the reference to the are of two types:
source of the citation assignment:
 Direct quotations are used when author use actual words or sentences in the same order as the
original one. Author should use quotation marks for the words or sentences with proper
acknowledgment.
 Indirect quotation summarizes or paraphrases the actual quote. In such cases, it is important to
acknowledge with proper name and date.
ii. Authors should acknowledge people who give appropriate contribution in their research work. Non-research
work contributions are not generally acknowledged in a scientific paper but it may be in a thesis. Persons
must be acknowledged by authors, who gave a scientific or technical guidance, take part in some discussions,
or shared information to author. Authors should acknowledge assistants, students, or technicians, who
helped experimentally and theoretically during the research work.
iii. If the researcher received grant from a funding agency and if those funds were used in the work reported in
2. IEEE style (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) the publication, then such support should always be acknowledged by providing full details of the funding
program and grant number in the acknowledgment section. The authors should also gratefully acknowledge
IEEE style is standard for all IEEE journals and magazines, and is frequently used for papers and articles in
the fields of electrical engineering and computer science. The IEEE style requires endnotes and that references be use of the services and facilities of any centre or organization with which they are not formally affiliated. An
cited numerically in the text. Those submitting to an IEEE publication should see guidelines for the specific journal example of acknowledgment of grant received is as follows:
or magazine and may also refer to the complete IEEE editorial style manual. Some examples of IEEE styles of If there are any concerns that the provision of the information provided in acknowledgment may
citations for different types of sources are enumerated below: compromise the anonymity dependent on the peer review policy of a particular journal or conference
proceedings, the author(s) may withhold the acknowledgment information until the submission of the final
accepted manuscript. Many technical journals explicitly discourage authors to thank the reviewers in their
article submissions. This could be construed as favouritism or an attempt to encourage reviewers to accept
their manuscript for reasons other than scientific merit.
iv. Acknowledging that results have been presented elsewhere: If the results were presented as an abstract in a
journal, then there should be a suitable citation. If the results were presented as part of scientific meeting,
symposium, or other gathering, then some relevant information should be provided. At the very least, the
21 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 22 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

name of the gathering and year should be cited. Other helpful items include the location of the gathering MODULE-3
(city and state or country) and the full date of the occasion.
Introduction To Intellectual Property
By acknowledging all help received in one’s research work, the author(s) demonstrate integrity as a researcher,
which in turn encourages continued collaboration from those who helped in different ways. One may also Intellectual Property (IP) is a special category of property created by human intellect (mind) in the fields of
appropriately bolster one’s colleagues’ careers, as being credited in an acknowledgment section is emerging as one of arts, literature, science, trade, etc. Since IP is a novel creation of the mind, it is intangible (i.e. invisible and indivisible)
many ways a researcher’s professional impact is evaluated. Acknowledgment is no longer simply a means of expressing in nature and differs from the tangible property, such as land, house, gold and car with which we are quite familiar.
gratitude. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are 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
Funding agencies these days often require that their grant be acknowledged and explicitly state the exact public domain. The inventor is conferred with the special rights to use, sell, distribute, offering for sale and restricting
information to be provided if the research work leads to a publication. The grantee is responsible for assuring that an others from using the invention without his prior permission. The aforementioned rights do not apply to the physical
acknowledgment of support is made in any publication (including websites) of any direct or indirect outcomes from object (e.g. book or computer or mobile phone) in which the creation may be embodied but attributed to the
the funded project. The format of required information is often explicitly stated in the terms and conditions of grants intellectual creativity. Broadly, IP comprises of two branches i.e. Copyrights and Related Rights and Industrial Property
provided. Rights. 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
Acknowledgments are also appropriate in technical presentations. Failure to acknowledge funding may result software/databases. The Industrial Property Rights refer to the Patents, Trademarks, Trade Services, Industrial
in the discontinuation of current funding and/or ineligibility to receive future funding for a certain number of years Designs and Geographical Indications.
or indefinitely. Unless the information can be considered “common knowledge,” proper attribution of an idea,
algorithm, computational methodology, or experimental design is required even if a journal operates with double- Role of IP in the Economic and Cultural Development of the Society
blind review.
Creativity being the keystone of progress, no civilized society can afford to ignore the basic requirement of
Acknowledgments in Books Dissertations, Dedication or Acknowledgments? encouraging the same. The economic and social development of a society is largely dependent on creativity. The
protection provided by the IPR to the creators/innovators is in fact an act of incentivization for encouraging them to
A page of acknowledgments is usually included at the beginning of a thesis/ dissertation immediately create more and motivates others to create new and novel things. However, if IPR is practised rigidly, it may have a
following the table of contents. These acknowledgments are longer than the one or two sentence statements in journal negative impact on the progress of society. For example, compliance with the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
papers or articles in conference proceedings. These detailed acknowledgments enable the researcher to thank all those Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement has affected the farming community as they are unable to store seeds for the
who have contributed in completion of the research work. Careful thought needs to be given concerning those whose next crop. Multinational companies regulate the price of seeds, which is generally beyond the reach of a majority of
inputs are to be acknowledged and in what order. Generally, one should express appreciation in a concise manner and the farmers.
avoid emotive language. The following are often acknowledged in these types of acknowledgments: main supervisor,
second supervisor, peers in the lab, other academic staff in the department, technical or support staff in the To circumvent the negative impact of IPR, certain laws, exceptions and limitations associated with IPR have
department, colleagues from other departments, other institutions, or organizations, former students, family, and been enacted to maintain a balance between the interests of the creators/inventors and the community. For example,
friends. farmers rights under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PVP&FR) Act, 2001 entitles them to many
privileges, such as Rights on seeds’ provides rights to the farmers to save seeds, use seeds and share, exchange or sell
Dedication is almost never used in a journal paper, an article in a conference proceeding, or a patent, and it seeds to other farmers and Right to protection against accusations of infringement’ protects the farmers from
is used exclusively in larger documents like books, thesis, or dissertations. While acknowledgments are reserved for infringement and other legal accusation levied upon them due to his legal ignorance in using other‘s plant varieties.
those who helped out with the book in some way or another (editing, moral support, etc), a dedication is to whomever The use of copyrighted material for education and religious ceremonies is exempted from the operation of the rights
the author would like it to be dedicated to, whether it is the author’s mother, the best friend, the pet dog, or Almighty granted in the Copyright Act. Similarly, a patent can be revoked in favour of compulsory licensing by the government
God. And yes, it is possible to dedicate something to someone while also mentioning them in the acknowledgments. during an emergency or a natural calamity. In addition, if an invention/creation is not in the interest of society, it is
For example, one may dedicate a book to one’s spouse, but acknowledge them for being the moral support not registered by the government for grant of any rights associated with IP. For example, cloning of human embryos
and putting up with when one got very stressed. The acknowledgments in technical books can be sometimes as brief is banned for IP protection, and so is the creation of super microbial pathogens, which can play havoc with human
as the ones in journal articles. The acknowledgment section of a technical report may be a paragraph that is longer lives. In addition, India is enriched with massive biodiversity and genetic resources and their use is embodied in what
than a journal paper but shorter than dissertations. Generally, the length of the acknowledgment may have some is referred to as Traditional Knowledge (TK). However, the use of such knowledge and resources are not limited to
correlation with the length of the document. local contexts as many innovations relate to and draw on them. Therefore, the main issue of concern is to protect TK
and genetic resources, which are rapidly coming under the governance of sometimes conflicting IPR policies. To
derive maximum benefit from them, the establishment of adequate legal infrastructure and enforcement is required.
With initiatives like ‘Make in India’, ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and supporting local homegrown brands, and easy as well
as accessible approach to patents and trademarks registration, it is possible to reap the benefits of our resources.
IP Governance
Since IP is an integral component of human society, each and every nation has dedicated agencies for laying
out the guidelines, implementation and enforcement of IP related matters. In India, many organizations/agencies deal
with various aspects of IP. The governance of all categories of IP, except the Plant Variety and Farmers’ Rights Act,
is carried out by the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the aegis of Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, GoI. There are a few other dedicated organizations/departments established by the
government to promote patent-ecosystem (patent awareness, patent filing and patent commercialization) in India e.g.
Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), National Research Development
Corporation (NRDC) and Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM), etc. In order to create a hassle-free
exchange of IP related activities amongst all the nations, it is imperative to have minimum standards of rules and
regulations pertaining to all aspects of IP including rights, empowerment, exceptions, etc. To achieve this goal, the
United Nations (UN) has established an organization called the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
This agency is at the forefront of imparting knowledge about IP and governs international filing and registration of
IP through various Conventions and Treaties like Paris Conventions, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), Rome
Convention, Berne Convention, etc.
23 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 24 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

IP as a Global Indicator of Innovation These recommendations were introduced in the Act XXXII of 1950. Two years later, another amendment
(Act LXX of 1952) was made to provide compulsory licencing of patents related to food, drugs and chemicals killing
IP, especially patents, is considered as one of the important cogs in assessing the innovation index of a insects and microbes. Based on these amendments, a bill was presented in the parliament in 1953 but was rejected. In
nation. The global ranking organizations always have IP or a subset of IP as one of the parameters for understanding 1957, the central government constituted yet another powerful committee under the chairmanship of Justice N.
and grading the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) ecosystem of a nation. For example, the Scimago (publicly Rajagopala Ayyangar to seek inputs for further strengthening the Indian Patent Law. The committee submitted its
available online portal which ranks journals and countries based on the data taken from Scopus) 2020 report ranked report to the government in 1959. It comprised of two segments addressing a) General aspects of the patent laws, and
India at 4th position in the parameter of a number of ‘Research Publications’, and 50th position in the parameter of b) Bill rejected back in 1953. The revised patent legislation was submitted to the Lok Sabha in 1965. After many
Intellectual Property Rights. The global ranking can be improved by sensitizing the teaching and scientific hiccups, clarifications and modifications the Patents Act, 1970 (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/),
communities about the importance of IP and creating infrastructure for the same in the institutes of higher learning. IPO (Act/1_31_1_patent-act-1970-11march2015.pdf) was introduced, superseding all the previous laws related to the
Origin of IP patents. However, the Indian Patents and Designs Act of 1911 remained applicable for designs only till 1994. In 1995,
India signed the TRIPS Agreement and got a transition period of 10 years (1995-2005) to make domestic laws
Though there is no official record of the origin of IP, it is believed that a rudimentary form of IP was being compatible with the international treaty. In 1999, The Patents (Amendment) Act, 1999 was introduced providing for
practised around 500 Before the Common Era (BCE) in Sybaris, a state of Greece. The natives of Sybaris were granted the filing of applications for Product Patents in the areas of drugs, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals (earlier, only
a year ‘s protection for using their intellect to create ―any new improvement in luxury. A practical and pragmatic processes were protected under the Patent Act). The new Patent Act also included provisions for the grant of
approach for IP governance started taking shape in medieval Europe. In 1623, Britain passed an Intellectual Property Exclusive Market Rights (EMRs) for the distribution and sale of pharma products on fulfilment of certain conditions.
Legislation which entitled guilds (association of artisans or merchants) to create innovations and bring them to market The second amendment to the 1970 Act was made through the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002 (Act 38 of 2002).
for trade purposes. However, this legislation brought a lot of resentment amongst the public, and thus was replaced This Act introduced new Patent Rules, 2003, thus replacing the earlier Patents Rules, 1972. The major amendments
by the Statute of Monopolies, which gave the rights to the original creator/inventor for 14 years. Another legislation, were:
Statute of Anne, was passed by the British parliament in 1710. This legislation aimed at strengthening copyrights by
providing rights to the authors for recreation and distribution of their work. The work could also be renewed for  The protection term of 20 years for all inventions from the date of filing.
another 14 years. By the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, almost every country started  Scope of non-patentable inventions including Traditional Knowledge expanded.
laying down IP legislation to protect their novel inventions and creations.  Disclosure of source and geographical origin of biological material made compulsory.
 Provisions concerning convention countries simplified.
History of IP in India
 Establishment of Appellate Board.
Patents:  Compulsory license provisions strengthened.
 Simplification of procedures.
The history of the Indian patent system dates back to the pre-independence era of British rule. The first
 Harmonization with Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provisions.
patent related legislation in India was Act VI of 1856, adapted from the British Patent Law of 1852. The objective of
this legislation was to encourage the inventions of new and useful manufactures. The rights conferred to the inventor With the rapidly changing scenario of IPR at a global level, a need was felt to further amend the Patent Act, 1970. The
were termed as Exclusive Privileges. In 1859, certain amendments were made to the Act, such as: highlight of the Patents (Amendments) Act 2005 were:
 Grant of exclusive privileges to useful inventions.  Product patent for inventions in all fields of technology.
 Increase of priority time from 6 months to 12 months.  New forms of known substances excluded to prevent evergreening of the patent.
 Exclusion of importers from the definition of the inventor  Rationalization of the opposition procedure.
A few years later, it was felt that Designs could also pass the criteria of the invention and thus should be  Introduction of pre-grant opposition by representation.
included in the Patent Act. The new Act was rechristened as ― The Patterns and Designs Protection Act under Act  Introduction of post-grant opposition.
XIII of 1872. This Act was further amended in 1883 (XVI of 1883) to include the provision of protection for Novelty  Compulsory license for export purposes.
in the invention. At the beginning of the 20th century, all the earlier Acts related to inventions and designs were done  Compulsory license for manufacture.
away with the introduction of The Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911 (Act II of 1911). As per this Act, the  Extension of grace period from 6 months to 12 months for filing a patent, if published in government
governance of patents was placed under the management of the Controller of Patents. In the next three decades, many exhibition.
amendments were introduced for reciprocal arrangements with other countries for securing priority dates. These
amendments dealt with: India is a member of all prominent Conventions and Treaties related to the facilitation of the inventors for
international filing and protecting the rights over the inventions globally. The important international agreements to
 Use of invention by the government which India is a signatory party are TRIPS Agreement (1995), Paris Convention (1883), PCT (1970) and Budapest
 Patent of Addition Treaty (1977) and many more.
 Enhancing the term of the patent from 14 years to 16 years. Copyrights and Related Rights
 Filing of Provisional Application and submission of Complete Application within 9 months from the date
of filing the application The concept of copyrights started way back in the 15th century. However, the actual need for copyrights law
was felt only after the invention of printers and copiers. Before the invention of printers, writing could be created only
After India got independence in 1947, many patent experts felt the need to review the Indian Patents and once. It was highly laborious and the risk of errors was involved in the manual process of copying by a scribe. During
Designs Act, 1911, keeping the national interest (economic and political) in mind. A dedicated committee, chaired by the 15th and 16th centuries, printing was invented and widely established in Europe. Copies of Bibles were the first
a renowned Justice Bakshi Tek Chand (retired Judge of Lahore High Court), was constituted in 1949 to review the to be printed. The government had allowed the printing of the documents without any restrictions, but this led to the
advantages of the patent system. The committee submitted a plethora of recommendations, including: spreading of a lot of governmental information. Subsequently, the government started issuing licenses for printing.
The evolution of copyrights law in India occurred in three phases.
 Misuse of patents rights needs to be prevented.
 There must be a clear indication in the Act that food, medicine and surgical and curative devices should be First, two phases were enacted during the British Raj. In the first phase, the concept of copyrights was
made available to the masses at the cheapest rate by giving reasonable compensation to the owner of the introduced in 1847 through an enactment during the East India Company’s regime. The term of copyrights was for
patent. the lifetime of the author plus seven years after death. Unlike today, copyrights in work were not automatic. The
 Amendments in Sections 22, 23 and 23A of the Patent and Design Act, 1911 on the lines of the UK Patent registration of copyright was mandatory for the enforcement of rights under the Act. The government could grant a
Act. compulsory license to publish a book if the owner of the copyright, upon the death of the author, refused to allow its
publication. In the second phase Indian legislature, under the British Raj, enacted the Copyright Act of 1914 based on
25 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 26 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

the Imperial Copyright Act (1911) of the UK. An Act for criminal sanction for an infringement was introduced. The knowledge/skills and so on. Though there is no official record but some forms of TK find appearance in the culture,
third phase of the copyright’s regime was witnessed post-independence. The Copyright Act 1957 was enacted, stories, legends, folklore, rituals, songs, etc. Previously, there was no mechanism available to protect TK, but now, it
superseding the Indian Copyright Act, 1914, in order to suit the provisions of the Berne Convention (1886). The 1957 has been recognized as IPR under TRIPS Agreement. The Government of India has created a digital library termed
Act has been amended six times (1983, 1984, 1992, 1994 and 1999, 2012), to comply with WIPO Copyright Treaty as Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) as a repository of 2,50,000 formulations of various systems of
(WCT), 1996 and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), 1996. Indian medicine.
Most of the amendments in copyright laws were in the digital environment, such as penalties for Industrial Designs
circumvention of technological protection measures; rights of management information; liability of internet service
provider; introduction of statutory licenses for the cover versions (the cover version is re-recording or re-composition A design is a creation of the human mind, which is appealing to the eyes and attracts the attention of the
of the original song by other artists or composers and is also termed as a remake, cover song, revival, etc.) and viewers. The need to protect Industrial Designs (ID) was recognized in the 18th century and the Indian legislation
broadcasting organizations; ensuring the right to receive royalties for authors and music composers; exclusive enacted the Patterns and Designs Act in 1872 for the first time. The Act was enacted to protect the rights over the
economic and moral rights to performers; equal membership rights in copyrights societies for authors and other right creation of the designs and novel patterns by the inventors. The Act was replaced by the British Patents and Designs
owners and exception of copyrights for physically disabled to access any works. India is an active member of nearly Act in 1907, which later became the basis for the Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911. In 1970, a separate Act was
all significant international Conventions/Treaties related to Copyright Law e.g. the Berne Convention as modified in enacted for the patent, i.e. the Patent Act, 1970. The Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911, remained in force for
Paris in 1971, the Universal Copyright Convention (1951), the Rome Convention (1961), WCT, WPPT and (TRIPS, designs only. Finally, in the year 2000, a dedicated Act for the ID was passed, which came into force in 2001.
1995). Biodiversity Conservation
Trademarks: Biodiversity is an inseparable part of human livelihood. The mention of protecting biodiversity can be found
The first statutory law related to Trademarks (TM) in India was the Trade Marks Act, 1940, which was carved in the times of Chandragupta and Ashoka. In those eras, the trees and forest were classified, such as reserved category.
out from the Trade Marks Act, 1938 of the UK. It was followed by the incorporation of provisions of TM stated in In 1927 the Indian Forest Act and later on the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 was enacted to provide legal protection
the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and the Sea Customs Act. Later on, Trade Marks Act, 1940 was to biodiversity. In 1988, the National Forest Policy was passed, which brought revolutionary changes in the
rechristened as Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958. Nearly four decades later, this Act was repealed by the Trade conservation and management of biodiversity. The Acts and policies in force to protect the environment and
Marks Act, 1999. The need for this occurred to comply with the provisions of the TRIPS. It is the current governing biodiversity in India include Mining and Mineral Development Regulation Act, 1957; Water (prevention and control
law related to registered TM. of pollution) Act, 1974; Forest Conservation Act, 1980; Biological Diversity Act, 2002; Scheduled Tribes and other
Traditional Forest Dwellers (recognition of rights) Act, 2006; National Biodiversity Action Plan, 2009; National
Geographical Indications Environment Policy, 2006 and a few more.
India, as a member of WTO, enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Major Amendments in IP Laws and Acts in India
Act, 1999. It came into force with effect from 15th September 2003. Geographical Indicators have been defined under
Article 22 (1) of the WTO Agreement on TRIPS. In order to fill the gaps existing in the IP Laws and Acts and also to introduce new guidelines/directions
based on the current scenario (socially and politically), each nation keeps on updating the concerned IP Laws and
Trade Secrets Acts. Some of the salient amendments made in Indian Laws and Acts on IPR are mentioned below:
Although India has no specific Trade Secrets Laws, Indian courts have upheld Trade Secrets protection Table: History of Laws and Acts pertaining to intellectual property in India
under various statutes, including contract law, Copyright law, the principles of equity and the common law action of
breach of confidence (which in effect amounts to a breach of contractual obligation).
Semiconductor Integrated Circuits and Layout Designs
In the 21st century, Information Technology (IT) has revolutionized the economic and societal growth of
the world economy. The rapid and tremendous scientific advancements in the field of IT resulted in the creation of a
new class of IP called the Layout-Design of the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits. Various organizations, including
WTO and TRIPS Agreement laid down rules and regulations regarding the protection of Semiconductor Integrated
Circuits and Layout Designs (SICLD) India being a member of the WTO also passed an Act called the SICLD Act,
2000. This Act is TRIPS compliant and fulfils the conditions of the TRIPS agreement (Articles. 35 to 38) concerning
the protection of SICLD.
Plant Varieties
Till 1970s, not much emphasis was laid on patentable matter originating from animals and plants. However,
microbes and microbial products/processes were patentable. To include all kinds of biological materials under the
ambit of patent laws, a decision to enact a new sui generis law under the International Convention for the Protection
of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV, 1978) and UPOV, 1991 was taken. These decisions were taken to address
environmental and public interest concerns. The Indian Patents Act, 1970 excludes ―plants and animals in whole or
any part thereof other than microorganisms‖ from patentability. To comply with the mandate of Article 27.3 (b) of
TRIPS, India adopted the PPV&FR Act, 2001 as a sui generis regime protecting not only new plant varieties but also
farmer’s rights.
Traditional Knowledge
It is the ancient and indigenous knowledge held by any community or a group of people. In olden times it was not
recorded anywhere and was available only in oral form. So, Traditional Knowledge (TK) was verbally passed on to
future generations. TK is not limited to a particular field. It covers a wide area, such as the use of plants or their
extracts for medical treatments, a traditional form of dance, particular techniques used for hunting, craft
27 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 28 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Source: http://www.ipindia.nic.in/history-of-indian-patent-system.htm
Patents
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an innovation that generally provides a new way of doing something
or offers a new technical solution to a problem. The exclusive right legally protects the invention from being copied
or reproduced by others. In return, the invention must be disclosed in an application in a manner sufficiently clear
and complete to enable it to be replicated by a person with an ordinary level of skill in the relevant field.
Conditions for Obtaining a Patent Protection
There is a set criterion, as provided in this section of the Patents Act, 1970, which must be fulfilled for a
product or a process to qualify for the grant of a patent. The criterion encompasses:
Novelty - Not part of ‘State of the Art’. The innovation claimed in the patent application is new and not known to
anybody in the world. In other words, the innovation is
a. not in the knowledge of the public,
b. not published anywhere through any means of publication and
c. not be claimed in any other specification by any other applicant.
Inventive step - Not obvious to the person (s) skilled in the art. The innovation is
a. a technical advancement over the existing knowledge,
b. possesses economic significance and,
c. not obvious to a person skilled in the concerned subject.
Capable of industrial application - For the benefit of society. The invention is capable of being made or used in
any industry.
To Patent or Not to Patent an Invention
Once an invention has been developed, the inventor has to decide whether to exploit the invention for
personal benefits as provided by the statutory laws of the country or put it in the public domain. By and large, the
inventor prefers the former option. Only a miniscule of inventions are placed in the public domain without claiming
any benefits.
In the latter case, anybody can exploit the innovation for commercial or societal benefit without paying any
money to the inventor. If the owner of an invention wishes to seek monetary gains, he can choose from either of the
two options, i.e. patenting or Trade Secret. If the inventor is absolutely sure of maintaining the secrecy of invention
for a very long period (maybe 100 years or more) and the probability of reverse engineering of the technology is nil
or very low, then the Trade Secret category is preferred. If the invention has a short life span or can be kept secret
only for a small period of time (a couple of years or so) or the probability of reverse engineering is high once the
invention is in the public domain, then the patent category is preferred.
29 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 30 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Rights Associated with Patents a. Direct Infringement - when a product is substantially close to any patented product or in a case where the
marketing or commercial use of the invention is carried out without the permission of the owner of the
As per the Court of Law, a patent owner has the right to decide who may or may not use the patented invention.
invention. In other words, the patent protection provided by the law states that the invention cannot be commercially b. Indirect Infringement - When some amount of deceit or accidental infringement happens without any
made, used, distributed, imported, or sold by others without the patent owner's consent. The patent owner may permit intention of infringement. If such an unlawful act has been committed, the patentee holds the right to sue
other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms. As a matter of fact, the patent rights are negative rights the infringer through judicial intervention. Every country has certain laws to deal with such unlawful acts.
as the owner is restricting others from using the patent in any manner without his prior permission. The patent holder Following reliefs are made available to the patentee:
may choose to sue the infringing party to stop illegal use of the patent and also ask for compensation for the  Interlocutory/interim injunction.
unauthorized use.  Damages or accounts of profits.
Enforcement of Patent Rights  Permanent injunction.

Enforcement is the process of ensuring compliance with laws, regulations, rules, standards and social norms. It is pertinent to mention that the Central government always holds the rights (Section 100 of the Patent
Patent rights are usually enforced by the judicial courts. The Court of Law has the authority to stop patent Act, 1970, Rule 32 of the Patent Rules, 2003) to use the invention in the case of national emergency or other
infringement. However, the main responsibility for monitoring, identifying and taking action against infringers of a circumstances of extreme urgency after notifying the owner.
patent lies with the patent owner. Avoid Public Disclosure of an Invention before Patenting
Inventions Eligible for Patenting Generally, an invention that has been either published or publicly displayed cannot be patented, as the
Patents may be granted for inventions/technologies in any field, ranging from a paper clip or ballpoint pen claimed invention will lose the Novelty criterion. However, under certain circumstances, the Patents Act provides a
to a nanotechnology chip or a Harvard mouse (mouse with cancer genes). It is a general belief that patents are awarded grace period of 12 months for filing a patent application from the date of its publication in a journal or presentation
only to major scientific breakthroughs. But it is not true. In fact, the majority of patents are granted to inventions in a reputed scientific society or exhibition. Sometimes, disclosure of an invention before filing a patent application is
displaying an improvement over the existing invention. For example, many patents can be awarded to a single molecule unavoidable, e.g. selling your invention to a potential investor or a business partner who would like to know complete
e.g. penicillin (an antibiotic that kills microbes) and its derivatives. The derivatives are made by making subtle changes details of the invention in order to judge its commercial value. In such a case, it is advisable to sign a Non-Disclosure
in the structure of the penicillin resulting in new/improved properties, such as acid stability or temperature stability Agreement (NDA) or any other confidential agreement to safeguards your interest.
or killing a wide range of microbes (germs). The new antibiotic molecules, known as second, third or fourth generation Process of Patenting
penicillin can also be patented. In our daily life, we use many patented items, such as toothbrush, toothpaste, shoes,
pen, eyeglasses, textiles, mobile phones, wrist watch, bicycle, scooter, car, television, cold drinks, beverages and many In India, the process of grant of a patent is a lengthy procedure that may take anywhere 3-4 years or more.
more. It is not uncommon that many products contain several inventions (patents) e.g. the laptop computer involves The major steps involved in this process are listed in figure below.
hundreds of inventions working together. Similarly, cars, mobile phones and televisions have many patented
components.
Non-Patentable Matters
In the Patent Act, 1970, there are some exclusions (product and processes) that cannot be patented, such as:

 Invention contrary to public morality - a method for human cloning, a method for gambling.
 Mere discovery - finding a new micro-organism occurring freely in nature, laws of gravity.
 Mere discovery of a new form of a known substance - use of aspirin for heart treatment. Aspirin was
patented for reducing fever and mild pains.
 Frivolous invention - dough supplemented with herbs, merely changing the taste of the dough, 100 years
calendar, bus timetable.
 Arrangement or rearrangement - an umbrella fitted with a fan; a torch attached to a bucket.
 Inventions falling within Section 20(1) of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 - inventions relating to
compounds of Uranium, Beryllium, Thorium, Plutonium, Radium, Graphite, Lithium and more as notified Figure: Flow chart of major steps involved in the grant of a patent
by the Central Government from time to time.
Process of Patenting
 Literary, dramatic, musical, artistic work - books, sculptures, drawings, paintings, computer programmes,
mathematical calculations, online chatting method, method of teaching, method of learning a language as Prior Art Search
they are the subject matter of Copyright Act. 1957.
 Topography of integrated circuits - protection of layout designs of integrated circuits is provided Before an inventor embarks upon the patent filing process, he has to ensure that his invention is novel as
separately under the Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Layout Designs Act, 2000. 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. For this, he needs to read patent documents and Non-Patent Literature (NPL), scientific
 Plants and animals - plants and animals in whole or any part including seeds, varieties and species and
journals/reports/magazines, etc. The information lying in the public domain in any form, either before the filing of
essentially biological processes for the production or propagation of plants and animals are excluded from
the patent application or the priority date of the patent application claiming the invention, is termed as Prior Art.
the scope of protection under patents.
 Traditional knowledge - an invention which in effect is traditional knowledge or which is an aggregation Conducting a prior art search before filing the patent has advantages as it averts infringement, tracks research
or duplication of known properties of traditionally known components are also excluded. and development and provides access to detailed information on the invention. The prior art search is carried out on
the parameters such as novelty, patentability, state of the art, infringement, validity and freedom to operate. The
Patent Infringements commonly used databases for prior art search fall in two categories i.e. Patents Databases and NPL.
Once the patent is granted to the applicant, he owns the right to use or exploit the invention in any capacity.
If anyone uses the invention without the prior permission of the owner, that act will be considered an infringement
of the invention. Infringements can be classified into two categories:
31 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 32 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Non-Patent Literature (NPL)

 Scholarly publications: Handbooks, Textbooks, Withdrawn Patents, Encyclopaedias, Journals (IEEE,

Research Gate, Springer, Wiley Online Library, etc.), Dissertations, NCBI ‘s PubMed, Conference
Proceedings, Technical Reports, Public Conferences, etc.
 Industry/trade publications: Industry reviews and public disclosures (social media, YouTube, Books,
Magazines, Datasheets, Blueprints, etc.).
 Others: Newspapers, Websites, Technology blogs, Researchers websites, etc.
Although, majority of NPL data is available freely on the public forum, some of the journals are paid and
can be accessed after paying the subscription. Major Patent Offices such as the United States Patent and Trademark
Office's (USPTO), European Patent Office (EPO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), etc. are maintaining inhouse NPL
databases to make patents examination more effective.
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.
However, it is mandatory to file the complete patent application within one year of the filing of the provisional
application; otherwise, the application stands rejected.
Patent Application Forms - As per the Patent Act, 1970
(Section 39) and the Patents Rules, 2003 (Rule 7, 54, 135 and subrule (1) of rule 20, the application for the
grant of patent is filed using Form-1 (Fig attached and Form-2 (Fig attached). The information sought in Form-1 is
general in nature i.e. Title of Application, Names of Applicant(s) and Inventor(s), Type of Application (Ordinary,
Convention, PCT-NP (PCT- National Phase), Divisional, Patent of Addition, etc.). Whereas Form-2 seeks technical
information and whether to file the provisional application or complete the application. For Provisional Application,
only Description of the Invention and the Abstract is to be furnished. Whereas, Complete Application requires
Description of the Invention, Abstract, Claims and the manner in which invention has to be performed. The Claims
of the patent are a very crucial part of the specifications because they define the actual boundary of the invention.
Claims specify what is actually claimed by the invention and what is being sought to be protected. It clearly describes
what the patent does and does not cover. The Claims are usually expressed as a declaration of technical particulars
articulated in legal terms. Claims can be classified into two types a) Independent Claims (standalone claim) and b)
Dependent Claims (dependent on independent claim). The Claims must be drafted precisely and carefully in order to
seek patent protection and also to protect the invention against potential infringers. Below mentioned are two
important forms Form-1 and Form-2 for filing the patent application. (http://www.ip india.nic.in/writeread
data/Portal/IPORule/1_10_1_patents-amend ments-rules-2005.pdf)
33 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 34 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Figure: Form-2 (provisional/complete specifications)

Jurisdiction of Filing Patent Application

Figure: Form-1 (application for the grant of a patent) 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.
Table: Jurisdiction to file a patent in India
35 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 36 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

For a foreign applicant, the address for service in India or place of business of his patent agent determines Validity of Patent Protection
the appropriate Patent Office for filing a patent application. In the case of joint applications, all the applicants are
bestowed with equal rights and consideration. 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
Publication 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. In some
Once the patent application has been filed at the Regional Patent Office, the patent application is kept secret countries, patent protection may be extended beyond 20 years. The extension aims to compensate for the time
for 18 months in the Patent Office. After the expiry of 18 months (from the date of filing of the application or the expended on the administrative approval procedure before products can be put on the market. The time taken for
priority claimed date, whichever is earlier), the application is published in the Official Journal of Patent Office this procedure means that the patent owner may sometimes not be able to benefit from his right for a considerable
(http://www.ipindia.nic.in/journalpatents.htm). The purpose of publishing the application is to inform the public period after the grant of the patent.
about the invention. The publication of an application is a mandatory step.
Post-grant Opposition
Pre-grant Opposition
Once the patent has been granted by the Patent Office, it still can be challenged by anyone within one year
If anybody has an objection to the invention claimed in the patent application, he can challenge the from the date of publication of the grant of the patent. The granted patent can be challenged either via a Patent Office
application by approaching the Controller of Patents within 6 months from the date of publication. It is termed as or in a Court of Law. These bodies may invalidate or revoke a patent upon a successful challenge by the interested
Pre-grant Opposition. Depending on the outcome of the case, the patent application may be rejected or recommended party on the grounds mentioned below:
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  The applicant for the patent wrongfully obtained the invention or any part of the invention.
seek an investor). For this, the applicant has to fill a Form-9 and submit it to the Controller General.  The invention claimed has been published before the priority date.
Examination  The invention claimed was publicly known/used before the priority date.
 The invention claimed is obvious and does not involve an inventive step.
Patent examination is a critical step in the process of grant of a patent. All the important criteria (novel,  The subject of the claim is not patentable as per Chapter II of the Patent Act, 1970.
inventive step, etc.) are scrutinized by the professionals depending on the content of the invention. Usually, the  The details/specifications of the invention do not sufficiently and clearly describe the invention
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 Commercialization of a Patent
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 The patent owner may grant permission to an individual/organization/industry to make, use, and sell his
within 48 months from the date of filing of the application. patented invention. This takes place according to agreed terms and conditions between the involving parties. A patent
owner may grant a license to a third party for the reasons mentioned below:
Grant of a Patent
 The patent owner has a decent job e.g. university professor and has no desire or aptitude to exploit the patent
After fulfilling all the requirements for the grant of a patent, including all objections/queries raised by the on his own.
Patent Examiner and the public at large, the patent is granted to the applicant. The granted patent is published in the  The patent owner may not have the necessary manufacturing facilities.
Official Journal of the Patent Office. This journal is published every Friday and contains information related to patent  The manufacturing facility is not able to meet the market demand.
applications published under section (u/s) 11A, post-grant publication, restoration of patent, notifications, list of non-
 The patent owner wishes to concentrate on one geographic market; for other geographical markets, he may
working patents and public notices issued by the Patent Office.
choose to license the patent rights.
Once the patent is granted, the patentee (person holding the rights to the patent) enjoys the exclusive rights
to use the patented invention. Only the patentee has the right to licence or deal with the patent for any deliberations.
Although, the validity of the granted patent is for 20 years (from the date of filing a patent application), but the
patentee is required to furnish information (Form-27), on an annual basis relating to the commercialization/selling of
the patent. It is called as Working/Licensing of the Patent. The licensing of a patent can be exclusive or non-exclusive.
In an Exclusive Licence, the patent is sold to only one individual/organization for a fixed time period. During this
time period, no other person or entity can exploit the relevant IP except the named licensee. In Non-Exclusive
Licence, a patentee can sell his patent rights to as many individuals/parties as he likes. If the patentee is not able to
commercialize his patent within three years from the date of the grant of a patent, any person may submit an
application to the Controller of Patents for grant of Compulsory Licensing (of the patent), subject to the fulfilment
of following conditions:

 Reasonable requirements of the public concerning the patented invention have not been satisfied.
 The patented invention is not available to the public at a reasonable price.
 The patented invention is not worked in the territory of India
Need for a Patent Attorney/Agent
In general, applicants can prepare their patent applications and file them without assistance from a patent
attorney. However, given the complexity of patent documents, it is advisable to seek legal assistance from a patent
attorney/agent when drafting a patent application. Furthermore, the legislation of many countries requires that an
applicant, whose ordinary residence or principal place of business is outside the country, be represented by an attorney
or agent qualified in the country (which usually means an agent or attorney who resides and practices in that country).
Figure: Flowchart for the process of filing a patent application
37 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 38 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Can a Worldwide Patent be Obtained Table: Fee for obtaining a patent via electronic filing
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 a 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.
Do I Need First to File a Patent in India
Yes, 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 approval is needed from the Patent Office.
However, this approval can be waived off under the following circumstances:

 The applicant is not an Indian resident.

Types of Patent Applications
 If 6 weeks have expired since the patent application was filed in India by an Indian resident.
 If two or more inventors are working on an invention in a foreign country and one of the inventors is an  Provisional Application - A patent application filed when the invention is not fully finalized and some part
Indian resident. The invention does not have a potential market in India and hence does not wish to file the of the invention is still under experimentation. Such type of application helps to obtain the priority date for
patent in India. In such a scenario, the Indian resident has to seek Foreign Filing Permission (FFP) from an the invention.
Indian Patent Office.  Ordinary Application - A patent application filed with complete specifications and claims but without
 In case of international collaboration, if one part of the invention originated in India and the inventor is an claiming any priority date.
Indian resident, he has to seek permission to file the patent outside India.  PCT Application - An international application filed in accordance with PCT. A single application can be
 If the invention is related to defence or atomic energy or utility model, the inventor/s needs to seek filed to seek patent protection and claim priority in all the member countries of PCT.
permission from the Indian Patent Office because inventions related to these domains are not the subject  Divisional Application - When an application claims more than one invention, the applicant on his own or
matter of patentability in India. to meet the official objection on the ground of plurality may divide the application and file two or more
Patent Related Forms applications. This application divided out of the parent one is known as a Divisional Application. The priority
date for all the divisional applications will be the same as that of the main (the Parent) Application (Ante-
There are over 30 patent-related forms. Some of them are mentioned below dating).
 Patent of Addition Application - When an invention is a slight modification of the earlier invention for
Table: List of important patent application forms which the patentee has already applied for or has obtained a patent, the applicant can go for Patent of
Addition, if the modification in the invention is new. Benefit - There is no need to pay a separate renewal
fee for the Patent of Addition, during the term of the main patent. It expires along with the main patent.
 Convention Application - If a patent application has been filed in the Indian Patent Office, and the
applicant wishes to file the same invention in the one or more Convention countries (e.g. Paris Convention)
by claiming the same priority date on which application was filed in India, such an application is known as
Convention Application. The applicant has to file Convention Application within 12 months from the date
of filing in India to claim the same priority date.
Commonly Used Terms in Patenting
There are certain terms that are commonly used in the field of patenting, as listed in table.
Table: Commonly used terms in the domain of patenting

Fee Structure
As per the patent Act, 1970 and The Patents Rules (1972), the requisite fee has been specified based on the
type of form/s to be submitted to the Office. Electronically filed applications are 10% cheaper than physical filing.
39 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 40 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

MODULE 4

Copyrights and Related Rights

Copyrights refer to the legal rights provided by law to the original creator of the work in the fields of literature
and computer software. The Related Rights encompass the author’s work in the fields of dramatics, sound recording,
film/video recordings, paintings, architecture, etc. Copyrights and Related Rights are one of the categories of IP and
governed by the Copyright Act, 1957 of India. This Act provides rights of reproduction, communication to the masses,
adaptation and translation of the work. The words author and work need to be understood from the perspective of
Copyrights. The term ‘author’ refers to an individual who develops the content (of work). The author can be a writer
(literary work), computer programmer (software), composer (musical work), producer (cinema films, sound
recording), photographer (photos). The term ‘work’ is a task undertaken in the fields of literature, dramas, music,
artistic, cinematograph film and sound recording.
Classes of Copyrights

In India, following classes of Copyrights exist:

 Literature: Books, Essays, Research articles, Oral speeches, Lectures, Compilations, Computer Programme,
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 Films: Cinematograph Film 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.

Criteria for Copyright

To qualify for Copyright protection, a work must exist in some physical (or tangible) form. The duration of
the existence of the physical form may vary from a very short period to many years. Virtually any form of expression
which can be viewed or listened to is eligible to qualify as Copyright. Even hurriedly scribbled notes for an impromptu
National Bodies Dealing with Patent Affairs speech are considered copyrightable material.

There are many departments/organizations/bodies dealing with various aspects of patents, namely, the The Copyright work has to be expressed by the creator in his frame of thought. In other words, the work
Indian Patent Office (IPO), Department for Promotion for Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT); Technology has to be original i.e. the author created it from independent thinking void of duplication. This type of work is termed
Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) and National Research Development Corporation as an Original Work of Authorship (OWA). It may appear similar to already existing works but should not be the
(NRDC). same. The original work may lack quality or quantity or aesthetic merit or all these parameters; still, it will pass the test
of copyrightable work.
Utility Models
In addition to originality for the work, Copyright protection also requires at least some creative effort on the
In many cases, a new invention involves an incremental improvement over the existing products, but this
part of the author. There is no minimum limit for the extent of creativeness. It is a subjective matter. The minimal
technical improvement is not sufficient enough to pass the stringent criterion of Novelty and Non-obviousness set
aside for the grant of a patent. Such small innovations can still be legally protected in some countries and termed as level of creativity needed for Copyright protection depends on the judgment of the evaluator (adjudicated by the
‘Utility Models’ or ‘Petty Patents’ or ‘Innovation Patents’. In this case, the criterion of Novelty and Non- Office of Registrar of Copyright). As an example, mere changing the dimensions of a book will not be granted
obviousness are diluted or relinquished. But the requirement of industrial application or utility is the same as that for Copyright protection. Similarly, an address book of alphabetically arranged telephone numbers does not qualify for
patents. Copyright protection as it involves a straightforward alphabetical listing of phone numbers rather than a creative
selection of listings.
Utility Model is a helpful tool for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) since the grant of a Utility
Model is usually less rigorous and involves minimal cost. MSMEs do not have deep pockets to carry out intensive Ownership of Copyright
R&D leading to the grant of patents. But their innovations are good enough for improving their products/processes
and bringing more financial rewards. Such inventions pass the requirements set aside for Utility Models but not for The Copyright laws clearly state the ownership of Copyright.
patents. The life of the Utility Model is less as compared to the patents. It varies from 7-15 years in different countries.
Nearly 80 countries, including France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, China, Finland, Russian Federation and Spain,  The person who created the work is considered as the first (original) holder (owner) of the Copyright.
provide protection for Utility Models under their IPR laws. India till date does not recognize utility patents. If these  In case the author is an employee and has been contracted to do the work by a proprietor (of the
small patents are recognised under IP protection in India, it will catapult the number of patents (filed and granted) on company/firm/society /organization, etc.), the owner of the Copyright shall be the proprietor.
annual basis.
41 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 42 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

 The government will be the primary owner of the government work in the absence of any kind of Copyright Infringement is a Criminal Offence
arrangement.
According to Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957, if any person knowingly infringes the Copyright, he
 The person delivering a speech is the first owner of the Copyright.
qualifies for the criminal offence. The punishment awarded for the infringement (of Copyright) is imprisonment for
 To obtain permission to use copyrighted material, a request for the same should be made to the legal owner six months with the minimum fine of ₹ 50,000/-. In case of a second and subsequent conviction, the minimum
(of the copyrighted material), which could be the original author, the legal heir (in case of the death of the punishment is imprisonment for one year and a fine of ₹ 1,00,000. There is a dedicated IP division to deal with
author), publisher, etc. The request must mention the following:
Copyright cases. Also, there is a Copyright Board constituted by the Central Government in 1958 to adjudicate certain
 Title, author and/or editor, and edition. claims about Copyright.
 Precise material to be used.
 The number of copies. Copyright Infringement is a Cognizable Offence
 The purpose of the material e.g. educational, research, etc. A police officer (rank of a sub-inspector or higher) can confiscate the infringed Copyright material without
 Form of distribution e.g. hard copy to classroom, posted on the internet. issuing a warrant and produce the same in the court of law.
 Whether the material is to be sold e.g. as part of a course pack.
Fair Use Doctrine
Copyrights of the Author
Any person not possessing a valid license from the owner of the Copyright is not entitled to exploit the said
The Copyrights of the creator/author are legally protected under Section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957. The work. However, Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957, provides for certain exceptions to the infringement of
content (i.e. work) created by the author cannot be used or published by anyone without the author’s consent. Copyright. As per the rule of law, Copyrighted materials cannot be used by anybody without the proper consent of
Copyrights provide exclusive rights to the author in the areas of publication, distribution, and usage. A Copyright the legal owners (of the Copyright). However, limited use of Copyrighted materials for teaching and research purposes
owner enjoys two types of rights i.e. Economic Rights (or Proprietary Rights) and Moral Rights (or Personal Rights). is legally permitted, under The Fair Use Doctrine, which comprises of the four-part test:
Economic Rights are associated with financial benefits accruing from the sale of copyrights. As per the Act, Copyright
owners can authorize or prohibit:  The character of the use - use of the work is purely educational, non-profit and personal
 Nature of the work - The use of work is factual in nature and not imaginative.
 Reproduction of the work in any form, including printed publications or sound recordings.  Amount of the portion to be used - permission is not needed if only a small portion of Copyright protected
 Distribution of copies of the work. material is to be used. However, this parameter is debatable now.
 Public performance of the work.  Impact of use on the value of the Copyrighted material - If a small portion of the work is copied and is
 Broadcasting/communicating the work to the public. not affecting the author’s economic and moral rights, it will be excused from the infringement.
 Translating the work into other languages.
Detailed information on the examples of the Fair Use Doctrine can be accessed from the official website
 Adaptation of the work, such as converting a novel into a screenplay.
(http://copyright.gov.in/exceptions.aspx).
Moral Rights include Right of Paternity and Right of Integrity. The Right of Paternity - even if the Copyright
A few examples are listed below:
has been licensed to another party, the original author of the work retains the right to claim authorship i.e. the name
of the author/s will remain even though Copyrights have been transferred to another party E.g. a book publisher.  If the Copyrighted work is used for personal use i.e. studies or research.
The Right of Integrity - the original author has the right to prevent misuse of the work E.g. alterations/additions/  Quotation mentioned in the Copyrighted work.
deletions in work resulting in misrepresentation of the said work or harming the honor and reputation of the author.
 Reporting of current events in the media, such as newspapers, magazines or radios/television.
It is pertinent to mention that for a work, there can be more than one rights holder, for instance, a musical sound
recording has many rights holders, such as the lyricist, music composer, singer, musicians and sound recorders.  Reproduction of the work by teachers or scientific researchers.
 Performance is free of charge by government officials in the performance of their duties e.g. reproduction
Copyright Infringements of any work for a judicial proceeding or a report of a judicial proceeding.
 Use of any work prepared by the Secretariat of a Legislature.
As per the Copyrights Acts, 1957, the following acts are regarded as an infringement of Copyrights:
 Use of the work in a certified copy made or supplied in accordance with any law for the time being in force.
 Making copies for sale or hire or selling or letting them for hire without permission.  Making three or less than three copies of a book (including a pamphlet, sheet of music, map, chart or plan).
 Permitting any place for the performance of owned work (in public) where such performance constitutes an  Bonafide religious ceremony, including a marriage function
infringement of Copyright.
Copyrights and Internet
 Distributing infringing copies for trade or to such an extent to affect the interest of the owner of the
Copyright prejudicially. The twenty-first century is an era of digitization. The Copyrighted data is quickly transmitted via the internet.
 Public exhibition of infringing copies for trade purposes. This method of data transmission has brought amendments to the existing Copyright laws. One should be careful of
 Importation of infringing copies. Copyright/fair use principles when downloading material from the internet. There is growing concern about the ability
 Translating a work without the permission of the owner to pull Copyrighted material from the internet without permission. Note that material may have been placed on the
internet without the author’s permission.
Liability of Owner of an Auditorium/Hall
In general, posting material on the internet by the Copyright owner gives an internet user the right to use
The owner of an auditorium/hall is liable for punishment if he knowingly allows his premises to be used for that material for his personal use, but he cannot use the work for commercial purposes. Electronic distribution of a
communication of illegal copyright material (songs, music, dramas, etc.) to the public. If a person permits for profit Copyrighted work should mention the statement that ― This work is protected by Copyright laws and is provided for
any place to be used for communicating the work to the public, where such communication establishes an educational instruction only. Any infringing use may be subject to disciplinary action and/or civil or criminal liability
infringement of the Copyright unless he was not aware of and had no reasonable ground for believing that such as provided by law”.
communication to the public would be an infringement of Copyright, he will be deemed to have committed an offence
under the Copyright Act.
43 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 44 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

As per Section 2(o) of the Copyright Act, 1957, Literary Work includes computer programs, tables and
compilations, including computer databases. It is mandatory to supply Source Code and Object Code along with the
application for registration of Copyright.

Non-Copyright Work

The works not under the jurisdiction of Copyrights are as follows:

 The ideas, concepts, and principles themselves cannot be protected under Copyright, only the form in which
they are expressed can be copyrighted.
 Facts, such as scientific or historical discoveries, are not copyright protected. Any fact a person discovers in
the course of research cannot be Copyright protected. For example, an author of a book on Buddhism takes
ten-fifteen years to gather all the necessary materials and information for his work. At a great expense, the
author travels to various museums, libraries and excavations sites. However, after the book is published,
anyone is free to use the underlying facts, provided they express the information on their own.
 Copyright does not protect titles, names, slogans, short phrases, short word combinations, methods, or
factual information.
 Certificates are not considered as Copyrightable subject matter as there is not much scope for creativity.
 Digitally created works and Copyrighted works transformed into a digital format and placed on the internet
are Copyright protected.
 The Copyright registration for a website, as a whole, is not possible. However, different
components/rudiments of a website can be granted Copyright registration e.g. computer
programs/software, compilations including computer databases (literary works); photographs, paintings,
diagram, map, chart or plan (artistic works); and works consisting of music including graphical notation of
such work (musical works). However, a separate application for each component of work has to be filed for
seeking Copyright registration.
 A computer or mobile App qualifies for Copyright registration. An application is a complete, self-contained
computer program that is designed to perform a specific task. An App usually has dynamic content and is
designed for user interaction. It may be used directly or indirectly in a computer or handheld electronic
device.
 If someone swipes your picture/song/video from the internet and uses it for their purposes, it is a Copyright
infringement. By the way - the same is true if you nick some else’s material for your purposes.

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. 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. Below mentioned are prominent forms for copyright registration
(https://copyright.gov.in/).
45 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 46 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Figure: Flow chart for the process of Copyright registration

Table: Important forms pertaining to Copyrights

Judicial Powers of the Registrar of Copyrights

The Registrar of Copyrights has the powers of a civil court when trying a suit under the Code of Civil
Procedure in respect of the following matters:

 Summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath.
 Requiring the discovery and production of any document. Fee Structure
 Receiving evidence on affidavit. For each work, a separate application form needs to be submitted, along with the requisite fee. The fee is
 Issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents. not reimbursable in case the application for registration is rejected.
 Requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office.
 Any other matters which may be prescribed.

A duly filled application (Form XIV) is submitted to the Copyright Office at the following address: The
Registrar of Copyright, Plot no. 32, Boudhik Sampada Bhawan, Sector 14, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110075. The
application can be submitted by post or online registration through the E-filing facility (www.copyright.gov.in). Any
person who is either an author of the work or assignee of the concerned work can file an application for Copyright.
Usually, it takes around 2-3 months to get the work registered by the Copyright Office. After applying, there is a
mandatory waiting period of 30 days. If any person has any objection to the claim/s made in the application, he can
contact the office of the Registrar of Copyrights. After giving an opportunity of hearing to both the parties, the
Registrar may decide the case in favor or against the author of the work. Once the objections (if any) are cleared, the
application is evaluated by the examiners. If any doubts/queries are raised, the applicant is given ample time (around
45 days) to clear these objections. The elements included in Copyright filing to grant are depicted below in the flow
chart:
47 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 48 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Copyright Symbol Transfer of Copyrights to a Publisher

It is not necessary to place the Copyright symbol © with your name and year created near your published or The original authors of the Copyrighted work may not have the wherewithal to widely publicize their work.
printed materials - but if you do, it is easier to nail someone for infringement on your Copyright if you go to court. Usually, they transfer their rights to publishers for financial benefits, which could be a one-time lump sum amount or
The important things which may be mentioned as a Copyright mark on Copyright creation are: royalties or a combination of the two. However, transferring Copyrights unconditionally to the publishers (or anybody
else) may have some repercussions for the owner of the Copyright. A publisher may prevent author/s from displaying
 The Copyright symbol © (the letter C in a circle), or the word. Copyright, or the abbreviation ‘Copr’. their articles on the institute ‘s websites.
 In the case of compilations or derivative works incorporating previously published material, the year with
the date of the first publication of the compilation or derivative work should be mentioned. The year date The new owner of Copyright may not even allow the author to revise his work. In other instances, a publisher
may be omitted for pictorial, graphic, sculptural work, greeting cards, postcards, stationery, jewellery, dolls might print an insufficient number of hard copies and also does not show interest in uploading the soft copy of the
and toys. work on the internet. Hence, one must be careful in signing an agreement with the publishers. The author may not
 The name or the abbreviation by which the name can be recognized of the owner of the Copyright, or a transfer all the legal rights bestowed upon him as an author. An agreement may be signed permitting only the print
generally known alternative designation of the owner can be mentioned. and sale of hard copies by the publishers while retaining digital rights for the said work. An author may also put a time
limit for the printing and sale of the books/articles, etc.
 The elements for sound recordings generally require the same three elements, except the symbol is ℗ (the
letter P in a circle) instead. Before the digital era, authors used to rely completely on publishers for the dissemination of their work.
However, in the internet era, the dependency on publishers has almost diminished. The author is in a position to
Validity of Copyright
bypass the publishers and bring his work in to the public domain. But this freedom cannot be enjoyed by those who
In general, the validity of Copyright is for 60 years. This period starts either from the year after the death of are already under the publishing contract. Even though the author has completely and exclusively licensed out his
the author (in case of literature, dramatic, musical and artistic works) or from the date of publication of the work (in work, the Copyright Act has a provision under ‘termination of transfer’ to reclaim his Copyright. Under this
case of cinematograph films, sound recordings, photographs, posthumous publications, works of government and provision, certain Copyright agreements can be terminated after 35 years of the agreement. This statutory termination
works of international organizations). right applies even though it is not incorporated in the agreement. It is strongly advised that authors must apply their
mind while signing the Copyright agreement.
Copyright Profile of India
Copyrights and the Word ‘Adaptation’
A comparative five years (2015-20) study revealed a gradual increase in the number Copyright applications
in the first four years of the study, with a maximum number of applications (21,905) recorded in the 2019-20 period In the world of Copyright, the word Adaptation signifies the creation of a similar work based upon
(Fig. 2.7). The number of applications examined was maximum (34,388) in 2017-18. However, it tapered down to contemporary work. The Copyright Act defines the following actions as adaptations:
22,658 in 2018-19 and 19,460 in 2019- 20. A similar trend was observed in the number of Copyright registrations,
a) Transformation of a dramatic work into a non-dramatic work.
with a peak (19,997) observed in 2017-18.
b) Changing a literary or artistic work into a drama.
c) Re-arrangement of a literary or dramatic work.
d) Depiction through pictures of a literary or dramatic work.
e) The making of a cinematograph film of a literary or dramatic or musical work.

Copyrights and the Word ‘Indian Work’

Indian work - means a literary, dramatic or musical work provided

 The author of the work is an Indian citizen.

 The work is first published in India.
 In the case of an unpublished work, at the time of the making of the work, the author of the work was a
citizen of India.

Joint Authorship

Work of Joint Authorship means a work produced by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the
contribution of one author is not distinct from the contribution of the other author or authors.

Copyright Society

Figure: Copyrights profile (India) for the period 2015-20 Many a time, authors and other owners of Copyrights are either unable or lose track of all the uses of their
work, including the collection of royalties, infringement issues, etc. To overcome these hurdles, Copyright Societies
Copyright and the word ‘Publish’ have cropped up. As per Section 33 of the Copyright Act, 1957, a Copyright Society is a registered collective
A work is considered published when it is in the public domain on an unrestricted basis. For example, a administration society formed by authors and other owners of the Copyright. Society can perform the following
person writes an article called Life in Himalayas and distributes it to a few individuals and/or societies/organizations functions:
with a restriction not to disclose the contents of the article. Life in Himalayas has not been ― “published” in the  Keep track of all the rights and infringements related to their clients.
Copyright sense. If the author removes the condition of nondisclosure or posts of this article on the internet (i.e.
 Issue licenses in respect of the rights administered by the society.
public domain), it would be considered as published. It is to be noted that both published and unpublished works can
be registered under Copyright.  Collect fees in pursuance of such licenses.
 Distribute such fees among owners of Copyright after making deductions for the administrative expenses.
49 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 50 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

A Copyright Society can be formed by a group of seven or more copyright holders. The term of registration of a Interesting Copyrights Cases
Copyright Society is for five years. The registered Copyright Societies in India are:
 David vs. Macaques, Indonesia, 2011 - In 2011, a UK-based photographer David Slater put his camera
 Society for Copyright Regulation of Indian Producers for Film and Television (SCRIPT) 135 Continental on a tripod in the wildlife sanctuary to click the photograph of Macaques monkeys. The Macaques were very
Building, Dr. A.B. Road, Worli, Mumbai 400 018, (for cinematograph and television films). curious about the equipment and they found the flashlight fascinating. One monkey clicked a selfie
 The Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRSL), 208, Golden Chambers, 2nd Floor, New Andheri photograph which became very famous and legally controversial on the matter of Copyright. Theoretically,
Link Road, Andheri (W), Mumbai- 400 058 (for musical works). the monkey is the holder of Copyright as he clicked the photo. Practically, David Slater was the claimant of
 Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) Flame Proof Equipment Building, B.39, Off New Link Road, the Copyright. The dispute entered judicial quarters between People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Andheri (West), Mumbai 400 053 (for sound recordings) (PETA) and David Slater. Now, the settlement has been concluded. The photographer i.e. David Slater
withholds the Copyright of the picture for having a substantial contribution, but he would pay 25% of the
Copyright Board royalty share to the wildlife sanctuary where the monkey lives (https://www. wipo.int/
wipo_magazine/en/2018/01/article_0007.html).
The Copyright Board is a regulatory body constituted by the government, to perform judicial functions as
per the Copyright Act of India. The Board comprises of a chairman and members (2-14) to arbitrate on Copyright
 ‘Happy birthday to you’ case law - According to the Guinness World Records, 1998, it is the most
recognized song in the English language. The melody of Happy Birthday to You originates from the song
cases. The Chairman of the Board is of the level of a judge of a High Court. As per the Act, the Board has the power
Good Morning to All, which has traditionally been attributed to American Sisters, namely Patty Smith Hill
to:
and Mildred J. Hill, in 1893. The sisters composed the melody of Good Morning to All to make it more
 Hear appeals against the orders of the Registrar of Copyrights. interesting for the children. In 1935, Summy Company registered the Copyright on the Piano Setting on the
 Hear applications for rectification of entries in the Register of Copyrights. Song. In 1999 Warner/Chappell acquired the company and started taking royalty for the happy birthday
song and earned a huge amount. After mediation by the Federal court, Warner Music, through its publishing
 Adjudicate upon disputes on the assignment of Copyrights.
subsidiary Warner/Chappell, agreed to pay the settlement to a class of thousands of people and entities who
 Grant compulsory licenses to publish or republish works (in certain circumstances).
had paid licensing fees to use the song since 1949 because only the melody was registered and not the lyrics.
 Grant compulsory license to produce and publish a translation of a literary or dramatic work in any language Now the song is in the public domain.
after seven years from the first publication of the work.
 Amitabh Bachchan to lose Copyrights over his father’s works in 2063 - Father of renowned actor Mr.
 Hear and decide disputes as to whether a work has been published or about the date of publication or the Amitabh Bachchan, (late) Shree Harivansh Rai Bachchan was a noted poet and Hindi writer. His most
term of Copyright of a work in another country. famous work was Madhushaala (1935). He was the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award and the Padma
 Fix rates of royalties in respect of sound recordings under the cover-version provision. Bhushan. He also did Hindi translations of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Othello. He passed away on 18th
 Fix the resale share right in original copies of a painting, a sculpture or a drawing and original manuscripts January 2003, at the age of 95. As per the Copyright Act, 1957, the rights over his work will be completed in
of a literary or dramatic or musical work. the year 2063 (rights remain with the author for his lifetime plus 60 years).
Copyright Enforcement Advisory Council (CEAC) Trademarks
In 1991, the Government set up a CEAC to review the progress of enforcement of the Copyright Act In simple language, a Trademark (or Trade Mark) is a unique symbol which is capable of identifying as well
periodically and advise the Government regarding measures for improving the enforcement of the Act. The term of as differentiating products or services of one organization from those of others. The word “Mark” stands for a sign,
the CEAC is three years. The CEAC is reconstituted periodically after the expiry of the term. design, phrase, slogan, symbol, name, numeral, devise, or a combination of these. Essentially, the Trademark is
anything that identifies a brand to a common consumer.
International Copyright Agreements, Conventions and Treaties
Eligibility Criteria
Any creative work is not protected and enforced automatically worldwide because Copyright laws are
territorial by nature i.e. Laws are valid only in the country in which they have been created. To secure protection to For goods/services to be legally classified as Trademark, they need to pass the following conditions:
Indian works in foreign countries, the author needs to apply separately to each country or through dedicated
international Conventions on Copyright and Neighboring (related) Rights, provided a country is a member of such  Distinctiveness - The goods and services for which the protection is sought should possess enough
Conventions. India is a member of the following Conventions: uniqueness to identify it as a Trademark. It must be capable of identifying the source of goods or services in
the target market.
 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, 1886.  Descriptiveness - The Trademark should not be describing the description of the concerned goods or
(https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/). services. Descriptive marks are unlikely to be protected under Trademark law. However, descriptive words
 Universal Copyright Convention, 1952. may be registered if they acquire ―secondary meaning‖, such as the brand name ‘Apple’ is used by a USA
(http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/creativity/creative-industries/copyright/universal- based multinational company that manufactures electronic gadgets.
copyright-convention/).  Similarity to the prior marks - The mark should be unique and should not be having similarity to the existing
 Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting marks.
Organizations, 1961. (https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/rome/).
 Multilateral Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation of Copyright Royalties, 1979. Who Can Apply for a Trademark
(https://treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/1979/12/19791213%2009-6600%20AM/Ch_XXVIII_01_ap.pdf). Any person who is a proprietor of the Trademark is eligible to apply for registration of Trademark. The mark
 Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, 1995. can be filed collectively by two or more applicants and for that purpose, support documents need to be submitted.
(https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/intel2_e.htm). An organization or association can file for the collective mark and the same can be used by its members. The most
 In India, Copyrights of foreign authors, whose countries are members of the Berne Convention for the appropriate example for this mark is the ‘Reliance’ symbol, which indicates all products falling under the organization.
Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1888), Universal Copyright Convention (1952) and the TRIPS
Agreement (1995) are protected through the International Copyright Order
51 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 52 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Acts and Laws  Asset Creation - registered Trademark is an intangible property of the organization. It can be used for
enhancing the business of the company as well as drawing new clients and retaining old one by the account
In India, Trademarks are governed under The Trademarks Act, 1999
of brand identification. To find out more about Registered Trademarks in India, one may look at
(http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/IPOAct/1_43_1_trade-marks-act.pdf).The Trademark rules are
http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/Images/pdf/well-known-trademarks-updated-ewone.pdf.
governed by Trademarks Rules, 2002, (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writeread
data/Portal/IPORule/1_56_1_1_59_1_tmr_rules_2002_1_.pdf). The Acts and Rules have been amended from time It is pertinent to mention that no legal course of action can be taken against the unlawful use of an unregistered
to time. The latest amendments were done in 2010 and 2017 for Trademarks Acts and Trademarks, respectively. The Trademark. For unregistered marks (sometimes known as Common Law Trademarks, which are defined as the law
administration of matters pertaining to Trademarks is carried out by the Office of CGDPDTM, GoI. rights which generally do not require formal registration for enforcement) action can be brought against any person
for the passing off goods or services as the goods or services provided by another person. In such cases, the
Designation of Trademark Symbols
unregistered Trademarks have to prove the establishment of goodwill or reputation connected with the goods or
 Represents that the Trademark is unregistered. This mark can be used for promoting the goods of service.
the company. Validity of Trademark
 Represents that the Trademark is unregistered. This mark can be used for promoting brand services.
 Represents a registered Trademark/Service. The applicant of the registered Trademark is its legal In India, a registered Trademark is valid for 10 years. The period can be extended every 10 years, perpetually.
owner As per the Indian Trademarks Act, the renewal request is to be filed in the form ‘TM-R’ within one year before the
expiry of the last registration of the mark.
Classification of Trademarks
Types of Trademarks Registered in India
Goods and Services under Trademarks are classified as per the Nice Agreement (1957) administered by
WIPO. A total of 149 countries (84 state parties who are signatory to the Agreement and 65 additional states who are Trademark can be a word that must be able to speak, spell and remember. It is highly recommended that
following this classification for the Trademarks) and others (African Intellectual Property Organization, African one should choose the Trademark like invented word, created words, and unique geographical name. One should
Regional IP Organization and Trademark Office of European Union) are using the same Trademark classification. refrain from Trademarks like common geographical name, common personal name and the praising words which
describe the quality of goods, such as best, perfect, super, etc. To ensure all these characteristics in a Trademark, it is
Trademark classification comprises of 45 classes, out of which 34 are for goods and 11 are for services. suggested to conduct a market survey to ensure if a similar mark is used in the market. Following are some examples
(http://euipo.europa.eu/ec2/static/html/nice- of the registerable Trademarks:
generalremarksen.html;jsessionid=8FBC790A663FAC9092ACCDD9ED1AC65E.ec2t1).
 Any name including personal or surname of the applicant or predecessor in business or the signature of the
Two examples of the classes are: person e.g. the Trademark BAJAJ is named after industrialist Mr. Jamnalal Bajaj.
Class 1 is for Chemicals for use in industry, science and photography, agriculture, horticulture and forestry;  A word having no relevance to the product/services e.g. Trademark INDIA GATE is being used for food
Unprocessed artificial resins, unprocessed plastics; Fire extinguishing and fire prevention compositions; Tempering grains and allied products.
and soldering preparations; Substances for tanning animal skins and hides; Adhesives for use in industry; Putties and  Letters or numerals or any combination thereof e.g. YAHOO is the abbreviation of the phrase – “Yet
other paste fillers; Compost, manures fertilizers; Biological preparations for use in industry and science. Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”. It has now become a worldwide famous Trademark.

Class 45 is for legal services; Security services for the physical protection of tangible property and individuals; Table: Some of the famous examples of Trademarks
Personal and social services rendered by others to meet the individual’s needs. The Vienna codification established
under the Vienna Agreement (1973) is an international classification of the figurative elements of marks. The relevant
Vienna code class can be searched on the link: https://www.wipo.int/classifications/
nivilo/vienna/index.htm?lang=EN#.

The classification is used to divide all figurative elements into categories (from 1 to 29), divisions (from 1 to
19) and sections (from 1 to 30). For example, the representation of "a little girl eating" belongs to Category 2 (Human
beings), Division 5 (Children), Main Section 3 (Girls). If auxiliary sections are used, the figurative element can be
identified additionally with the Auxiliary Section 18 (Children drinking or eating, Code A 2.5.18). The codification of
this example will be then indicated as 2.5.3, 18 (main and auxiliary sections).

Registration of a Trademark is Not Compulsory

Although, registration of a Trademark is not compulsory, registration provides certain advantages to the
proprietor of the Trademark, such as:

 Legal Protection – prevents the exploitation of the Registering Trademark by other

companies/organizations/individuals, without proper authorization by the legal owner/s of the Trademark.
In case of legal suits, a registered Trademark can serve as potent evidence of the lawful proprietorship of the
Trademark. Trademark Registry
 Exclusive Right - grants the Trademark owner full rights to use it in any lawful manner to promote his
In India, the operations of Trademarks are carried out from five cities i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Kolkata, and
business.
Chennai. Each city has been assigned a bunch of states. The businesses located in a particular state can only use the
 Brand Recognition - products/ services are identified by their logo, which helps create brand value over
services of the assigned Trademark Registration Office. In the case of foreign applicants, jurisdiction is based on the
time. A strong brand is a huge pull for new customers and an anchor for existing customers. Registering a
location of the office of the applicant’s agent or attorney.
Trademark early and using it will create goodwill and generate more business for the brand owner.
53 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 54 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Table: Territorial jurisdiction of Trademark registration offices

Process for Trademarks Registration

To seek Trademark registration, the proprietor of the Trademark has to fill an application. The proprietor
may choose to hire an agent to fill and submit the application on his behalf. Before applying, the applicant needs to
conduct a prior art search to ensure the registration criteria.

Prior Art Search - Prior to applying for Trademark registration, it is always prudent to check whether the
intended Trademark is already registered or not. Also, it is ascertained whether the intended Trademark is not similar Figure: Flow chart for the process of Trademark registration
to the ones already registered. The requisite search can be carried out using various web portals, such as: One should keep in mind that while filing an application for the registration of a Trademark, an English translation
of the non-English words has to be provided. If the applicant wishes to claim the priority from an earlier-filed
 Public search for Trademarks by CGPDTM - https://ipindiaservices.gov.in/tmrpublicsearch/frmmain.aspx
application, he has to provide details like application number, filing date, country and goods/services of that
 WIPO‘s Global Brand Database (https://www3.wipo.int/branddb/en/). application.
 Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) -
(http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=4805:za847u.1.1) Table: Fee and forms related to Trademarks
 MARKARIA Trademark Search Engine (https://trademarksearch.marcaria.com/en/asia/india-trademark-
search).
 VAKIL Search (https://vakilsearch.com/trademarksearch/trademarks?search=bajaj).

Once the prior art search is over and the applicant is convinced about the distinctiveness of the Trademark,
he can proceed to fill the application form for registration (TM-A). The application is filed at the Trademarks Office
subject to the jurisdiction of the applicant. 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 tothe 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 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.
55 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 56 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Important Queries/Facts About Trademarks

Can any correction be made in the application or register?

Yes, the rectifications are possible, but the applicant has to ensure that the corrections made in the Trademark
do not alter its identity significantly.

Can a registered Trademark be removed from the register?

Yes, it can be removed if:

 Trademark was registered without any bona fide intention of using it.
 If the Trademark is not being used for a continuous period of 5 years from the registration date or 3 months
prior to filing the application for registration.
 Registered Trademark was disallowed but inadvertently existed in the official register.
 Trademark Registrar has the power to terminate a registered Trademark on a suo moto basis.

Is the sound or smell registrable as a Trademark?

Yes, sound or smell is registrable as a mark, as long as it is distinct and can be reproduced graphically. The
Trademark, 4711 colognes has been registered as a chemical formula. The sound can be registered as a Trademark, Figure: Trademarks profile (India) for the period 2010-20.
provided it can be recorded in MP3 format and depicted graphically.
International Treaties and Conventions
Can a registered user restrain the third party from using an identical or similar mark which is not registered?
There is a provision to file an international application for the Trademarks to seek protection in other
There is no clear-cut answer for such situations. It depends on the circumstances of the matter. But Convention countries. The rules and regulations to file international applications in Convention countries are
ordinarily, a registered user cannot restrain the third party from using identical or similar marks if the third party has concluded under the following treaties and agreements administered by WIPO.
been continuously using the mark concerning the same goods or services from a date prior to the date of use of the
registered mark or date of registration. According to the Trademarks Act, 1999, the rights and protection in the form  The Madrid Agreement for International Registration of Marks (1891)
of remedies are not only to the registered mark but also to the unregistered Trademarks. Although, a registered (wipo.int/treaties/en/registration/madrid/).
Trademark has been given a statutory remedy under section 28 of the Act, but 27(2) of the Act provides a remedy for  The Nice Agreement for International Classification of Goods and Services (1957)
an unauthorized use of unregistered Trademark. Passing off is a common law tort which is most commonly used to (https://www.wipo.int/classifications/nice/en/index.html).
protect goodwill that is attached to the unregistered Trademarks. The action of passing off is available to both  The Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) (1994) (https://www.wipo.int/ treaties/en/ip/tlt/summary_tlt.html).
registered and unregistered Trademarks, but a suit for infringement is available for only registered Trademarks.  Vienna Agreement (1973) for the Classification of Figurative Marks
(https://www.wipo.int/classifications/vienna/en/preface.html).
Seeking Trademark protection in a foreign country?
Famous Case Law: Coca-Cola Company vs. Bisleri International Pvt. Ltd.
To file the Trademark in a foreign country, there are two options available for the applicant. He can either
file the Trademark application with the Trademark Office of the country in which he wishes to seek protection, or he MAAZA, a popular mango fruit drink in India, is a registered Trademark of an Indian company, Bisleri
can use WIPO’s Madrid System through which the registration can be filed in multiple countries by claiming priority International Pvt. Ltd. The company transferred the rights (formulation, IPR and goodwill, etc.) to a beverage
of one of the signatory countries. This priority has to be claimed within six months of the first filing. The applicant company, Coca-Cola, for the Indian Territory. However, in 2008, the Bisleri Company applied for registration of
can file a single application for seeking protection in any number of countries that are members of WIPO by paying Trademark Maaza in Turkey and started exporting the product with the mark MAAZA. This was unacceptable to the
a single set of fee. List of jurisdictions that can be accessed through Madrid Protocol for filing Trademark is available Coca-Cola Company and thus filed a petition for permanent injunction and damages for passing-off and infringement
at http://www. wipo.i nt/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?treaty_id=8. of the Trademark.
Trademarks Statistics It was argued on behalf of Plaintiff (Coca-Cola Company) that as the mark Maaza concerning the Indian
market was assigned to Coca-Cola, and manufacture of the product with such mark, whether for sale in India or for
The figure below represents the statistics for Trademarks (filed, examined and registered) for the period
export, would be considered as an infringement. After hearing both the parties, the court finally granted an interim
2010-20. During this period, an increase of 95%, 65% and 154% was observed in the parameters of trademarks filed,
injunction against the defendant (Bisleri) from using the Trademark MAAZA in India as well as for the export market,
examined and registered, respectively. Overall, a gradual increase was seen in the number of TM filed, but a zig-zag
which was held to be an infringement of Trademark.
curve was observed for the TM examined for the period 2010-16. The highest number of TM applications (5,32,230)
were examined in 2016-17 followed by dip (nearly two folds) in the following year (2017-18). The following two years
(2018-20) showed some recovery, with 3,38,551 applications examined in 2019-20. In case of TM registration, first,
five years (2010-15) showed a downward trend. But, a significant leap of nearly four-folds was observed in the next
year i.e. 2016-17. The maximum number of TM (3,16,798) were registered in the year 2018-19.
57 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 58 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

MODULE 5 Enforcement of Design Rights

Industrial Designs Once the applicant has been conferred with the rights over a specific Design, he has the right to sue the
person (natural/entity) if the pirated products of his registered design are being used. He can file the infringement
The word ‘Design’ is defined as the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of case in the court (not lower than District Court) in order to stop such exploitation and for claiming any damage to
lines or colours applied to any article. The Design may be of any dimension i.e. one or two or three dimensional or a which the registered proprietor is legally entitled. The court will ensure first that the Design of the said product is
combination of these. In addition, it may be created by any industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical registered under the Designs Act, 2000. If the Design is found not registered under the Act, there will not be legal
or chemical, separate or combined, which in the finished article appeal to and is judged solely by the eye. But the word action against the infringer. If the infringer is found guilty of piracy or infringement, the court can ask him to pay the
‘Design’ does not include any mode or principle of construction or anything which is in substance a merely mechanical damage (₹ 50,000/-) in respect of infringement of one registered Design.
device. The main object of registration of industrial Designs is to protect and incentivize the original creativity of the
originator and encourage others to work towards the art of creativity. Non-Protectable Industrial Designs in India
Eligibility Criteria  Any Industrial Design which is against public moral values.
The Design for which the protection is being sought must be novel or original i.e., should not be disclosed  Industrial Designs including flags, emblems or signs of any country
to the public by prior publication or by prior use or in any other way. The Design should be significantly distinguishable  Industrial Designs of integrated circuits.
from the already registered Designs existing in the public domain.  Any Design describing the process of making of an article.
 Industrial Designs of – books, calendars, certificates, forms and other documents, dressmaking patterns,
Acts and Laws to Govern Industrial Designs greeting cards, leaflets, maps and plan cards, postcards, stamps, medals.
In India, Industrial Designs are governed under The Designs Act, 2000 (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/acts-  The artistic work defined under Section 2(c) of the Copyright Act, 1957 is not a subject matter for registration
designs.htm) and Design Rules, 200 (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/rules-designs.htm), which have been amended from for Industrial Designs, such as:
time to time in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2019. The Design should include the following characteristics: o Paintings, sculptures, drawings including a diagram, map, chart or plan.
o Photographs and work of architecture.
 It should be novel and original. o Any other work related to artistic craftsmanship.
 It should be applicable to a functional article. o Industrial Designs does not include any Trademark (The Designs Act, 2000).
 It should be visible on a finished article.
Protection Term
 There should be no prior publication or disclosure of the Design.
The outer Shape or Design of a product makes it more appealing and acts as the value-adding factor to the
A list of Industrial Designs can be accessed from https://www.creativebloq.com/product-design/examples- product. Therefore, there is a need to protect one’s creation from being used by third parties without consent from
industrialdesign-12121488. Some of the famous Industrial Designs are mentioned below: the original creator. The registered Designs are protected for 10 years in India and can be extended by 5 years after
Coca-Cola Bottle - The contoured-shaped glass bottle of the CocaCola Company is marvelled as a master showpiece making a renewal application.
in the field of industrial design. It was designed in 1915 and is still a cynosure for all eyes. Procedure for Registration of Industrial Designs
Piaggio Vespa - Piaggio is an Italian company famous for manufacturing Vespa scooters. These scooters are sold Prior Art Search:
worldwide since 1940s. The structural design of the scooter is pleasing to the eyes. This two-wheeler has a painted
steel body concealing the engine, driver‘s feet rest comfortably on a flat floorboard, the front vertical portion Before filing an application for registration of Industrial Designs, it is prudent to ensure that the same or
comprising of a handle, breaks and speedometer has ample space for hands grip and also provides protection from similar Design has not been registered earlier. This search can be carried out using various search engines, such as:
incoming wind air.
 Design Search Utility (CGPDTM) - (https://ipindiaservices.gov.in/designsearch/).
iPhone - It is a highly popular mobile phone manufactured by American company ‗Apple Inc‘. The sleek, handy and  Global Design Database (WIPO) - (https://www3.wipo.int/designdb/en/index.jsp).
rectangular body is pleasing to the eyes. The corners are round and smooth. The features, such as on/off and speech  Hague Express Database (WIPO) - (https://www3.wipo.int/designdb/hague/en/#).
volume, are easy to operate.
 Design View (EUIPO) - (https://www.tmdn.org/tmdsviewweb/welcome#/dsview).
Mini Cooper - Mini Cooper is an automobile car manufactured by the British Motor Corporation in the later part of
Application for Registration
the 20th century. It is a small size car. Its shape has been designed in a unique manner so as to provide plenty of space
(nearly 80%) for passenger seating and luggage storage. 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
Rocking Wheel Chair - It is a sleek, circular-shaped chair which provides smooth rocking motion. There is a
filed by an individual, small entity, institution, organization and industry. The application may be filed through a
provision for a headlight in the upper part of the chair.
professional patent agent or legal practitioner. If the applicant is not a resident of India, an agent residing in India has
Juicy Salif - It is a citrus juice squeezer and considered an iconic structural design. The alumina-based body has been to be employed for this purpose. The applicant submits the registration application at the Design Office Deputy
moulded in the shape of a fish called as a squid. Controller of Patents & Designs, Patent Office, Intellectual Property Office Building, CP-2 Sector V, Salt Lake City,
Kolkata700091.
Design Rights
After the application has been filed, an officer (examiner) analyses the application for qualifying the minimum
The Design registration also confers a monopolistic right to the Proprietor by which he can legally exclude standards laid down for eligibility criteria for registration. In case of any query, the same is sent to the applicant and
others from reproducing, manufacturing, selling, or dealing in the said registered Design without his prior consent. he is supposed to respond within 6 months from the objection raised. Once the objections are removed, the
The Design registration is particularly useful for entities where the shape of the product has aesthetic value and the application is accepted for registration. The particulars of the application, along with the representation of the article,
entity wishes to have exclusivity over the said novel and original Design applied to its product(s) or article(s). are published in the Official Journal of Patent Office (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/journal-patents.htm). If no objection
is received from the public, the Design is registered. After the registration of the Design, the applicant becomes the
59 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 60 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

proprietor of the Design and is conferred with the exclusive right to apply that Design to the article belonging to the Table: List of important form related to Industrial Designs
class in which it is registered. The applicant puts up a request for issuance of a certificate of registration (for an
Industrial Design). A flow chart of the registration process is mentioned below:

Classification of Industrial Designs

Designs are registered in different classes as per the Locarno Agreement, 1968;
https://www.wipo.int/classifications/locarno/locpub/en/fr/). It is used to classify goods for the registration of
Industrial Designs as well as for Design searches. The signatory parties have to indicate these classes in the official
documents too. The classification comprises a list of classes and subclasses with a list of goods that constitute
Industrial Designs. There are 32 classes and 237 subclasses that can be searched in two languages i.e. English and
French.
For example, Class 1 includes foodstuff for human beings, foodstuffs for animals and dietetic foods
excluding packages because they are classified under Class 9 (Bottles, Flasks, Pots, Carboys, Demijohns, and
Pressurized Containers). Class 32 classifies the Design of graphic symbols and logos, surface patterns, ornamentation.

Designs Registration Trend in India

Figure: Flowchart for the process of Design registration The figure here represents the statistics for Industrial Designs (filed, examined and registered) for the period
Duration of the Registration of a Design 2010-20. During this period, an increase of 88%, 117% and 33% was observed in the parameters of Designs filed,
examined and registered, respectively. In all three parameters, the graph depicts a similar pattern (more or less) with
Initially, the Design registration is valid for ten years from the date of registration. In the case wherein the the highest numbers observed in 2019-20 for Designs filed (12,268), examined (13,644) and registered (14,272).
priority date has been claimed, the duration of the registration is counted from the priority date. The period of
registration may be extended further for five years. An application has to be made in Form-3 accompanied by
prescribed fees to the Controller General before the expiry of the said initial period of ten years.

Importance of Design Registration

Registration of Design ensures the exclusive rights of the applicant on the Design. The owner can prevent
the registered Design products from piracy and imitation. This helps the owner to boost the sale of the products and
establish goodwill in the market.

Cancellation of the Registered Design

The registration of a Design may be cancelled at any time. The petition has to be filed in Form-8 with
prescribed fee to the Controller of Designs. The application can be made on the following grounds:

 Design has already been registered.

 Design has been published in India or elsewhere before the date of registration.
 Design is not novel and original.
 It is not a Design under Clause (d) of Section 2. Figure: Industrial Designs profile (India) for the period 2010-20).

Application Forms International Treaties

There are a total of 24 forms pertaining to Industrial Designs. A list of important forms is mentioned below. The WIPO has put in place two important treaties (international) dealing with the smooth functioning of various
aspects of Industrial Designs:
61 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 62 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

 Hague Agreement for international registration (1925) - (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/Images/pdf/GI_Application_Register_10-09-2019.pdf). Nearly

(https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/registration/hague/) 58% of these belong to handicrafts, followed by agriculture (30%). Other categories belong to food stuff,
 Locarno Agreement (1968) for international classification - manufacturing, and natural goods. In the Handicraft category, Tamilnadu holds the maximum number (21) of GI
(https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/classification/locarno/) followed by Uttar Pradesh (20) and Karnataka (19). A few standouts GI are mentioned in table below.

Famous Case Law - Apple Inc. vs. Samsung Electronics Co. Table: List of popular GIs registered in India

In 2011, Apple Inc. filed a case against Samsung Electronics Co. in the United States District Court for the
Northern District of California for infringing their Designs and Utility Patents of the user interface like screen app
grid and tap to zoom. As evidence, Apple Inc. submitted the side-by-side image comparison of the iPhone 3GS and
the i9000 Galaxy S to demonstrate the alleged similarities in both models. However, later it was found that the images
were tempered by the Apple Company to match the dimensions and features of the controversial Designs. So, the
counsel for Samsung Electronics blamed Apple of submitting false and misleading evidence to the court and the
company countersued the Apple Company in Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo, Japan; and Mannheim, Germany, United
States District Court for the District of Delaware, and with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC)
in Washington D.C. The proceedings continued for the 7 years in various courts. In June 2018 both companies reached
for a settlement and Samsung was ordered to pay $539 million to Apple Inc. for infringing on its patents.
Geographical Indications

In every country, there are certain regions famous for their traditional knowledge/heritage in various sectors, International countries, such as Thailand, France, Portugal, Italy, Mexico, Peru and the United Kingdom, have also
such as agriculture, food products, textiles, etc. People from far-off places used to travel to buy these products. For filed GI in India e.g. Champagne (wine) of France and Scotch Whisky of the United Kingdom.
example, Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain to import world-famous spices from India. British people travelled
to Arabian countries to import Arabian horses for siring fast running horses for commercial gains. Similarly, China Identification of Registered GI
silk and Dhaka Muslin have been in great demand from times immemorial. The reputation of these products was built
upon and painstakingly maintained by the experts/masters of respective geographical locations. The know-how of Registered GI products are granted a tag, which is printed on the registered products. The tag confirms the
these reputed products was passed onto future generations. With the passage of time, a specific link between the genuineness of the product in terms of its production (by set standards) and location of production. Non-registered
goods produced and geographical location evolved, resulting in the growth of Geographical Indications (GI). GI products cannot use/exploit this tag. By and large, GI tags represent the place of origin (of the product) along
with cultural and/or historical identity e.g. Darjeeling Tea, Mysore Silk, Tirupathi Laddu, etc. In India, GI tags are
A GI is defined as a sign which can be used on products belonging to a particular geographical issued by the Geographical Indication Registry under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade,
location/region and possesses qualities or a reputation associated with that region. In GI, there is a strong link between Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The head of GI registry is at Geographical Indications Registry Intellectual
the product and its original place of production. Property Office Building, Industrial Estate, G.S.T Road, Guindy, Chennai - 600032.

Acts, Laws and Rules Pertaining to GI GI registered products can be grown/produced in any part of the world using standards laid down by the
GI Registry. However, these products cannot be labelled as GI as they are not produced/manufactured in a specific
In India, GI was introduced in 2003 and is governed under the Geographical Indications of Goods geographical location, as mentioned in the official records maintained by the GI Office of GI. For example, plants of
(Registration & Protection) Act, 1999 and the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Rules, Darjeeling Tea can be grown in any part of India. But the tea leaves of these plants cannot be sold under the brand
2002. name of Darjeeling Tea, as the concerned plants were not grown in the soil and climate of the Darjeeling area.
Ownership of GI Classes of GI
The ownership/holders of GI (registered) can be of the producers, as a group/association/ cooperative GI certified goods are classified under 34 different classes, such as Class 1 is for chemicals used in industry,
society or association or in certain cases, government. science, photography, agriculture, horticulture and forestry; unprocessed artificial resins, unprocessed plastics;
Rights Granted to the Holders manures; fire extinguishing compositions; tempering and soldering preparations; chemical substances for preserving
foodstuffs; tanning substances; adhesives used in industry. Class 33 is for alcoholic beverages (except beers) and Class
 Right to grant the license to others - The holder has the right to gift, sell, transfer/grant a license, mortgage 34 is related to tobacco, smoker’s articles, matches. More details can be extracted from the official website of
or enter into any other arrangement for consideration regarding their product. A license or assignment must CGPDTM - Office - (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/images/pdf/classificationof-goods.pdf).
be given in written and registered with the Registrar of GI, for it to be valid and legitimate.
Non-Registerable GI
 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. For GI registration, the indications must fall within the scope of section 2(1) (e) of GI Act, 1999. Being so,
 Right to exploit - The holder of GI can authorize users with exclusive right to use goods for which the GI it has to also satisfy the provisions of Section 9, which prohibits registration of a GI mentioned below:
is registered.
 Right to get reliefs - Registered proprietors and authorized users have the right to obtain relief concerning  The use of which would be likely to deceive or cause confusion.
the violation of such GI products.  The use of which would be contrary to any law.
 Which comprises or contains scandalous or obscene matter.
Registered GI in India  Which comprises or contains any matter likely to hurt the sentiments of society.
GI products registered in India belong to the domains of handicrafts, agricultural, food stuffs, alcoholic  Religious susceptibilities of any class or section of the citizens of India.
beverages, etc. The first GI tag was granted in 2004 to Darjeeling Tea and the latest being Kashmir Saffron and  Which are determined to be generic names or indications of goods and are, therefore, not or ceased to be
Manipur Black rice (Chakhao) in May 2020. A total of 370 GI has been registered in India till May 2020. protected in their country of origin or which have fallen into disuse in that country.
63 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 64 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

Protection of GI from a member of a particular association. The Collective mark is used by cooperating enterprises that have agreed to
comply with defined quality standards for goods or services that share common characteristics.
The IP rights to GI are enforced by the court of law of the concerned country. The GI registration of a
product has certain advantages. It enables to identify pirated/non-genuine stuff, provides more commercial value to Enforcement of GI Rights
the product, and also strengthens the case if it reaches the judicial courts. The two common methods of protecting a
GI are: Sui generis systems (i.e. special regimes of protection) and under certification or collective mark systems. The rights to GI protection are typically enforced by the court of law. The sanctions provided could be civil
Many countries, including India to protect GI by using the sui generis system. This decision was taken after the TRIPS (injunctions restraining or prohibiting unlawful acts, actions for damages, etc.), criminal, or administrative.
agreement (1995) and an option was given to the countries to choose either TRIPS standards or the sui generis Procedure for GI Registration
system. This was decided by considering the fact that every country has different legislation and geographical structures
& resources. Therefore, this system is not uniform in all countries and varies according to the jurisdiction and Prior to filing an application for registering GI, it is prudent to search whether the concerned GI is already
legislation of the particular country. protected or not. This can be done by using search engines created by WIPO
(https://www.wipo.int/ipdl/en/search/lisbon/search-struct.jsp where Search of Appellations of Origin and
Collective or Certification Marks Geographical Indications both can be conducted.
Certification marks aim to certify the products comply with specific quality standards irrespective of their Additionally, WIPO has created a directory of all IP offices of its member countries. The registered GI of
origin. These standards include permitted materials and manufacturing methods. Therefore, the purpose of any country can be searched by accessing the website of the respective country
certification marks is to distinguish certified goods from non-certified ones. Collective marks are owned by (https://www.wipo.int/directory/en/urls.jsp). The list of registered GI in India can be accessed from the official
associations ensuring compliance with the agreed standards. Collective marks signify that a good or service originates website of CGPDTM http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/News/367_1_Registered_GI.pdf.
from a member of a particular association. The Collective mark is used by cooperating enterprises that have agreed to
comply with defined quality standards for goods or services that share common characteristics. 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. The
Enforcement of GI Rights application in a prescribed format is submitted to the Registrar, Geographical Indications along with the prescribed
The rights to GI protection are typically enforced by the court of law. The sanctions provided could be civil fee (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/IPORule/1_27_1_girules.pdf).
(injunctions restraining or prohibiting unlawful acts, actions for damages, etc.), criminal, or administrative. In the application, the applicant needs to mention the interest of the producers of the concerned product.
Procedure for GI Registration 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
Prior to filing an application for registering GI, it is prudent to search whether the concerned GI is already is mandatory.
protected or not. This can be done by using search engines created by WIPO
(https://www.wipo.int/ipdl/en/search/lisbon/search-struct.jsp where Search of Appellations of Origin and Once the application is filed at GI Registry, the Examiner will scrutinize the application for any deficiencies
Geographical Indications both can be conducted. Additionally, WIPO has created a directory of all IP offices of its or similarities. If the examiner finds any discrepancy, he will communicate the same to the applicant, which is to be
member countries. The registered GI of any country can be searched by accessing the website of the respective country replied within one month of the communication of the discrepancy. Once the examiner is satisfied with the
(https://www.wipo.int/directory/en/urls.jsp). The list of registered GI in India can be accessed from the official response/s, he files an examination report and hands over the same to the Registrar. Once again, the application is
website of CGPDTM - http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/News/367_1_Registered_GI.pdf. Once the scrutinized. If need be, the applicant is asked to clear any doubts/objections within two months of the communication
prior search for registered GI is done, the applicant has to file an application. The application for GI can be forwarded otherwise, the application will be rejected. After getting a green signal from the Registrar, the application is published
by an individual or an organization or authority of people established under Indian law. The application in a prescribed in the official Geographical Indication Journal (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/journal-gi.htm) for seeking any objections
format is submitted to the Registrar, Geographical Indications along with the prescribed fee to the claims mentioned in the application. The objections have to be filed within four months of the publication. If
(http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/IPORule/1_27_1_girules.pdf). In the application, the applicant no opposition is received, the GI gets registered by allotting the filing date as the registration date. Initially, GI is
needs to mention the interest of the producers of the concerned product. The application should be duly signed by registered for ten years but is renewable on the payment of the fee.
the applicant or his agent with all the details about the GI that how its standard will be maintained. The submission Documents Required for GI Registration
of three certified copies of the map of the region where the GI belongs is mandatory.
 Details about the applicant’s name, address and particulars.
Once the application is filed at GI Registry, the Examiner will scrutinize the application for any deficiencies
 Application form GI-1A.
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  Statement about the designated goods being protected under GI.
response/s, he files an examination report and hands over the same to the Registrar. Once again, the application is  Class of goods.
scrutinized. If need be, the applicant is asked to clear any doubts/objections within two months of the communication  Affidavit to establish the claim of genuinely representing the interest of the producers.
otherwise, the application will be rejected. After getting a green signal from the Registrar, the application is published  Characteristics of GI.
in the official Geographical Indication Journal (http://www.ipindia.nic.in/journal-gi.htm) for seeking any objections  The special human skill required (if any).
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.
Collective or Certification Marks

Certification marks aim to certify the products comply with specific quality standards irrespective of their
origin. These standards include permitted materials and manufacturing methods. Therefore, the purpose of
certification marks is to distinguish certified goods from non-certified ones. Collective marks are owned by
associations ensuring compliance with the agreed standards. Collective marks signify that a good or service originates
65 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 66 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

GI Ecosystem in India

India is among the geographically and traditionally rich countries. The scope of generating GI products in
India is enormous. These products can contribute to the economic development of a particular region or society.
However, till June 2021, a total of 370 GI has been registered in India, which is much below its potential
(https://ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/Images/pdf/GI_Application_Register_10-09-2019.pdf). Figure 2.13
represents the statistics for GI (filed, and registered) for the period 2010-20. Maximum number (148) of GI were filed
in 2011-12 whereas, minimum number (17) was observed in 2015-16. Not much change in the number of GI
registrations was observed during the period 2010-20. Each year the number hovered around in the twenties, with
maximum registrations (34) seen in 2016-17.
Figure: GI profile (India) for the period 2010-20

Figure: Flow chart for the process of GI registration

The important forms to file GI in India under various classes are mentioned below:

Table: Important application forms related to GI.

Case Studies on Patents

 Case study of Curcuma (Turmeric) Patent

o ndcebios.in/v1n1/2021010110.pdf
 Case study of Neem Patent
o https://www.mondaq.com/india/patent/1286020/the-neem-patent-case
 Case study of Basmati patent
o https://ssrn.com/abstract=1143209 (or) http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1143209
IP Organizations in India

In India, there are several organizations that play a key role in managing and regulating intellectual property
(IP) rights. These organizations are responsible for granting patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other forms of
intellectual property protection. Here are some of the important IP organizations in India:

 Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM):

CGPDTM is the primary government agency responsible for granting patents and registering trademarks
and designs in India. - Website: https://www.ipindia.gov.in/

 Indian Patent Office (IPO):

Under the CGPDTM, the Indian Patent Office is responsible for the administration of the patent system in
India. - Website: https://www.ipindia.gov.in/

 Office of the Controller General of Copyrights:

This office oversees copyright registration and administration in India. - Website: http://copyright.gov.in/
67 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR 68 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & IPR

 National Institute of Intellectual Property Management (NIIPM):  IPR Awareness and Promotion:

NIIPM is an autonomous institute that provides training, research, and education in the field of intellectual Various campaigns and awareness programs are conducted to educate businesses, innovators, and the
property. - Website: http://www.niipm.org.in/ general public about the significance of intellectual property rights.

 Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB):  Technology and Innovation Support Centres (TISCs):

IPAB hears appeals against the decisions of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks and TISCs are established to provide access to patent information and support in patent searches. They aim to promote
the Registrar of Copyrights. innovation and the effective utilization of patent information.

 Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS): Some Commonly used icons:

IPRS is a copyright society that represents the rights of music composers, lyricists, and publishers in India. -
Website: https://www.iprs.org/

 Confederation of Indian Industry (CII):

CII is an industry association that works on various business-related issues, including intellectual property
rights advocacy. - Website: https://www.cii.in/

 FICCI - Intellectual Property Division:

The Intellectual Property Division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(FICCI) is involved in promoting and protecting intellectual property rights. - Website: https://www.ficciipcourse.in/

Schemes and Programmes in India to encourage Intellectual Property

India has several schemes and programs aimed at promoting and protecting intellectual property (IP) rights.
These initiatives are implemented by various government agencies and organizations. As of my last knowledge update
in January 2022, here are some key schemes and programs related to intellectual property in India:

 National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy:

The National IPR Policy of India was launched in 2016 with the aim of fostering innovation and promoting
the use of intellectual property for economic growth.

 Patent Facilitation Centres (PFCs):

PFCs have been established across the country to provide assistance and guidance to inventors and
entrepreneurs in filing and processing patent applications.

 Scheme for Facilitating Startups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP):

This scheme aims to promote awareness and adoption of intellectual property rights among startups by
providing them with financial support for filing patents, trademarks, and designs.

 R&D Grant for Patent Acquisition:

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) provides financial assistance to academic institutions,
research and development organizations, and MSMEs for acquiring patents.

 Trademark Registration Camps:

The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks (CGPDTM) organizes camps
and workshops to create awareness about the importance of trademark registration and to facilitate the registration
process.

 Geographical Indications (GI) Scheme:

This scheme focuses on the protection of goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities,
reputation, or characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin.

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