A. A Patent is a statutory right granted by the Government of a country to an applicant, in exchange of full disclosure of an invention, for excluding others from making, using, selling, offering for sale and importing the patented invention without the applicant's consent.

A. Yes. This field requires engineers and technologists who have a sound technical background and acumen to understand intricacies of Patent law. Patent Law related knowledge is imparted to new employees during their training and induction period. As such, no prior IP knowledge is expected from an engineer/technologist.

A. The training involves basic knowledge of various forms of IP as well as an exhaustive coverage of patents in general. In addition to learning about the specific services and delivery formats, an engineer would learn about procedures related to patent filing, prosecution, and litigation. The hall mark of working at Anindus is that a basic understanding of various patent laws, especially Indian and US patent laws, is provided to each and every employee.

A. The field offers tremendous growth opportunities for engineers. One can go on to become an IP specialist, an IP consultant, or a portfolio manager, depending on whether one is more interested in the Legal aspects, Business aspects or Operational aspects of patents. Moreover, there is also a scope for becoming a patent agent or even an IP attorney, by pursuing corresponding courses in law.

A. It totally depends on one's inclination towards law. Pursuing law in future will definitely be an added advantage. One can also go for various part-time law courses on IP besides working full time at Anindus. However, it is not mandatory to pursue law in order to excel in this profession at Anindus because we are backed by a complementary team of legal professionals.

A. The work depends on the profile a person is working on. Someone working on patent drafting may need to understand, in detail, the underlying technology of an invention, write a patent application as per a required format; create necessary figures using various drawing software; and communicate with inventors to discuss the invention. Whereas, a person working on litigation may need to analyze patents to understand the claimed invention and perform searches to assist IP attorneys handling litigation. Overall, the work typically involves strict deadlines and adherence to quality standards.

A. Based on the field of invention, the work can pertain to any one of various engineering branches like, mechanical, electronics, computer, biotechnology, etc. An engineer from a particular branch gets ample opportunities to work on subject matters related to various other branches of engineering also.

A. An Indian patent agent is a person registered with the Indian Patent Office and whose name is entered in the patent agent register after qualifying the patent agent examination conducted by the Patent Office and who is entitled—

        (a) to practice before the Controller; and
        (b) to prepare all documents, transact all business and discharge such other functions as may be prescribed in connection with any proceeding before the Controller under the Patents Act of India.

A person shall be qualified to have his name entered in the register of patent agents if he fulfills the following conditions, namely
(a) he is a citizen of India;
(b) he has completed the age of 21 years;
(c) he has obtained a degree in science, engineering or technology from any university established under law for the time being in force in the territory of India or possesses such other equivalent qualifications as the Central Government may specify in this behalf, and, in addition,
(i) has passed the qualifying examination prescribed for the purpose; or
(ii) has, for a total period of not less than ten years, functioned either as an examiner or discharged the functions of the Controller under section 73 or both, but ceased to hold any such capacity.

A. The future of IP services in India is very bright. Revenues from the Indian patent services off-shoring industry are estimated at $46 million for the calendar year 2007 and are expected to reach $206 million by the end of 2012. The growing importance of the field has prompted the HRD Ministry to start new IP courses in IIMs and IITs. It is estimated that the market for IP services is about 50 times the size of current Indian IP industry.

A. A Patent Consultant should have the following competencies :
        • Strong work ethics.
        • Excellent communication skills.
        • Excellent basic knowledge of Science & Technology
        • Ability to work under deadlines.
        • An eye for detail.
        • A fair knowledge of IP basics and patent laws.

A. At present, both IP and IT service industries are viable industries in India. While the IT service industry has reached near saturation, the IP service industry in India is still in its nascent stages. Majority of work for engineers, in IT services, is restricted to coding, which tends to become monotonous after a period of time. On the other hand, the IP based service industry provides a vast canvas to work and learn in. In IP services, an engineer can work under different service heads such as patent drafting, patent prosecution, search and mapping, litigation, IP consultancy, IP valuation, etc. Moreover, IP services offer tremendous growth opportunities as, in the future, the main competition between organizations is likely to be in the field of IP.

A. A business analyst, in general, is responsible for analyzing the business needs of clients to help identify their business problems using market and financial data. On the other hand, a patent analyst deals with the technological and legal aspects of patents.

         The role of a patent analyst is to summarise the content of a patent to produce a clear and concise understanding of the subject matter under consideration and to identify key areas of interest. On the basis of this analysis, the analyst can further work upon the case as the need maybe.

         Patent consultants, on the other hand, deal with both the aspects, i.e., business analysis and patent analysis, as part of their work in an IP consultancy.