Intellectual Property Rights cell in BU

BANGALORE: Bangalore University will soon have an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Cell, which will disseminate information related to patent laws and IPR issues to the general public and academic fraternity. This was announced here on Friday at the inauguration of a one-day national workshop on Intellectual Property Rights.“Our idea is to set up an IPR Cell at BU as there is a need for students and general public to be aware of patent laws, copyrights, trademarks and other allied aspects. The IPR Cell will be on the lines of the ones that are already functional at University of Mysore and Visvesvaraya Technological University,” said P R Dhanavantri, co-ordinator for the Patent Information Centre of the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST). Prof K M Hanumantharayappa, Principal of University Law College, said that the setting up of the IPR Cell would take some time. “A formal proposal will be made and sent to the Syndicate to be finalised. This process will take time. We propose to set it up in the Jnana Bharathi campus,” he said.V-C N Prabhu Dev was rather critical of IPR in his address, making a remark that IPR stood for Intellectual Poverty Rights in the Indian context. “This is a country with a trillion dollar GDP and nuclear capabilities. Still, we find that hundreds of children are dying everyday due to hunger. Sadly, IPR covers only 300 million of the urban populace, as the rest 700 million are not even aware of their basic rights,” he said.  Jointly organised by Univeristy Law College, PG Department of Studies and Research in Law and KSCST, the workshop was attended by students, principals and IPR enthusiasts.