The Hindu Business Line : ITAG Solutions plans intellectual property auction, broking services

In the guard
New services to be launched through 10 offices in India, abroad.
Hopes to link knowledge process outsourcing capabilities with global markets.
30-member team at ITAG’s Pune facility to take stock of India’s IP assets.

Mohan Padmanabhan

Kolkata, Oct. 15 ITAG Business Solutions Ltd, a GATI Group (engaged in express cargo and logistics management) company providing intellectual property rights (IPR) outsourcing services as part of the broader legal process outsourcing (LPO) for Indian and international clients, has launched a major initiative to introduce IP broking, auction and IP mining services in India, essentially to commercialise IP assets in a big way.

ITAG has taken up a novel project to create IPR awareness amongst business, industry and research institutions, and render help with proper IP asset management under a single window service plan through a network of offices in India and abroad.

The objective is to commercialise IP assets in the fields of mechanical engineering, process automation, aviation and aerospace, automotive, electrical engineering, medical science, biotech, and green technology among others.

Marketing approach

Talking to Business Line here on Friday at the sidelines of a half-day workshop on Intellectual Property Rights organised by EU-India Trade and Investment Development Programme (TIDP) in collaboration with the Institute of International Trade, Kolkata, Dr D.R.Agarwal, Director of ITAG, said the capacity-building process was now over, and “we are in the process of finalising our marketing approach before we approach industry”.

He said two pilot projects on Patents, including one in the UK with Ocean Tomo, have been successfully completed. “The objective is to link our KPO capabilities with the global markets,” he said.

India, he felt, enjoyed unique strength in the field of IPR services with a vast pool of experienced technically qualified Patent and Trademark professionals. “We at ITAG have chalked out an ambitious programme to mine this talent through broking and auction services for creation of national wealth,” Dr Agarwal said.

Call to protect

Pointing out that it was high time India woke up to its vast intellectual property resources and protect it before it’s too late, Dr Agarwal said the plan quite simply was “to bring inventions closer to investors”.

He said there was a dire need now for protection of our traditional knowledge and bio-diversity, “which is being recycled abroad and dumped back into our country owing to ignorance of IPR laws and abhorrence towards legal protection”.

Taking stock

Dr Agarwal said a 30-member engineers team has been created at ITAG’s 10,000 sq ft facility in Pune under Dr Shrikant Kulkarni, an IPR expert, to take stock of the available inventions and investors around the country before the industry is approached for training programmes in IPR.

He said the plan was to launch the new broking and auction services through 10 offices, in India and abroad. Besides Kolkata, the headquarters, the other locations are Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Indore, and overseas offices in US, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Beijing.

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