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India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
2 Speaker profiles
Justice Prabha Sridevan, IP Appellate Board
Justice Sridevan elevated as Judge of the Madras High Court on 2nd
March 2000 and retired on 8TH
August, 2010.
She was appointed in 2011 as Chairman, Intellectual Property Appellate Board, having jurisdiction all
over India in regard to Intellectual Property disputes (Patents Trademarks and Geographical
Indications).
Justice Sridevan’s is a High Court Judge and her judgments include cases dealing with child rights. illegal executive detention
orders, gender equality, disability rights, protection of water bodies and environment, rights of the depressed classes, regulation
of mining and sand quarrying, right to education, right to information, protection of heritage buildings and worth of the
homemaker’s work.
Her other judgments as Chairman IPAB include decisions on Business Method Patents, Locus standi of an NGO in patent matters;
the duty of truth with regard to trademark user; compulsory licenses; the duty of disclosure in Patent matters; divisional
applications – procedure and GI registration –procedure.
Justice Sridevan has written on gender issues and human rights of the different marginalized groups of people.
She is also a resource person at the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal on gender, poverty, social exclusion etc.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
3 Speaker profiles
Tarbez Ahmad, Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT)
Attorney & Director IP Policy, Microsoft Corporation & Chairman IPR Committee, Manufacturers’
Association for Information Technology (MAIT).
Tabrez Ahmad has over 20 years of diverse experience in law, business and public policy in India
and abroad. Currently, he is responsible for IPR programs for subsidiary revenue and wider public
policy issues. He champions policies on intellectual property, technology, competition and standards.
During his stay at FICCI, he headed the IT, Telecom, Electronic Hardware, E-Business & BISNET departments and contributed to
policy making/enactment process including IT Act, National telecom policy, Innovation policy, Data protection and privacy, Number
portability, Double taxation treaties, Withholding tax and Intellectual Property laws.
Tabrez also led CEO delegations to Japan, ASEAN countries, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Kuwait, Latvia, UK,
Germany, France and Sweden with federal ministers to promote Indian industries.
He taught online brand and intellectual property management at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and Indian Institute of
Information Technology-Allahabad. He also did research assignment with the prestigious IP division of the George Washington
University in US.
Tabrez has completed MCA, MBA and LLM from premier universities in India and America.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
4 Speaker profiles
Speakers
Pravin Anand, Anand and Anand
Pravin completed his law studies in New Delhi in 1979 and since then has been practising as an
advocate and a patent and trademark attorney. He has been a counsel in several landmark IP cases
involving the first Anton Piller Order (HMV cases); the first Mareva Injunction Order (Philips case); the
first Norwich Pharmacal Order (Hollywood Cigarettes case); right of privacy (Bandit Queen case);
dilution in trademarks (Glenfiddich case); recognition of market survey evidence by judiciary (Time
Warner case); domain names (Yahoo! case); punitive and exemplary damages (Time magazine) phishing (NASSCOM); the
compulsory licensing cases filed against Pfizer and Roche under the Doha Declaration.
He is the chairman of the IPR promotion advisory committee (IPAC), constituted by the government of India, and the IT committee
set up by FICCI, and the past president of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association(APAA India). He was director on the board of
INTA from 2006 to 2008 and is currently president of the AIPPI (Indian group). He has appeared as an expert witness before
parliamentary committees to give evidence on amendments to trademark, patent and copyright laws. Recently he has been
appointed as one of the vice presidents of The Society of Indian Law Firms.
Pravin is a co-author of the two volumes of Halsbury's Laws of India on Intellectual Property and serves on the editorial board of
several international IP journals including IP Asia, Entertainment Law Review and Computer & Telecommunications Law Review.
He has spoken extensively at various forums including WIPO, AIPPI, INTA, LES, IBA, LAW ASIA and the UN Conference on LDCs
in the Digital World. He has served on several international and national expert groups and committees, including the patent law
drafting committee for revising and recommending changes to law.
Pravin is ranked amongst the top ten Patent Law Legal Experts in India Legal Expert Guide; ranked under the Gold Category- IAM
Patents 1000; The only Indian lawyer to feature under the Patent Law category in The Best of the Best 2012; ranked under the
Gold category by WTR1000; ranked as a Band 1 Lawyer- Chambers and Partners (Asia-Pacific) 2012; ILO Client Choice Award
2012.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
5 Speaker profiles
Harsh Arora, Perfetti Van Melle India
Mr. Harsh Arora is an alumni of Shriram College of Commerce. A qualified Chartered Accountant,
Company Secretary and a law graduate from Delhi University. He is engaged with Perfetti Van Melle
India, a subsidiary of Perfetti Van Melle S.p.A., Itay, as an Executive Director on the Board of the
company. As a functional Director, Mr. Harsh Arora is responsible for ensuring compliance to all
external laws and regulations and internal policies and procedures.
He has a wide experience of working with the Corporate Sector. He is also a Director on the Board of other companies of the
‘Perfetti Group’.
Presently, Mr. Arora is also the President of “Indian Confectionery Manufacturers’ Association” (ICMA), New Delhi, which has all
major confectionery manufacturers as its members.
Being engaged in an FMCG company, he has witnessed onslaught of counterfeit activities of their well-known brands; Center
fresh, Big Babol, Alpenliebe, Mentos, Chlor.mint and others. With conscious knowledge that brand building is a global exercise,
curbing the menace of such counterfeiting activities has been at the forefront of the group. Resultantly, the company saw much
reduction in these counterfeits. He brings rich experience of strategizing to check such fake FMCG products.
Mohamed Aslam, Havells India
Mohamed Aslam was called to the Bar of the Madras High Court in 1984 and was also the senior
consulting advocate for top IP practice DePenning. After several years of practise he ventured into the
corporate world with Eagle Flask.
His main area of specialisation is to incubate systems and processes in the corporate legal departments and transform them into
inhouse counselling and advisory centres. He has successfully done so in many companies like Burroughs Wellcome, Asian
Paints, Castrol India, Godrej, ITC and Havells, market leaders in their respective industries. A special area of Aslam’s expertise
has been to install comprehensive Brand Development and IP Protection measures by knitting together the R&D Marketing and
Sales efforts of companies with the incubated IP teams of inhouse and external lawyers spanning several countries.
Aslam has for the past several years been engaged in the emerging IP area of taxation of intangible fixed assets and its
implications on licensing. His experience with a Chartered Accountancy firm in the past and with the strong legal skills of ITC in
indirect taxation stand him in good stead in his current interest of blending taxation and IP. He has developed models to avoid
service tax and stamp duties on licencing and mergers.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
6 Speaker profiles
Currently Aslam is the Legal Advisor for Havells India Ltd and advises this group on harmonising and synergising their global IP
work. Aslam has specific expertise in dealing IP issues in emerging markets and production bases in China for brands owned by
companies in developed economies and in India.
Aslam is married to a Retail Professional, Tara. They have 2 daughters in school. Aslam aspires to research law and play an
advisorial role for companies eventually from Chennai where his family has extensive business and educational interests.
Arvind Chopra, Eurpoean Business & Technology Centre India
Head-IPR at European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC), Arvind is involved in managing all
aspects of Intellectual Property (IP) for European SME’s interested in bringing clean and green
technologies to India. At EBTC, he is engaged in technology commercialization projects related to
EBTC’s core sectors of focus - energy, transport, environment, and biotechnology,. He also runs EBTC’s
IPR-India helpdesk to facilitate and guide European SMEs for IPR related activities in India.
Arvind has rich, hands-on experience in all aspects of IP, with a complete 360 degree exposure to IP asset management. With
experience spanning 10 years, he was worked on search and analytics, IP portfolio management, IP strategy, innovation
management, technology commercialization, IP licensing, prosecution strategy for patents, creation of patent families for
technology picket fencing.
Matthias Geitz, Loth & Spuhler
Matthias holds a degree in law from University of Würzburg, Germany, and has practical working
experience in Australia and Japan. He has also worked as an industrial electronics technician with
Robert Bosch GmbH.
His strength lies in trademark and industrial design prosecution and litigation as well as in infringement
disputes regarding domain names and other signs, copyright and unfair competition. In addition, he
specializes particularly in licensing and software agreements.
His clients include both domestic and foreign companies for which he undertakes a wide range of intellectual property work. He
also has significant experience advising these companies in strategizing their intellectual property.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
9 Speaker profiles
Rajeev Gupta, Finnegan
Rajeev Gupta, a partner with Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, focuses his
practice on patent litigation in the U.S. district courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission
(ITC), strategic patent prosecution, and client counseling. He has considerable experience in
telecommunications, optics, semiconductors, and in areas pertaining to fabrication and characterization
of nanodevices. His nanodevice experience includes physics of nanomaterials, laser manipulation of
atoms, high-resolution optical Fourier transform spectroscopy of nanomaterials, quantum computing,
quantum devices, and use of synchrotron radiation and other vacuum ultraviolet sources for characterization of materials and
detectors for microlithography.
Dr. Gupta has broad experience in all aspects of patent litigation, including examining and cross-examining fact and expert
witnesses at trial, taking and defending depositions, and managing day-to-day litigation activities. He has tried cases before
administrative law judges at the ITC.
In addition to his litigation practice, Dr. Gupta advises clients on a wide variety of patent matters, including licensing and strategic
prosecution matters.
Prior to joining Finnegan Dr. Gupta served as a staff scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where his
research activities covered a wide array of topics, including, nanofabrication of one and two dimensional magnetic and non-
magnetic arrays; microlithography with the use of excimer lasers and radiation from synchrotron sources; development of deep
ultraviolet optical sensors; and high accuracy characterization of optical materials for optical microlithography.
Vaibhav Khanna, Moserbaer
Shukadev Khuraijam, Remfry & Sagar
As a patent attorney, Mr. Khuraijam has an all round and in-depth experience of around 9 years in
various facets of patent practice- prosecution, opposition and litigation. He is well nuanced in the
intricacies of the Indian Patent law and regularly advises a diverse clientele across varied areas of
the profession-prosecution & opposition practice, appeals, patentability opinions, freedom to operate
opinions, interpretation of Indian Patent law, litigation strategy etc. He has diligently prosecuted
hundreds of patent applications to successful grants before the Indian Patent Office and has
represented various pharma companies in numerous opposition proceedings before the same forum.
Mr. Khuraijam has handled high profile contentious matters before various forums including the Intellectual Property Appellate
Board, High Courts and Supreme Court. Mr. Khuraijam is also well versed in Design law and has overseen many invalidation and
infringement proceedings before the Design Office and the Courts.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
11 Speaker profiles
R. Lakshminarayanan, Samsung India
Mr. R. Lakshminarayanan heads the IPR Dept. of Samsung India Software Operations at Bangalore,
and is responsible for creating IPR vision, strategy and achievement of IPR goals for Samsung in
India. Mr. Lakshmi manages a portfolio of over 1000 patents in the area of Mobile software, printers
and memory at Samsung.
Prior to joining Samsung, Lakshmi has held various positions in the IPR Departments of multinational companies such as, Nokia,
GE and IPVALUE and also as a partner with a leading IP Firm in India.
Lakshmi has Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Institution of Engineers (India) and also LLB from Karnataka State Law
University. He is also registered to practice before the Indian Patent Office since year 2002.
Lakshmi is an active member of In-House IP Counsel’s Forum in India and also member of Japan Institute of Invention and
Innovation.
Ranjan Narula, RNA
Ranjan founded the specialist IP law firm, Ranjan Narula Associates, in 2004, and is now its Managing
Partner. He has twenty years’ post qualification IP experience, both contentious and non-contentious,
working in-house in the legal department of Burmah Castrol (now BP) for more than three years, and as a
partner of leading international IP consultancy, Rouse, for 10 years, heading its India practice. This
combination of in-house and international experience has given Ranjan both an acute awareness of the
need for commercial solutions and an understanding of the highest levels of international IP service. He has worked on over 500
civil and criminal actions for clients in various industries including the IT, telecom, apparel, FMCG, confectionery, beverages
(alcoholic and non alcoholic), and finance industries. Currently, he advises a wide range of IP holders on IP management issues,
providing strategic advice in relation to IP clearance, acquisition, protection, exploitation, and enforcement.
Ranjan is a regular contributor to various IP journals and has served on the editorial board of the leading international trade mark
publication, Trademark World. He is also a panelist for the ‘.in’ domain Registry
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
13 Speaker profiles
Nilesh Puntambekar, Emerson Innovation Centre
Nilesh Puntambekar, an innovator, is Manager- Innovation & Intellectual Property at Emerson Innovation
Center- Pune. Emerson Electric co is fortune 500 US multinational.
Nilesh holds Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) & Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Pune
University & is working for more than 12 years in R&D and New Product Development,
Nilesh takes care of Strategic Innovation Initiatives, Idea Generation through Knowledge Collaboration, Intellectual Property
Identification & Protection,
He is also responsible for managing intellectual property for Emerson’s all Indian Units.
Nilesh is inventor for multiple patents.
Adarsh Ramanujan, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan
Adarsh Ramanujan has been associated with Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (L&S) since 2009 and
has completed his LL.M in Intellectual Property and Antitrust from the University of California, Berkeley.
He is presently a Principal Associate at L&S.
Adarsh recently qualified the California (USA) Bar Examination as well the Patent Agent Examination in
India.
He handles litigation in all practice areas of IP law, including patents, copyright and trade marks. He regularly practices
before Indian High Courts as well as before the Customs for enforcement of IPRs. His litigation practice also includes practice
before the patent office and the Intellectual Property Appellate Board, dealing with issues relating to validity of IPR.
Apart from litigation, Adarsh also actively provides consulting services in IPR, including assistance and due-diligence-related
work for compliance with regulatory mechanisms, handling IP transactions and the formulation of IP strategies. Adarsh also
advises on overlapping areas of tax and IPR, as well as on competition law and IPR.
Apart from IPR, Adarsh is also part of the WTO-Trade law team of L&S and is a general practitioner in public international law,
particularly specializing in the TRIPs, subsidies and countervailing measures.
Adarsh has authored or coauthored more than 20 publications on diverse topics including tax, public international law and IPR,
in various reputed national and international journals.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
14 Speaker profiles
Nick Redfearn, Rouse
Nick worked with an Australian law firm and a London commercial law practice before joining the
London office of Rouse, where he worked for two years until 1997. Since then, he has worked for
Rouse in China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Dubai, as well as helping set up our businesses in Thailand
and Philippines. Nick ran our Hong Kong office from 2003 – 2010 and the Guangzhou office in 2004.
Nick managed Rouse’s Indonesia business from 1999-2003 and again since 2010. He is now also a
Board Director, co-head of the firm’s client development team and has a regional Asian business
development role.
His experience includes managing international intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement programmes for multinationals in
various jurisdictions throughout Greater Europe and United Kingdom (UK) intellectual property (IP) litigation, principally in
trademarks and passing off (including the Chocosuisse v Cadbury reported English case). Nick has also run anti-counterfeiting
and anti-piracy in Asian jurisdictions (especially Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam); trade mark, patent and
design filing in Asian jurisdictions; complex IP litigation in Asia, including cross border disputes, and has managed IP litigation in
China.
Nick is very experienced in management of Asian based IP portfolios and advises Asian companies on patent and trade mark
protection around the world; commercial IP agreements and deal structuring including, IP M&A and financing; devising and
implementing intellectual asset management strategies to align IP with business goals.
His clients include multinationals in the green tech, pharmaceutical, electronics, tobacco, banking, motor, entertainment and food
and beverages sectors, as well as copyright industry associations, luxury brands and IP rich Asian SME businesses and start-ups.
Nick writes on IP including his IP Komodo blog, and is on the editorial board of Managing Intellectual Property. He has been a
speaker at conferences and events run by INTA, The New York State Bar Association, Managing Intellectual Property, the UK
Department of Trade & Industry, the ASEAN IP Association, Indonesian IP Association, the Singapore Corporate Counsel
Association, Indonesian IP Society, the Singapore Law Society, Hong Kong IP department, and Malaysian IP Association.
He is active in the following organisations: INTA and AmCham.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
15 Speaker profiles
Nigel Sanderson, Harrison Goddard Foote
Nigel’s practice is balanced between chemistry and mechanical and engineering subject
matter. Nigel has experience in organic and inorganic chemistry and pharmaceuticals including
formulations and over-the-counter (non-prescription) medicines, together with fast moving
consumer goods such as hard surface cleaners, laundry products, depilatories and air
fresheners. Nigel also deals extensively with consumer electrical appliances, packaging, printing,
offshore engineering technologies such as wind turbines and articulated vehicle tracks.
Nigel particularly enjoys working with academic institutions and companies seeking to grow and develop a patent portfolio. Nigel
also works extensively with larger companies where he specialises in assisting clients to build and pro-actively manage and
exploit effective patent portfolios.
Nigel graduated from the University of Bath (UK) with a degree in Chemistry after which he entered the profession with a private
firm in the north of England, where he qualified in 1993. Nigel took the opportunity in 1995 of joining the patents group of a major
UK based multinational, as Deputy Head of the group. In 1998, Nigel moved to one of the larger UK law firms and in addition to
patent prosecution, was heavily involved in IP litigation support.
In 2000, Nigel joined Harrison Goddard Foote as a partner.
Viswanathan Seshan, Philips Electronics
Dr. Viswanathan Seshan holds the position of IP&S Manager Healthcare and is a member of the
Management Team of the Healthcare Business Group of Philips Intellectual Property and Standards. In
this role, he manages teams of IP Counsels that work on value capturing activities for Philips’
Healthcare IP portfolio globally and counsel the Healthcare business on various types of negotiations
and contracts in specific jurisdictions.
Prior to this, Dr. Viswanathan Seshan headed IP&S India, an integral arm of Philips Intellectual Property & Standards, consisting
of around 25 IP professionals involved in a range of activities such as IP analysis, business counselling, formal regulatory and
standards, patent drafting and prosecution, business intelligence, paralegal support, IP scouting and brand protection. In addition,
he was a member of the Management Team of Philips Innovation Campus, Bangalore, where he also headed the Technology
Innovation Management function, which focuses on fostering and celebrating innovation at PIC. In addition to his general
management duties, he continued to work as an IP Counsel in the Healthcare portfolio, counselling the Philips Healthcare
business in the APAC region on contract negotiations, performing due diligence for M&A, conducting risk analysis for new product
introductions, etc.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
16 Speaker profiles
Dr. Seshan holds a Doctorate degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center,
Dallas, Texas, USA, with a specialization in Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy & Imaging, and a Bachelor of Technology degree
in Instrumentation & Control Engineering from the University of Calicut, Kerala, India. He is a certified Patent Information
Specialist (GO/WON, The Hague, The Netherlands) and is a registered Indian patent agent. He serves on the Board of Directors
of the Licensing Executives Society, India.
Anand K. Sharma, Finnegan
Anand Sharma, a partner with Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, leads the firm's
mechanical practice group. He has experience in all aspects of patent law, with a particular emphasis
on U.S. district court and U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) Section 337 litigations, as well as
strategic client counseling. His practice has covered many technology areas, including smartphones,
medical devices, neurosurgery navigation systems, locomotives, engine after-treatment systems,
multi-wire cable fabrication, semiconductor probe card assemblies, DRAM, well-site drilling equipment,
and consumer appliances and electronics.
Mr. Sharma has extensive experience with managing the day-to-day operation of patent litigations and in developing and
implementing patent litigation strategies. He has considerable experience in trial practice, including taking and defending
witnesses at deposition and trial, preparing and arguing discovery, Markman and summary judgment motions, and participating in
settlement and mediation negotiations. Mr. Sharma has drafted numerous patentability, validity, and infringement opinions; as well
as patent applications. In addition, he counsels clients on strategic patent planning in areas such as patent procurement, licensing,
and pre-litigation considerations.
A frequent lecturer on patent-related matters, Mr. Sharma has lectured at conferences sponsored by various industry and legal
associations, including the National Bar Association, the Confederation of Indian Industry, and the National Association of
Software and Service Companies. He has authored articles on IP topics related to India and has often been quoted in Law360. Mr.
Sharma serves as an adjunct professor at Howard University, teaching patent law at the College of Engineering and at the Law
School.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
17 Speaker profiles
Swati Sharma, Anand and Anand
Swati has a significant experience in contractual and commercial exploitation of Intellectual Property.
Swati has valuable experience in drafting various commercial Agreements and has advised various
companies in relation to establishment of their business in India. Swati has actively participated in close
association with the Franchising Association of India as a speaker in workshops related to Franchising in
India and how it affects different sectors.
She has extensively advised companies in relation to adoption, protection and increasing visibility of brands in the capacity of a
brand strategist. Swati has experience in giving opinions relating to packaging and labelling laws, advertising laws. Swati has
extensively advised on IP takeover transactions, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures for Fortune 500 companies.
Swati has been with Anand and Anand since January 2007. She has attended International Conferences, such as International
Trademarks Association (INTA) conference 2009 held in Seattle, INTA 2011 held in San Francisco, INTA 2012 held in Washington
D.C., MIDEM held in Cannes in 2010, and various National Conferences such as the INTA India Round Table Conference (2008,
Mumbai), seminars organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries (2008, Mumbai).
Thakur Kiran Singh, Maruti Suzuki
Thakur Kiran Singh is dealing with various legal issues for more than a decade in various industries.
Currently, he is responsible for Planning/Execution of Company’s Legal Affairs and Management of
Intellectual Property Rights in Maruti Suzuki India Limited. He also manages Litigation and Arbitration &
Conciliation Matters for the company. Handling various issues related to transfer pricing, related party
transactions, Competition Act, Statutory Compliances and Contracts & Commercial Legal Documentation
are few of his expertise. He also manages Intellectual Property and in charge for preparing future IP Strategies which includes
company’s future technology development plans, safeguarding IP Rights, anti-counterfeiting actions etc.
Before joining Maruti Suzuki India Limited Mr. Thakur also worked as an Officer with Hero Honda Group where he managed Legal
Compliance Audit Processes, Contract Management, provided Legal opinion pertaining to court cases (Consumer/Civil/Criminal)
and other miscellaneous/departmental matters.
Mr. Thakur is a LLM in Mercantile Law (Company Law, Banking & Insurance) from Osmania University.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
18 Speaker profiles
Anindya Sircar, Infosys
Dr. Anindya Sircar is currently AVP and Head of IP with Infosys Limited and is responsible for IP
activities of Infosys Limited and its subsidiaries. Prior to this he was heading the IP Department Biocon
Group – a premiere biotechnology company in Bangalore, India. He has a unique distinction of two
Ph.Ds – one is Science and the other in Law. During his long professional involvement in IP he had
spearhead several acquisitions programs, both in and out licensing of IP. He has figured in the Lex
Witness’s Hall of Fame – Top 50 as a prominent player in the India’s legal sector in 2010.
He takes active participation in patent awareness programs and other programs involving search techniques for patent and
commercial information. Besides, he is also a registered patent agent. Dr. Anindya Sircar is a Visiting Faculty on IP at NALSAR
University of Law, Hyderabad; National Law School of India University, Bangalore; RGSOIPL, IIT Kharagpur; NAARM, Hyderabad;
PEXA, Mumbai and IBAB, Bangalore. He has been a resource person for numerous workshops and conferences on IP, also a
member of the CII National Committee on Technology and IPR and National Committee of Intellectual Property Owners; FICCI-
IPR Committee. He is also an Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Dialog-Thompson, UK. He is also a member of the
Expert Committee on “Intellectual Property Rights” of the Karnataka Biodiversity Board. Currently he is a member of the Editorial
Board of “IP Asia”, “Indian Journal of Intellectual Property” and “Environmental Law and Practice Review”.
Pankaj Soni, Remfry & Sagar
Pankaj Soni is a Partner with Remfry & Sagar with over 15 years of industry and legal experience. Mr. Soni
currently manages patent litigation matters and prosecution dockets related to Electrical/Electronics,
Computer and Mechanical technologies. As a litigator with experience in Federal Courts in the United
States, he has obtained dismissals and favourable jury verdicts for Fortune 500 clients in several patent
infringement matters. His expertise includes drafting pleadings, managing discovery and handling technical
aspects of claim construction and infringement/invalidity analysis. Mr. Soni has also been involved in client negotiations leading to
successful litigation settlements and cross-licensing agreements. As a patent prosecutor he has drafted and prosecuted patent
applications in the United States and India. He is admitted to practice law in India, New York and New Jersey.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
19 Speaker profiles
Munish Sudan, Tata Steel
Munish manages Tata Steel’s Intellectual property department comprising a portfolio of more than 600
patent families. He co-ordinates with senior management for defining the future R&D strategy. Minish
works with Innovation Council to develop a robust system for idea capturing, idea selection and
innovation diffusion.
Before joining Tata Steel, Munish Sudan managed a team of 60+ individuals providing IP asset management solutions to fortune
100 companies in Specialty Chemicals, Petrochemical, Material Science, FMCG and Steel domains. He has extensive experience
in IP intelligence, IP Training, developing IP strategy and open innovation. Registered with Indian Patent office, Munish is a master
in Chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.
Harry Thangaraj, St. George’s University, London
Harry Thangaraj is a researcher into IP and global access to essential medicines based in St.
George’s University of London. He coordinates a collaborative research project entitled “Access to
Pharmaceuticals” funded by the European Union under its 7th Framework Program (Health). After
several years of research in biomedical sciences he pursued IP studies at Queen Mary University
London, where he won the GSK prize for highest score in patent law examinations in 2004/5. His
main research interest lies in Socially Responsible Licensing. Apart from academic research he is passionate about travel and
photography.
India IP & Innovation Forum 2013 Managing IP
20 Speaker profiles
D.P. Vaidya, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan
Vaidya heads the Engineering team in IPR Division of Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (L&S). He is
responsible for Engineering and Patent consultancy services. He has rich experience in technology
deployment involving implementation of telecom and IT infrastructure, software development, and
development of electronic and mechanical components.
He has handled and managed large IP projects for several national and international clients involving framing IP strategy and IP
implementation framework, assisting clients to identify inventions, drafting patent specifications, performing infringement analysis,
patentability analysis, and invalidity analysis.
Before joining L&S in 2007, he handled a variety of roles including that of Vice-President, Business Head, and CIO at Hughes
Communications India Limited (HCIL). Vaidya has to his credit, a work experience of more than 38 years. He has worked in some
of the world’s most respected multinational companies, such as Larsen & Toubro, Philips India, and Hughes.
He was a guest faculty at Management Institute for subjects like Business Processes, IT, and Supply Chain Management. He has
served as President of VSAT Services Providers Association of India; and also as Vice- President of Internet Service Providers
Association of India.
Rahul Vartak, Krishna & Saurastri Associates
Rahul Vartak is a Patent Attorney and a Partner with Krishna & Saurastri Associates. Rahul’s practice
areas include patent drafting, patent prosecution, providing patentability opinions and assisting in patent
litigation. He is experienced in providing opinions relating to Freedom to operate, infringement and validity
of patents related to chemical, pharmaceutical and agrochemical inventions. He specializes in Indian as
well as International and comparative Patent Law. Rahul has extensive international experience having
trained in US Patent Law as well as European and German patent Law. He is registered to practice before the Indian Patent
Offices.
Akhilesh K. Gupta, Patent Agents Association of Inida