What ails the Indian Intellectual Property movement?

What ails the Indian Intellectual Property movement?

In the US of A, the entrepreneurs are as dynamic as the government, like I have observed. In India, for the past couple of years the Government has been doing fantastically well in so far as the patent movement is concerned. What we lack is a genuine exertion by the entrepreneurs of their IP. One reason for this is that the CEOs here not only do not recognize the wonders an IP can perform, but also have no access to illuminative means which can lead to this recognition. In all my interviews with Indian corporate managers the one common thing I’ve always heard is ‘We have been thinking about it but…you know…’. Yes we think a lot. And we do act a lot. However both our thinking and our actions are always aiming for the nearest profit. We run our companies with only one thing in mind - how fast can we sell that we produce? But do we identify all that we produce? Like a man can execute only one vocation to his best of ability, similarly an organization also does best what it does. Nonetheless, there are many gifts that are bestowed upon us as spin-offs of our corporate efforts. And the biggest of those gifts is Intellectual Property. Without going into the legal definition of Intellectual Property I will try to explain what exactly IP is.

Everything we see around us is the result of man’s mind. And many a times it is the result of just one mind. It may be a person or an organizational unit. And if we have been justifying for centuries the exchange of products between men for value (read money), how can we not put some value on the fact that products be recognized as original thoughts of the respective producers. Who is stopping us? Not a soul. These products are the direct results of all the strain of brains we went through in bringing them to life. Can’t we claim that whosoever uses those products without being the part of hard work that we went through pays us not only for that product’s use(s) but also for our efforts? Now, if none wants to pay for that particular aspect connected with the product, so be it. That is what democracy and market forces are all about. But how do we come to know it unless we do not try to sell it. There is a treasure chest waiting to get unlocked. It contains trade names, business methods, software processes, writings and much more than we can envision at one go. Are we ready?

A mystery solved

While my way back from office on train when I snapped open my Snapple today, their Real facts # 110 went like this ‘Frogs never drink’ ( you can also check out their other real facts at http://www.snapple.com/default.htm ). What?….you mean..other animals do……Oh..now I know why dog has always been the man’s best friend. Courtesy: mutual taste for Bagpiper.

Everydaylife #4, Officelife#1

Never ever trust a client who after your brilliant sales presentation says ‘Alright Mr. Nice, we’d let you know’. Actually, he did not only want to tell you that he will never call you again but also wanted you to know that yours is the most distorted firm on the face of this planet and for the price you just quoted for your services he can buy a truck full of dogs to tear away the skin out of you and leave you so far off that you will forget the way to come roaming around his offices again.

Everyday life #3

I always say that the 2 most honest places with the 2 most honest people of the moment at their 2 most honest moments are:

1. Your kitchen - when you are helping your wife clean the dishes after your guests have left and she tells you that your friend’s joke on which everyone laughed their hearts out was not only bad but silly and that your friend’s wife’s outfit was not only ill-fitting but gauche. You agree and say I love you darling.
2. Your friend’s car – when they are on their way back home after dinner at your place and he tells his wife that the food which they ate plates-full did not only look stale, it smelled like Rajpal Yadav in Bhootnath. His wife agrees and says I love you darling.

Whatever goes on before that, over food and wine is nothing but Time in action trying to lay the ground so that people can be a little honest after a little while.

Don’t think little of the ‘I love you’ part. It is another most honest moment….. honestyis thebestpolicy wise speaking

Everyday life

Maintaining the writing for this blog for the weekends, I shall be attenuating it with my quotes over the week days. I don’t call  them writings . I call them ‘everyday life’. And here are two:

Everyday life #1: We can not eventually be utter failures or completely successful. We pass. We fail. Pass. Fail. And so forth. The preparation which goes on in between is Life.

Everyday life #2: A man is not powerful because he is powerful. Neither is he powerful because we know he is powerful. He is powerful because he knows that we know he is powerful. Try telling a 3 yr old palyful child in the supermarket that the gentleman with his pants’ zipper open is the President of America. He will still go and laugh at his face.

Weekend movies

Just to make this blog a little lighter, I will try to end my weekend writing by my opinions of the 2 movies I watched or tried watching this weekend:

1. Sarkaar Raaj -  Could not watch after 15 minutes. Some people never change and that is good. But Ramu, you please change.

2. Monsoon wedding – I loved it because of the reason it is an “it is” movie rather than an “it should” movie.

Immune to music

Yesterday was The World Music day. And I dedicated my music of this day to a revolutionary lawyer – Kleiberth Mora. Kleiberth has designed a reformist model in Venezuela which helps hardened prisoners and wayward youth learn classical music through organized orchestra programs. The music is not only keeping them become real musicians but also helping them become fine human beings. Now, this is what I call – Music in action. Brilliant job Kleiberth. Unquestionably India also needs lawyers like Kleiberth; it’s just that I doubt if the same system will work there. The glut of musical programs on the Indian television has not helped bring the crime graph down. I think we have become immune to music. Or at least to its constructive upshots.

Point of no return

As Midnapur cries in pain, floods take their toll to 50. Now this is what is officially known. I personally maintain the number to be no less than 100. As our lives go on handling clients, watching soccer and so forth and so on, there are doctors, defense personnel and numerous other professionals who are busy helping the people of Midnapur fight the battle for survival. I count these people as the last and only hope for mankind. I wish they are able to reverse the global ecological cataclysm mans finds himself in. But as Bryan Adam says ‘can’t stop the thing we started’. Man has reached a point of no return…terrestrially speaking.

Spain beat Italy (QF Euro 2008)

Ending their jinx of June 22 and respecting my guesswork below in the blog, Spain won the QF from Italy and paved their way to the SF first time after 1984. Brilliant brilliant performance. The match was a cliffhanger won on penalty shootouts. However, Spain were weighty on the opponent all through.

Wimbledon 2008 starts tomorrow

So the Wimbledon starts tomorrow. Whether or not the top players tossed away matches for money in the last two years as the observers of the game are allegedly claiming is beside the point. What is off the screen is off the observation radar of spectators. One player whose game I am keenly looking forward to is Richard Gasquet. This 22 year old crushed my all time favorite Andy Roddick in 5 sets in the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year. I hope he puts up another extraordinary show this time.