The Institution Innovation Council (IIC) at the Kashmir University’s Zakura Campus organised a national-level workshop on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

The IIC, which works under the aegis of Union Ministry of Education, held the three-hour-long programme, in online-offline mode, in association with EduPlan Consultants and Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at the Institute of Technology, Zakura Campus, to discuss in detail the basic concepts of IPR, its types, techniques and filing process, besides detailing the commercialisation of IPR.

Mr Mirza Mohammad Idrees-ul-Haq Beigh, a certified professional from World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Law school of Stanford University and RGNIIPM, Indian Patent Office was the keynote speaker for the workshop who highlighted the need for ‘Collective Trademark’ in addition to already GI-tagged Kashmiri products like Saffron, Khatamband, Carpets etc to maintain the quality of products and ensure fair competition in the national and international markets.

“We need to endeavor towards having other Kashmiri products like Kangir, Walnut, Pheran etc recognised and protected within the frameworks of IPR laws and TRIPS,” he said.

Chairman CIIE and Director IOT Zakura Prof Gowhar Bashir Vakil led the workshop and talked about the difference between innovation and inventions, even as he highlighted the incubation support that CIIE is offering.

Prof Bashir also talked about the establishment of Fablab, an in-house prototype facility, and highlighted the need for adaption of IP Policy in the University for the benefit of the institution and its innovators.

CEO, Edu Plan Consultants, Mr Faheem, stressed upon “improving the IPR filing graph” by including IPR Policy in all universities across UT of J&K.

Coordinator of Civil Engineering, Er. Adil Muddasir, Assistant Professor (Electrical) Yunis Ahmad and Liaison Officer and In-Charge CIIE Nasia Naqash, besides team CIIE and NIF attended the workshop.

Mr Faheem and Ms Uzma conducted proceedings of the event.