RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research : Fixing a problem and the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting information to solve the problem thereof .
Steps in research (Activity 1 of 5 =1 week ) Unit 1 & partly2

•Literature survey I
•Fixing a research problem
•Carrying out the research hands-on , simultaneously recording the following approaches:
–Challenges
–Results
–shortcomings
–faults
–ethical issues
–Interpersonal relationship
•Organising & analysing the data collected
•Writing report (Explain titles)
•Presentation (Activity2 of 5 = 2/3 class hours. 10 minutes )
•Writing research manuscript
 Extension of Research Unit 3

• Presentation & assessment by committee

(Activity 3 of 5 with student Juries )
• Writing research proposal (Activity 4 of 5)
 Others
• Phlagiarism
• Research Ethic
• Review committee
• Bibliography- methods to write references
(Activity 5 of 5).
 Activity 1
Group Activity
1 3 plants in A.C tech quadrant useful in green
synthesis of nanoparticles.
2 Dioxane and water contamination.
3 FTIR spectroscopy
4 Curuminoids in optical sensors.
5 Nanocomposites used in superhard coating
in aircrafts .
6 Porometer
 Internal assessment pattern
Part-A 5×2 marks =10 Marks (no choice)

Part-B 2×16 marks=32 Marks

(internal choice/either or type)

Part-C 1×8 marks =8 Marks (no Choice)

• Academic Research is defined as fixing a problem and the
process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting information to
solve the problem thereof .
• But to qualify as good research, the process must have certain
characteristics and properties called SMART in general: The
main characteristics for good quality research is listed below:
• S-Specific
M-Measurable
A-Attainable/Achievable
R-Realistic
T-Time bound
 Sources of research Problem
1. field exposure
2. brain storming session
3. Critical appraisal of literature: reading
journals,periodicals, news letters and books,
Govt industry reports, dissertation/thesis,
electronic databases.
4. consultation with executive experts, guide or
senior who has experience and can tell you
what are the challenging field on which you
can conduct research.
5) Intuition
6) Folklore
7) Personal experience:
8) Social issues:
9) Attending scientific platforms like seminars,
conferences, workshop, symposium, training
programs, skill development programs.
10) Academic experience: class room lecture or
discussion
 7 Basic Steps in Formulating a Research Problem

The quality & relevancy of your research work

completely depends on formulating / selecting a
research problem.
There are 7 basic steps in formulating a research
problem. 
 7 Basic Steps in Formulating a Research Problem

1. Identify the Broad Study Area

2. Dissect the Broad Study Area into
Subareas
3. Mark-up your Interest
4. Study Research Questions
5. Set Out Objectives
6. Assess your Objectives
7. Check Back
 Characteristics of Research

 
1. The Problem Can Be Stated Clearly and Concisely (It addresses
directly or indirectly some real problem in the world).

2    The Problem Generates Research Questions (It generates new

questions or is cyclical in nature. Leading to Novelty. In a way that
it has the potential to suggest directions for future research).

3    It Is Grounded in Theory (It is based on some logical rationale and

tied to theory. It is incremental).

4    It Relates to One or More Academic Fields of Study

5    It Has a Base in the Research Literature

6    It Has Potential Significance/importance (Useful for the
concerned people in a particular field).
 
7    It Is Doable Within the Time Frame, Budget (It can be replicated
and doable . whatever you conclude on the basis of your findings is
correct and Valid and verifiable by you and others).

8    Sufficient Data Are Available or Can Be Obtained

 
9.Invites more complex designs / more variables

10. Does not carry ethical or moral impediments: (while working

with animal models).
 Errors in selecting research problem:

1) The opposites of what have been discussed.

2) Looking for something when it simply is not
to be found.
3) Plagiarizing other people’s work.
4) Falsifying data to prove a point.
5) Misrepresenting information and
misleading participants.
Problems in research
• Code of conduct: a guide of principles designed to
help professionals conduct business.
Scope and objectives of research problem
TYPES OF RESEARCH
 APPROACHES OF INVESTIGATION OF
SOLUTIONS OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
• DATA collection
• Analysis and interpretation
• Necessary instrumentation
 APPROACHES OF INVESTIGATION OF
SOLUTIONS OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
Data Collection
• Data collection is a process of collecting
information from all the relevant sources.
 Need for data collection:

• to find answers to the research problem

• to test the hypothesis
• to evaluate the outcomes.
• Data collection methods can be divided into
two categories: secondary methods of data
collection and primary methods of data
collection
 Types of data collection
• Secondary
• Primary
– Qualitative
– Quantitative
Data Analysis And Interpretation
Data analysis and interpretation is the process of assigning
meaning to the collected information and determining the
conclusions, significance, and implications of the findings.
The steps involved in data analysis are a function of the
type of information collected;
The analysis of numerical (quantitative) data is represented
in mathematical terms. The most common statistical terms
include:
Mean
Standard deviation
Frequency distribution
Higher levels of statistical analysis (e.g., t-test, factor
analysis, regression, ANOVA) can be conducted on the data,
but these are not frequently used in most program/project
assessments.
APPROACHES OF INVESTIGATION OF SOLUTIONS OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

Instrumentation

Definition:
Tools that are available to collect & interpret data
of a given research problem.

An integral part of Research and hypothesis inorder

to generate qualitative and quantitative data.
 Outcome/Advantages of cutting-edge instrumentation
 

• To Observe & measure qualitative and

quantitative data.
• To Explore the phenomena of specific
research topic with more precision and speed.
• To Enable new discoveries and provide
efficient knowledge .
• To enable scientists/Researchers to answer
increasingly complex questions.
 Contd…

• To pave way for new findings which in turn

enable the development of more powerful,
and sometimes novel, instruments.
• To maintain a symbiotic relationship with
science as a whole.
• To facilitate interdisciplinary research
(Numerous remarkable scientific, engineering, and medical
achievements of the last century followed the same simple
paradigm of migration from basic to applied field through
interdisciplinary research).
 Contd..

• Tools developed for the cutting edge research

eventually became essential for the society
and the public. Eg: magnetic resonance
imaging scanners developed in the research
area of physics and chemistry is now essential
for medical diagnostics.
• To initiate collaborative research
• To enhance the number of users.
• To acquire long-term international research
competence
Components of advanced instrumentation
• Commercially available instruments
• Specially designed and developed instruments
(Specially developed instruments are assembled from
many less expensive components to make a new, more
advanced and powerful instrument).
• Both physical and nonphysical tools.
• Single standalone instruments
• Networks for computational modeling applications,
computer databases,
• Systems of sensors
• Suites of instruments
• Facilities that house ensembles of interrelated
instruments.
 Broad classification of instrumentation

• Workhorse instruments, essential to everyday research and

training.

• Racehorse instruments, newly developed or constantly

developing novel instrumetns that are integral part of
cutting edge research.
As they are novel, its often easier to justify to potential
funders.

Both workhorse and racehorse instruments are however vital

for research, and finding the right balance between the two is
a real challenge.
Who has the potential to establish instrumentation facilities?

• A committee will emphasize the need for a specific

advanced research instrumentation for a specific research
fields and related problems.

• The committee will also emphasize the need for side by

side housing of complementary instruments saying that it
would be more productive than when each one is housed
individually .
• This will enable:
– solving some types of scientific problems
– engineering new materials
– carrying out a series of steps or processes.
Sources of cutting-edge instrumentation.
• Instrumentation Facilities and
Instrumentation centre are Sources of
cutting-edge instrumentation.
• A center is defined as a collection of
investigators with a particular research focus
who can access to the related equipments.
• A facility is defined as a collection of
equipment, instrumentation, technical
support personnel, and physical resources that
enables investigators to perform research.
 ARIF
• Collections of instruments with specified range of capital costs
established in universities , national laboratories, R&D centres and
innovative companies. Different research fields require different
types of ARIF, and some fields have a larger demand for ARIF than
others.
• It provides a technological platform to answer the hardest,
unanswered questions in science.
• It opens up opportunities to open up avenues for fundamental
discoveries, the implications of which may be currently
unfathomable.
– For example, discovering new sources of energy, novel smart materials with multiple
applications in several fields including aeronotics, upercapacitors, cures for
diseases, sensitive and speed methods of diagnosis etc.
• Conventional sources classify the equipments based on field and
capital costs. An example is shown in table.
• The funding for such source: Funding agencies or Host institute or
both.
 EXAMPLES OF ARIF

Nobel Prize in instrumentation nurtures ARIF

• Nobel prizes in physics were awarded for the development of new or

enhanced instrumentation technologies, including electron and scanning
tunneling microscopes, laser and neutron spectroscopy, particle detectors,
and the integrated circuit.

• Nobel prizes for the development of instrumentation have been awarded

in chemistry and medicine for instrumentation related to nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) or magnetic resonance imaging, and many were also
awarded at least in part for the development of ARIF.

• Many of the ground-breaking instruments that qualified for a Nobel prize

or contributed to Nobel prize-winning work began as ARIF and through
development have become widely available and more affordable.
•  
ATF: Analytical testing facility (CLRI)
 Common research facilities (CRF in IITM)

• Available to internal and external users (both

from academic institutions and from industry).
• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) 
• Mass Spectrometer
• CHN Analyser Matrix Assisted Laser
Desorption Time of Flight Mass
Spectrometer (MALDI TOF MS).
The Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facility
(SAIF @ IITM)
• Funded by the Department of Science and
Technology (DST), as the first such regional facility
in 1974. T
• The facility acquires and maintains sophisticated
electronic instruments and equipment, and
provides relevant service to the scientific
community for advanced research, at nominal
charges.
• The facility has grown into a major centre for
spectral measurements, structure determination
and materials characterization as follows:
 saif

SPECTROMETRY
500 MHz FT NMR Spectrometer BRUKER AV III
X-ray Fluorescence spectrometer (WD XRF) Bruker S4 Pioneer
ICP-OES Perkin Elmer Optima 5300 DV
GC-MS Spectrometer JEOL GC Mate
Spectro Fluorometer Jobin Yvon Fluorimeter
LIFE TIME SYSTEM FLUOROMAX
IR Spectrophotometer 450-4000 cm-1 PE FT IR
UV-VIS-NIR spectrometer Cary 5E
Mossbauer Spectrometer Nucleonix Model
 CRYSTALLOGRAPHY
Enraf Nonius CAD4-MV31
Single Crystal X-Ray Diffractometers
Bruker Kappa APEXII
FEI Quanta FEG 200 High Resolution
HR-SEM
Scanning Electron Microscope
MAGNETOMETRY
Vibrating Sample Magnetometer Lakeshore VSM 7410
THERMAL ANALYSIS
Thermal Analyzer Netzsch TGA/DTA/DSC

Consultancy Projects
 

As SAIF is a service-oriented centre, consultancy services have been

provided to various industries.

SAIF scientists, in addition to analysis service, have taken up consultancy

work for the industry to provide specific analytical service of non-
routine nature.

Also, on specific request, SAIF can provide training for operation and
maintenance of sophisticated instruments at other institutions.
 Literature review
Definition: A methodological review of past literature
prior to initiating any research study.
Significance:
It is a crucial endeavor for any academic research .
It creates a firm foundation for advancing knowledge.
It facilitates theory development
It closes areas where a plethora of research exists
It uncovers areas where research is needed”
 Characteristics of effective literature review
• a) methodologically analyze and synthesize
quality literature
• b) provide a firm foundation to a research
topic
• c) provide a firm foundation to the selection of
research methodology
• d) demonstrate that the proposed research
contributes something new to the overall body
of knowledge or advances the research field’s
knowledge-base.
 Stages of effective literature review

1) inputs (literature gathering and screening)

2) processing (following Bloom’s Taxonomy)
3) outputs (writing the literature review).
How to get a good literature review?
 Need for literature survey
Knowing the current status of the given research field is an essential first step for
any research project .
An effective literature review accomplishes this step by:
1. Gives clear idea of
what is already known?
what is needed to be known?.
2. Providing a solid theoretical foundation for the proposed
study (related to “what is already known?”)
3. Substantiating the presence of the research problem
(related to “what is needed to be known?”)
4. Justifying the proposed study as one that contributes
something new to the BoK
5. Framing the valid research methodologies, approach, goals,
and research questions for the proposed study
 Types of literature search
• Keywords search:
Using an effective keyword search will produce some initial insight into the
domain.
Additional steps should be used to advance the literature search and the
researcher’s knowledge about the phenomenon One such step deals
with backward & forward literature search.
• Backward search:
backward references search=reviewing the references of the articles. a
second level backward references search & pulling the ‘references of the
references
backward authors search=reviewing what the authors have published prior
to the article.
• Forward search
Forward references search refers to reviewing additional articles that have
cited the article.
Forward authors search refers to reviewing what the authors have published
following the article.
• “funnel (funneling in)”
• “concertina (narrowing andenlarging your search, like a concertina windbag)”,
• “lens (to focus readers)”
 Instrumentation in scientific research

1. Analytical imaging instrumentation (Microscopes) for

nanotechnology research :
Analytical instrumentation is very important for interdisciplinary research
areas including nanotechnology.

Instrument 1: 5G desktop HP-SEM (Thermo Fischer)

Physical examination of structure
Elemental composition
Elemental mapping and line scan software = distribution of elements.

Instrument 2: Nanoprobing SEM (Imina)

Characterization of microelectronic devices.
In situ semiconductor failure analysis.
Nanoprobes of various configurations can be used depending on
customers’ applications.
Possess in class in situ preamplifiers and scan generators to perform
quantitative EBIC (electron beam induced current).
Instrument 3: Dynamic Single-Molecule analyser.(Lumix)

• C-Trap: World’s first instrument that combines optical tweezers,

confocal microscopy or STED nanoscopy and an advanced
microfluidics system in a tryly integrated and correlated way.

• m-Trap: Determines single-molecular force.

• AFS: Acoustic Force Spectroscopy :Applies forces on thousands of

biomolecules in parallel and aids highly parallel single-molecule
manipulation.

• µ Flux: Microfluidic system used to perform single-molecule

experiments in laminar flow environment.
Instrument 4:Advanced tool for precision electron
diffraction (Nanomegas)
• Electron diffractometer adapted to TEM and combined
with 3D tomography is used to:
• solve nanocrystal structures otherwise difficult to solve by
conventional X-ray diffraction techniques.
• Enhance EELS & EDS spectra and gives better data.
 

Instrument 5 Hybrid AFM- OS (optical spec):

• Used to study material and biological systems with
chemical specificity with nanometer spatial resolution.
Instrument 6: Photo-induced force microsopy –PiFM
(Molecular vista- Name is Vistascope)
• Photo-induced polarization of the sample can be measured
directly in the near-field by detecting the time-integrated
force between the tip and sample.
• PiFM images infrared wavelengths specific to different
chemical entities and resolve the nanometer-scal distribution
of each chemical species in diverse multi-phase and multi-
component systems thereby revealing an unprecedented and
spectacular molecular vista of the sample to the researcher.
• The equipment can also be integrated with complementary
techniques such as scattering SNOM and Tip-enhanced
Raman spectroscopy!
Software: MIPAR –Image analysis software:
• In conventional image analysis software, the users
cannot customize the steps needed to detect the
target features from any captured image.
• MIPAR identifies and measures features from nearly
any image one can capture. It can also do batch
processing and quantifying multiple images through a
user-friendly interface.
• Allows the user to create a customizable non-
destructive recepie. This is not available in any other
imaging product.
• It excels segmentation or feature-finding.
Accidental or intentional plagiarism
 Softwares for checking plagiarism

• Turnitin
• Urkund.com
• Grammarly.com
 Technical writing- Proposal
(Proposed work)
A cover page: title, funding agency name, investigator name,
institute name. Title, institute,, funding agency, submitted by.
Table of contents
Background of the study (cite your expertise and other work)
Introduction
Aim and objectives
Materials and Methods
Expected Outcome with flow chart/Graphical abstract
Budget
Budget break-up with justification
Summary
Publication of Investigator and brief CV.
Bibliography
Acknowledgement if any
Appendices – if required.
 Technical writing- Report
A cover page: title, funding agency name,
investigator name, institute name.
Table of contents section
Background and need for the study
Introduction
Aim and objectives
Materials and Methods
Results and discussion
Summary
Graphical abstract
Publications of investigator
Bibliography
Acknowledgement
Appendices – if required.
Budget break-up
 Unit IV & V
Intellectual property rights
(IPR)
Property
 Intellectual property
• IPR is creation from the mind such as:
– Inventions
– Literary works
– Artistic works
– Symbols
– Names
– Images
 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
• IPR refers to rights issued to the
applicants/creators/inventors for their invention or
innovation in form of certificate
• Issued by the respective Governments / Institute.
• Issued through office of :
– Patent
– Trademark
– Copyright
– Industrial design
– Geographical indicators
 Details of types of IPR
1. Patent
• An exclusive right (monopoly) right awarded
for an invention or innovation for a product or
process.
• Awarded to the first inventor(s) for providing
solutions(s) to a technical problem in a specific
field.
• Patent law in India is governed by the Patent Act 1970.
• According to this law, following are the Legal Rights of
a inventor with granted patent:
– Inventor has legal right to exclude others from the
invention fro 20 years from the date of filing.
– Authorized to use the invention for his own purpose
or make money by selling it or license to others or
transfer the technology.
– Has the right to take legal action against any person
exploiting their invention partially or fully without
their consent/permission.
 2. Copyright

• An exclusive right awarded for any creation

(listed in the types of copyrights) to an author
to print, publish, perform and sell copies of
hi/her original work.
• Issued by the respective copyright office for
protecting creativity and ingenuity.
• Issued only to fixation materials i.e, the work
must be arranged in words, musical notes,
colors etc on paper or sheet or printed books,
CD etc.
 Forms of copyright
• Reproduction right-permit ownership to others
• Translation and adaptation right-permit translation and
modification.
• Neighboring right
– Performing right –permit artistic work
– Recording right-permit sound records
– Motion picture right –permit visual records such as
cinematographic and audiovisual work.
– Broadcasting right-permit broadcasting of live games, sports,
news etc to communicate via wires, cables, satellite etc.
 3. Trademark
• Trademark TM refers to any sign or symbol (brand
name) that differentiates the goods of the owner
from those of competitors.
• Any individual or company can register the
trademark in the form of words, letters and
numerals, colored marks, 3D signs, audible signs,
olfactory marks, devices or combinations of the
above.
• Trademark can be displayed on buildings,
brochures, products, letterheads. Advertisements,
voucher, packages.
Law of Trademark:

• Law of trademark in India is governed by

Trademark Act 1999.
• Trademark is granted by Indian Trademark
Registry (offices at Chennai, Mumbai, New
Delhi, Kolkata)
• Trademark is valid for 10 years fdf.
• To be renewed thereafter every 5 years by
paying renewal fees.
According to trademark act ,Trade mark should
not have the following.
Should not be deceptively similar in name
• eg: Mc. Donalds vs Mc dowells
Should not describe the goods. Eg: “Book my Show”.
Should not define the nature of the product:
eg: Apple can’t be applied to a fruit grower or seller but can
be applied to a mobile device.
Should not specify name or surname of a person. Eg: Dhoni,
Rajini etc.
Should not be a geographical name. eg.Ooty, chennai etc.
 Criteria for filing trademark application

• Invention that describes product alone eg tea, fan

etc cannot be registered but Darjeeling rea, Usha
fan can be registered.
• Invention that describes quality cannot be
registered. Eg superb, fine, innovative etc.
• Distinctiveness.
• Absence of 3 types of deceptive similarities:
• phonetic similarity as in gluvita and glucovita.
– Visual similarity
– Idea similarity eg Paypal and paytm. Reputation will be
affected.
 4. Service mark (SM)
• A service mark SM is a trademark used to
identify a service rather than product.
• The service is intangible, provided by a
company for the benefit of others.
• Eg. Carpet cleaning company and Hospitals
will get SM rather than TM registration as it
does a service activity instead of delivering a
product.
5. Collective marks and Certification marks
• Collective mark , owned by an association and
its members.

• Certification mark is the one that refers to the

standard or quality of a single product.
4. Design
 Industrial design Act 2000.

• According to this act, Industrial design is

defined as features such as shape,
configuration, pattern, lines, colors.
• The act signifies 3D structures
• Pattern or ornament may be embossed or
engraved or placed on the product for the
purpose of decoration..
• Design protection is concerned solely with the
appearance and not with their functions.
Industrial design registration head office is in Kolkata.
It can also be filed in Patent office in Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai.
Typical industrial designs of different
products and its applicant names.
 TRADE SECRET
Eg for trade secret.
 Trade Secret

• A trade secret is a
formula/practice/process/commercial method/
any information/ tricks pertaining to a
product/process which is responsible for the
success of the product.
• not generally known to the public or reasonably
ascertainable by others .
• It helps business people or industry to gain
advantages over their competitors.
• Its also called confidential information in some
country.
 Geographical Indications (GI)
• GI is a sign or name pertaining to a specific
geographic location.
• GI is shown in the product obtained from that
specific location.
• The product with the GI possess the quality
and reputation of that geographical origin.
• GI gives larger commercial value to that
product.
Egs for GI which have property rights.
• Kanchipuram silk sarees
• Sivakasi Crackers
• Bengal cotton
• Madhubani Bihar paints
• Mysore silk fabrics
• Darjeeling tea
• Kashmir carpets
• Tamil Nadu Rice varieties
• Indian Basmathi Rice (exported with GI tag)
 Difference between Trademark and GI
TM GI
Nexus between goods and Create a nexus between
manufacturer goods and its geographical
origin .
Facilitates users to identify Facilitates users to identify
the manufacturer’s the origin’s reputation.
reputation.

Facilitates the Facilitates the

manufacturers to indicate manufacturers to indicate
promising quality of the origin of the product.
product.
 Criteria for IPR
1. Invention & innovation
2. inventive step or non-obviousness
3.industrial applicability

• Invention is finding something (a process or product ) new for

the first time, that does not exist before.
• Innovation is improving/enhancing a existing process or
product with technical advancement or having economic
significance that provides solutions to the problem in the field
of technology.
 Novelty

• Novelty is “something new” and not available

in the public domains/prior-art like journals,
conferences, websites, whatsapp, facebook,
newspaper etc before the date of filing.
• Novelty cannot be proved but its absence can
be proved.
 An inventive step (or) Non-obviousness
• A claimed invention is considered to involve an inventive
step if, having regard to the prior art, it is not obvious to
a person skilled in the art.
• Who is “a person skilled in the art”?
A hypothetical person having ordinary skill in the art, who
is aware of common general knowledge in the art at the
relevant date, and has access to everything in the prior art.
• What is “obvious”? The claimed invention is obvious if
the person skilled in the art on the relevant date would
have been motivated or prompted to realize the claimed
invention by substituting, combining, or modifying one
or more of those items of prior art with a reasonable
likelihood of success.
 Industrial applicability
• Important patentability criteria
• The invention should have industrial or
practical application.
• Should be reproduced in any required
numbers with the same characteristics.
Non-patentable Inventions.
Non-patentable Inventions.
Continued….
Non-patentable Inventions.Contd….
 International Scenario
• Protection of IPR such as patents, designs,
trademarks, copyrights is an important aspect
of trade with country and between countries.
• A granted patent of a country is usually
protected only in those country or region
where it is filed.
• In China, Japan, Korea etc the patent
application should be submitted in national
languages .
• The international cooperation on IPR was
carried out inorder to facilitate filing of
application in one common language (say
English)in countries which agreed as per
convention.
• This was done by establishing following
treaties:
– Paris Convention 1967
– TRIPS Agreement 1998 (Trade related aspects of
intellectual property rights)
• WIPO –World Intellectual Property Organization
– One of the 16 specialized agencies of United nations
– Has 184 countries as members
– Headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland.
– Objectives: Plays a major role:
• in protecting the inventions and IPR worldwide PCT route of submission
of application. (PCT will be explained later).
• MONITOR the IPR process in all countries and provide information
among nations relating to IPRs granted.
• Solve disputes between individuals and companies using the WIPO
arbitration and mediation procedures.
• promote international cooperation for the creation, dissemination, use
and protection of works for the economic, cultural and social progress of
all mankind.
• Anna University I is one f the nodal centres of WIPO and act as
Technology Innovation and Support centre (TISC)for helping the inventors
in filing IPRs.
• Other nodal centres of WIPO are located in Allahabad, chandigarh, Jaipur,
Trivandram and Visag.
 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
A route for filing international patent.
• PCT is an international agreement which routes
filing of international patents.
• PCT helps to:
– Submit patent applications in the member
countries.
– Filing
– Protecting without losing the rights of priority fdf.
• Advantage: Through PCT filing route applications can
be prepared in a single language and can be filed in
one or more countries as per the applicant’s choice.
 PATENT RIGHTS
Patent family:
• A patent family is a series of patent applications registered in
various designated countries through PCT route for claiming
priority date I those countries.
• This family is created after filing the first application in the
member country.
• For example, if the first application is filed in Canada, on the
same day the PCT application is also filed. Thereafter, the
application is filed in countries like Australian Chile, china, Costa
Rica, Eurasia, Europe, japan, Korea, Peru, Singapore and US.
• Large patent family protects the invention in international
countries but the with higher costs for filing and annual
maintenance or renewal fees.
Scope of patent rights:
• Scope of patent rights is of two types:
– Geographical scope :
• The geographical location or the family size determines
the patent protection.
• Patent valid in a small patent family i.e, in a small
geographical area.
• Eg., An Indian patent granted by Indian patent office
does not offer protection or scope in other
geographical regions like US, China etc.
– Content or claim -related scope:
• The content (claims) determine the scope of the patent
right.
• More comprehensive the claims ; higher the protection and
rights.
• Comprehensive claims prevents competitors to improve the
scope of the patent.
• Eg.M/s Apple Inc, USA filed around 8000 patent applications
for their smart mobile devices (though they use only around
350 claims in the smart iphones).
• Thus Apple company prevented others from filing the same
claim and also prevented other companies to improve the
scope thereafter.
• When the number of claims are more than 10, there is an
increase in cost for each claim towards patent filing.
 Licensing
• Licensing is LEGAL TRANSFER of the rights of a
granted patent from a patentee to a licensee
(another person/organisation/ group of
person.
• Permitted under Section 70 of The Indian
Patent Act 1970.
• A contract is signed between the patentee and
licensee clearly mentioning the royalty
amount.
• Types of license:
1. Voluntary license: enables the licensee to make, use and
sell the product as per agreement.
Liable to cancellation in case of disagreement.
2.Statutory/Compulsory license: Granted by Central Govt.
enables third party to use the product without the consent
of patentee in view of public interest and in case of needy
times like war, escalation of price of drug for a specific
disease etc.
– This license is very important to export pharmaceutical
products to other countries for the benefit of people of
that country who are unable to manufacture the product.
– This is with or without royalty.
3.Exclusive license:
Exclusive license excludes all persons including
the patentee from the rights to use the invention.
4.Non-exclusive license:
Given to manufacturers to claim right to make
the product using the patented process.
5. Partially exclusive license: Only a part of the
invention is licensed .
6. Implied license: Implied license enables the
licensee to resell the product.
• Transfer by operation of Law:
– When a patentee dies the right passes to the
representative.
– Dissolution or winding up of a company or
bankruptcy leads to transmission of patent.
 Technology Transfer.
Technology transfer is the legal transfer of some updated or novel technical
factors/specifications to the licensee via TT-agreement inorder to use those factors in
their product/process:

Technical aspects transferred:

– knowledge
– information
– Skill
– Manufacturing process
– Physical assets
– Know-how technique
– Other technical aspects.
• Advantages: TT helps in:
– more innovative product generation.
– Wealth generation
– Development of the licensee’s company
– Cut down the costs of R&D activities
– Customer will get better products with updated technology
Patent -Functions and informations
Hand out pg 51-55.
 Patent database
• Patent information is made available to the public
through a variety of databases.
• Prominent databases:
– INPASS: Indian Patent Advance Search System. Covers all
patented documents filed in Indian Patent office.
– USPTO: United States Patent and Trademark Office. Covers
all patented documents filed in US.