Bullet Proof Your Start-Up
Vikrant Rana, Managing Partner of SSRANA & Co, was invited by the IIT Kanpur Alumni Association, Delhi Chapter, to speak as a panelist in the Start-Up Master Class, on April 06, 2019 at the India Habitat Center.
The session was titled ‘Bullet Proof Your Start-Up’ and was moderated by Dr. R Saha, Senior Advisor to the Confederation of Indian Industry, and Mr. Apoorv Mangalam, Founder of RoadGods, who underscored the importance of Intellectual Property from the perspective of a Start-Up.
The Session highlighted the growing importance of Intellectual Property Protection for Start-Ups. Vikrant highlighted from his past experiences in advising Start-Ups that protecting Intellectual Property is still not the most important aspect in the list of budding business inter alia due to the following factors –
- Time taken for obtaining IP
- Lack of funds; and
- Lack of Awareness
Vikrant stressed on how the lacunas were addressed very effectively by the Government, when they launched the Scheme for Facilitating Start-Ups Intellectual Property Protection in 2016. The said scheme empanels a list of facilitators for effective implementation of the National IPR Policy and will go a long way to help Start-Ups find the right professional from the beginning, and be more aware about efficaciously using IP rights to protect their business considering the Professional fees for the lawyers under the scheme are being paid by the Government.
Dr Saha very aptly concluded the session by saying that it is in the best interests of the business to consider protecting their ideas appropriately at an early stage. This may serve well to keep competitors at bay, while also serving as a tool to potentially securing royalties if the IP can be licensed out.