CIIPC - Key Persons
We are happy to announce that Devanshi Saxena is joining as Visiting Researcher from 16 th June to 31 st October 2023 at the Centre for Innovation, Intellectual Property & Competition (CIIPC) at National Law University Delhi.
Devanshi Saxena is a doctoral researcher and teaching assistant at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. She is investigating the potential of geographical indications as a legal tool for sustainable development with a focus on developing countries for her PhD thesis. She is adopting a critical decolonial approach to the discussions on sustainable development through geographical indications. Her two case studies are Chanderi sarees in India and Rooibos tea in South Africa.
Job Titles:
- Ambush Marketing - Game Within a Game ( Oxford University Press, 2008 )
- Associate Professor of Law and Co - Director of the Centre for Innovation
Dr Arul George Scaria is an Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition (CIIPC). He is also an Affiliate Faculty of the CopyrightX program, a course offered in collaboration with the Harvard Law School. His key areas of interest and specialisation are intellectual property law, competition law, science and technology policies and open movements. He is currently working on projects in the areas of open science, open innovation, and regulation of digital markets in the context of big data, AI, and IoT.
Arul did his doctoral research at the International Max Planck Research School for Competition and Innovation (IMPRS-CI), which was an interdisciplinary doctoral program jointly offered by the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (Munich) and the Ludwig Maximilians Universität (Munich). For his doctoral research, he received the IMPRS-CI Scholarship from the Max Planck Institute. His doctoral research was an empirical legal study on copyright piracy in the Indian film industry and he was awarded the doctoral degree with summa cum laude (‘with the highest distinction'). His research was supervised by Prof. Josef Drexl (Director, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition), a globally renowned scholar in the fields of intellectual property and competition law.
His post-doctoral research at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), Belgium, under the guidance of Prof. Tom Dedeurwaerdere (Director, BIOGOV Research Unit, UCL), focused on the issue of open access to large scale research data and he was part of different EU funded projects. Arul has also worked as a CSIR-NIF Fellow in the IP management division of the National Innovation Foundation of India.
Arul has many publications to his credit, including two single authored books - Ambush Marketing: Game within a Game (Oxford University Press, 2008) and Piracy in the Indian Film Industry: Copyright and Cultural Consonance (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Arul has made presentations in different international forums like the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the European Commission (EC), apart from speaking at different international conferences.
Arul has also served as the co-chair of a thematic group constituted by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, for drafting the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy of India (STIP 2020) and the group focused on issues relating to access to knowledge and resources. He was also a member of the advisory committee constituted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), India, in 2014 for addressing the copyright license issues for the open e-textbooks project of NCERT. He is currently a member of the IPR Expert Group constituted by Department of Science and Technology, Government of Rajasthan. He is also a member of the academic steering committee of Right to Research under International Copyright Law project at the American University Washington College of Law.
Job Titles:
- Researcher at the Graduate Institute of International
Dr Karine Peschard is a postdoctoral researcher at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva. She holds a PhD in anthropology from McGill University, and was also an associate researcher at the Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities (CSH Delhi).
Job Titles:
- Director of Economic Strategy at Qualcomm Inc
Dr Kirti Gupta is the Director of Economic Strategy at Qualcomm Inc. She manages and leads the substantive direction of global intellectual property, antitrust policy and outreach, whilst being actively involved in international antitrust and litigation matters.
Yogesh specializes in intellectual property law and has interdisciplinary research interests in technology, economics and policy. His teaching and general research involves intellectual property law, competition law and international trade law. Before joining NLU, Delhi, Yogesh was coordinator of the Ministry of Human Resource Development Chair on IPR at NLU, Jodhpur. He was also the faculty-in-charge of ‘Trade Law and Development', rated amongst the top 10 journals in international trade worldwide. His international work experience (between 2007 and 2008) involved working with the South Centre, Geneva, as an intern and later as a consultant to its Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme. He has previously worked with Centad, New Delhi, and also taught as a guest faculty at Indian Law Institute, New Delhi.
In the fall of 2012, Yogesh visited the School of Law, University of Washington, as the Asian Law Centre short-term Visiting Scholar. He was selected to attend the WIPO-WTO Colloquium for Teachers of Intellectual Property-2012 in Geneva. Yogesh has been a speaker on intellectual property issues on different occasions in India and abroad. Among his distinguished academic paper presentations were at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies, NUS, Singapore (2015); ENAPID VI- Salvador, Brazil (2014); Society of International Economic Law, Singapore (2012) and Bern (2014); American Society of International Law- International Economic Law Interest Group Biennial Conference, Washington DC (December, 2012); Asian Society of International Economic Law, Seoul, Korea (2013), ASLI Conference Bangalore (2013) and Kuala Lumpur (2014), and at the Department of International Development, University of Oxford (2008). Yogesh has been published in national and international journals/periodicals.
In 2013, Yogesh was nominated as a legal member in a committee constituted by the Ministry of Health, Government of India, for invoking provisions of compulsory licensing under the Patents Act, 1970, in the context of affordable healthcare. Yogesh was also the member of an expert committee constituted by the Ministry of Commerce to study the need for utility models in India (2013). Yogesh is currently pursing Ph.D. in law (part-time), where he is studying regulation of standards-essential patents. Yogesh is also interested in reforms in Indian legal education.
Job Titles:
- Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation
Apoorv joined CIIPC in August 2018 after completing his LL.M. (IP) from School of Legal Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology. He completed his B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from NUALS, Kochi in 2017. He got interested in IP after a field trip to Kadamakudy village. The trip aimed at studying the socio economic impact of getting a Geographical Indication (Pokkali Rice) for the proprietors of GI. The finding that the GI was of little significance to the proprietors because of large scale infringement and poor enforcement prompted him to delve further in the world of IP. He has interned at Centre for Intellectual Property Rights, NUALS where he worked on issues pertaining to IP Policy, Geographical Indications and the CIPR Blog. He has undertaken NPTEL online course on Patent Drafting and WIPO online courses on ‘Intellectual Property and Right to Health' and ‘Software Licensing'. His dissertation titled ‘Copyright in Video Games' dealt with the impact of copyright on the creation of video games and user created content in video games. His areas of interest include copyright, geographical indications and interface of IP with environment.
Apart from IP, his interests include Environmental Law, Jurisprudence and Constitutional law. Outside the world of IP and law, he has a keen interest in philosophy and history. He is an admirer of mother nature and her creatures in the wild.
He believes that there should be no hindrances to the knowledge, physically and monetarily. At CIIPC, he would be working on ‘Open Access Textbook on Intellectual Property Law'.
Swarnim Shrivastava is a qualified lawyer with special focus on global competition laws and trade policy. He has inter-disciplinary interests in law, economics and technology. He began his career as an associate with TPM Solicitors & Consultants, a trade law firm in New Delhi. Prior to joining CIIPC in July 2017, he worked as a judicial clerk at Competition Appellate Tribunal of India for over a period of one year. Besides assisting the judges in antitrust matters, he was also involved in policy-based work. He graduated from Hidayatullah National Law University,with a joint degree of B.A.LL.B (Honors) in law and political science majors in the year 2015. Post graduation, he spent a summer pursuing an advanced program in European Business Laws and WTO Law Practice from the University of Saint Louis, Brussels and Geneva. He has presented papers at various forums and frequently writes on developing competition law issues. Currently, he is focusing on the relationship between innovation and competition and is working on the competition law textbook project.
Satheesh Menon holds an MPhil in Applied Economics and is at an advanced stage of his PhD thesis. He did his MPhil from JNU (CDS), and joined UNU-MERIT in 2011. His area of research includes Innovation, Structural Change, and Industrial Policy. Having a strong academic interest in the analysis of Economics of Technological Change, he has been part of international and national research projects in the areas of technological capability and firm level competitiveness, technology diffusion and economic development, and migration and development. He has been published in the UNESCO Technologies for Development Series. At CIIPC, he is associated with the IP and Startups and Open Science for an Innovative India projects.
Job Titles:
- Counsellor in the Intellectual Property Division of the World Trade Organization
Ms Jayashree Watal is a Counsellor in the Intellectual Property Division of the World Trade Organization. She has more than twenty two years of experience with the Government of India and has represented the same in the monumental TRIPS negotiations.
Kavya joined CIIPC in December 2016 after completing her LLM in Intellectual Property and Competition Law from the Munich Intellectual Property Law Centre, MIPLC, in Munich, Germany. Her thesis discussed the question of local working requirements and its compatibility with TRIPS from the perspective of developing countries. She has previously worked with technology companies in Bangalore. Kavya is a graduate of the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad. Her areas of interest include Access to Medicines, Geographical Indications, Traditional knowledge and Trademarks. At CIIPC, she will be working primarily on the Open Textbook Project.
Priyanka completed her LLM in Corporate and Commercial laws from West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in 2016. Her thesis revolved around the broader interface of intellectual property rights and competition law discussed from the specific viewpoint of compulsory licenses in the pharmaceutical sector in India. Priyanka did her graduation from Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University (RMLNLU), Lucknow. Her areas of interest include competition law, access to medicines and legal philosophy. After her post graduation, Priyanka briefly taught law of contracts to undergraduate students before joining CIIPC in July 2017. At CIIPC, she will be working primarily on the Open Innovation project.
Shreyashi completed her B.A., L.L.B. degree in 2016 from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. As a student, she developed a deep interest in intersectional aspects of law and the socio-economic and political context in which laws are created and implemented, which led her to take up courses such as Antitrust and Innovation; Medicine and Public Health Law; Intellectual Property, Information Technology, and Human Rights; Traditional Knowledge, Traditional Cultural Expressions, Genetic Resources and Indigenous Peoples' Rights; Law and Public Policy; Law and Impoverishment; Media Laws; and Global Environmental Law.
She has been a research assistant on projects dealing with film piracy, free speech, and vagrancy. She has also been part of the NUJS team responding to the Law Commission of India Consultation Paper on Media Law, where she worked on media regulation.
Her interest in socio-economic rights is aligned with the projects she is involved in at CIIPC, i.e., the Open Access Textbook on Competition Law and Open Science for an Innovative India. The former is an effort to make knowledge more accessible, and is aimed towards those who wish to learn about the subject from a comprehensive resource. One of the goals of the latter project is to strengthen- among other aspects- transparency and accessibility of scientific research in the country. The fulfillment of that goal can help address issues of access and consumption exacerbated by socio-economic inequalities.
Shreyashi is keen on exploring the human rights implications of intellectual property laws and competition law, and strongly believes that lawyers have a duty to include the voices of the marginalized within mainstream discourses regarding the framing and implementation of law. Her other interest areas include open innovation; migration, displacement, and refugee rights; and gender and sexuality.
Prof. Margaret McCabe has taught law at the University of New Hampshire School of Law since 2001, and currently serves as the Associate Dean for Academic Administration. Her primary focus is critical thinking on how law affects society, and in particular, food systems and economic policy.
Prof. Subha Ghosh was a Fulbright visiting faculty at National Law University Delhi in 2016. He is the Crandall Melvin Professor of Law as well as the Director of the Technology Commercialization Law Program at the Syracuse University College of Law.
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Vice Chancellor of National Law University Delhi
Professor (Dr.) Srikrishna Deva Rao is the Vice Chancellor of National Law University Delhi and an eminent teacher and scholar in criminal law and access to justice. He is the ex-officio coordinator for Centre for Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition Law.
Professor Rao is an institution builder and has made significant contributions to the growth and expansion of multiple nascent institutions in India. He has previously been the Vice-Chancellor of National Law University Odisha (2014 - 2020), Registrar of National Law University Delhi (2010 - 2014), Founding Director of School of Law, IGNOU (2007 - 2010), and Dean of the Gujarat National Law University (2004 - 2007).
Professor Rao's areas of specialisation are criminal law, juvenile justice, human rights and clinical legal education. In his over three decades-long academic career, in addition to NLU Delhi, NLU Odisha and GNLU, he has taught at NLSIU, NALSAR and the University of Delhi.
Professor Rao has been instrumental in institutionalizing legal aid and legal empowerment in India. The Land Rights Paralegal Programme of Andhra Pradesh state was an offshoot of his course on Legal Aid and Public Interest Litigation at NALSAR, Hyderabad in 2003. He developed a specialized Diploma in Paralegal Practice at Indira Gandhi National Open University in 2009 during his tenure as Director of the School of Law at New Delhi. He also initiated the Bachelor of Vocational program in Access to Justice at NLU Odisha. Professor Rao was also a Member of the Committee of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) in 2018 to design the curriculum for four mandatory clinical courses.
Professor Rao is an institution builder and has made significant contributions to the growth and expansion of multiple nascent institutions in India. He has previously been the Vice-Chancellor of National Law University Odisha (2014 - 2020), Registrar of National Law University Delhi (2010 - 2014), Founding Director of School of Law, IGNOU (2007 - 2010), and Dean of the Gujarat National Law University (2004 - 2007).
Professor Rao's areas of specialisation are criminal law, juvenile justice, human rights and clinical legal education. In his over three decades-long academic career, in addition to NLU Delhi, NLU Odisha and GNLU, he has taught at NLSIU, NALSAR and the University of Delhi.
Professor Rao has been instrumental in institutionalizing legal aid and legal empowerment in India. The Land Rights Paralegal Programme of Andhra Pradesh state was an offshoot of his course on Legal Aid and Public Interest Litigation at NALSAR, Hyderabad in 2003. He developed a specialized Diploma in Paralegal Practice at Indira Gandhi National Open University in 2009 during his tenure as Director of the School of Law at New Delhi. He also initiated the Bachelor of Vocational program in Access to Justice at NLU Odisha. Professor Rao was also a Member of the Committee of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) in 2018 to design the curriculum for four mandatory clinical courses.
Professor Rao has been actively engaged in human rights teaching and research and was sponsored by the National Human Rights Commission in 1994 to participate in Human Rights Course at International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France and later also interned with the International Committee of Red Cross, Geneva.
Professor Rao is currently the Chairperson of the Committee for Reforms in Criminal Law, constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India to recommend reforms in the India's criminal laws in a principled, effective and efficient manner.
Professor Rao is a Fulbright Scholar and has been a Visiting Fellow at the University of Washington and the School of Oriental and African Studies. He was a Ford Foundation Fellow at the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia. He is a recipient of the Kumarappa-Reckless, the highest award of the India Society of Criminology (ISC) for his contribution to teaching, research and administration in criminal justice education and has also received the Dr. B. S. Haikerwal and Prof. Sushil Chandra Award from ISC.
The Supreme Court of India in DK Basu v. State of West Bengal, (1997) 1 SCC 416 borrowed some of his ideas and observations on custodial deaths from his article, Let us speak for the Dead and Protect the Living published in 1995.
Professor Rao is currently a Standing Committee member of the Legal Education Committee of the Bar Council of India. He has previously been a member of the UGC Expert Committee in Law to Transform Legal Education in India. He was also a member of the Ministry of Law and Justice Committee for implementing Judicial Impact Assessment in India.
He has undertaken several research projects with the Law Commission of India, Ministry of Law and Justice, United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Labour Organization (ILO), UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKERI), Indian Medical Association and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.