A scientist, Patent agent and a writer_Interview of Dr. Sheetal Chopra
STORY OF A DREAM CAREER:
"Ironically in a changing world, playing it safe is one of the riskiest things you can do."
The lines hold really true for the Career of Dr. Sheetal Chopra.
A chemistry post graduate by qualification, this young girl decided to pursue a career in drug discovery and started her career in 2001 with the biggest Indian pharmaceutical organization, Ranbaxy Research Laboratories. Post serving as a drug discoverer she took her first transition and actively ventured in the field of hard core Intellectual Property by joining the IPR division.
When everyone gets stagnant with the leadership role, she took another major turn into her career after 6 years of service in Ranbaxy. She moved to FICCI, an industry chamber getting involved into the IPR policy matters and led the IPR team for 7 years.
Some people are destined for newer challenges and she joined as public policy head at Vodafone with her third transition of career.
A short stint with CII, another chamber and then comes the biggest break. She is currently India Lead - IPR Advocacy at Ericsson India Ltd.
A true gem with experience cutting across the industries and chambers, she is popular in the IPR sphere of India. Pharma field is close to her heart and she has been vocal about the IPR issues in pharma Industry as well at multiple platforms.
She has come up with new edition of her book for patent agent examination. We had an opportunity for interviewing her for the same.
Any person who has completed his degree in Pharmacy is eligible to appear for the patent agent examination.
Excerpts of the interview:
Q: What is the significance of Patents and Pharmaceuticals? And what is the relation?
Pharma majors/Phama based R&D companies are investing billions of rupees in R&D every year to come up with drugs that can benefit the mankind and society overall. As one would appreciate R&D is highly risky with least success rate, it thus requires intensive and continuous effort to develop a therapy. Patent System in different countries offers protection to such inventions against misappropriation/
Q: What are the various career options available in the area of pharma patenting?
Options are diverse ranging from being an R&D scientist to working in the patent department of a pharma company; from drafting a pharma patent application to prosecuting it at the Patent Office to seek protection; from litigating in courts against infringers to acting as an enforcement official; from being a patent auditor to being a patent valuator; from being a patent trainer to being a patent agent etc. It's a booming industry and pharma being a research based industry, would definitely need more professionals. At a time when the jobs are drying up, Government of India (Patent office) has come up with 220 openings of the examiners recently, which certainly proves the career opportunities ahead.
Q: What is a Patent Agent Examination? How to prepare for the Patent Agent Examination?
This exam is important for those who wish to practice patent as a profession. It is also important for inventors/researchers to learn more about Indian Patenting System and taking up an examination is one of the best means to learn this subject.
Preparation:
One must do good preparation for this exam. As against earlier times that deserved longer duration for preparations, one could now prepare well in 3-4 months time provided there is a consistency maintained. Each day at least 2 hours should be given while during weekends one should ideally give 5-6 hours of study time. It is rather very beneficial to study in a group because the group discussions really help. Further, for the beginners, it is useful to first go through sample answers to previous year questions. It is beneficial to buy some book that is available in the market on Patent Agent Examination, especially the one that offers a detailed analysis of various sections of the Patents Act.
This year’s examination is due in the last week of October. Please browse the following websites for exam notice and for registration:
and
Q. You have published a book on Indian Patenting System and Patent Agent Examination with Notion Press. Can you give some brief about this book and how it can help Patent Agent Aspirants?
This book is meant for those wish to enter into the patent profession. This book is also meant for those who are practising one area of patenting but wish to learn more about the Patenting system in India. Certainly, as apparent from the Book title, this is meant for even those who are preparing for Patent Agent Examination.
One would find that this book captures a detailed explanation to various provisions of the Patents Act which is otherwise very difficult to comprehend from the Bare Act provisions. The book also provides summaries of important court cases which help in interpreting several important provisions of the Patents Act.
The book provides solutions to past year question papers of the Patent Agent Examination. It provides flowcharts and graphical presentation of various patent office procedures for easy understanding.
The book is available at Amazon.in, amazon prime, Flipkart, Infibeam and Notion Press website.
Q Can you briefly explain the structure of Patent Agent Examination for benefit of our readers?
Yeah Sure!! I have also responded to this question in my interview with Lawoctopus, which is available at https://www.lawctopus.com/
You will notice that the level of Patent Agent Examination conducted by the Intellectual Property Office has enhanced. There is more situation based questions being asked as against straight/direct ones. The pattern of 2016 examination, I would say, has actually set a trend to test true knowledge of Aspiring patent agents. There are two Papers (Paper I and Paper 2) and each paper now has three sections (section A, Section B and Section C) of 100 marks each. Earlier it used to be only two sections per paper.
Paper I:
Section A of Paper I of 60 marks:
This section has objective type questions and tests the candidate on his knowledge about various sections/FORMS/timelines/
Section B of Paper I of 10 marks:
This covers questions in a True/False format. Usually, there are two statements given with four options. The candidate has to pick which one is true/false.
Section C of Paper I of 100 marks:
This section covers MCQs that are more indirect in nature or situation based. Some hypothetical situations are mentioned based on which a candidate has to provide his answer. Below is one sample question that appeared in 2016 Question Paper, reproduced below:
Besides situation based questions, sometimes definitions may also be asked. Thus, in order to be able to crack this section of examinations, a candidate must have clarity on the correct interpretation of various provisions of the Patents Act. Court judgments and practice on the ground helps. The book on “Indian Patenting System and Patent Agent Examination” offers a detailed analysis of various important provisions of the Act.
Paper 2: 100 marks
Part A: 20 marks
Part B: 30 Marks
Part C: 50 Marks
Paper 2 is no more an objective type, as it is descriptive in nature. I would say the most interesting paper. One may safely say, that majority of questions are situation based. This section will assume a candidate as a patent Agent and is asked to analyze a given situation. Based on the analysis, the candidate has to offer his interpretation and what action will he take for his prospective clients in case of the given situations.
Sometimes a question may call for a short note on a theme/topic.
Section A of Paper 2 is the short answer based questions, while section B demands detailed explanations. Accordingly marking for questions in section B is more than those in section A.
Section C tests drafting skills of a candidate from writing a title of an invention to an abstract, to a detailed description and claims. In order to master this section of paper 2, a candidate must download some sample granted patents from Indian Patent Office website. Most of the time a choice is given to attempt either a pharma-based question or the one from the Ayurvedic sector or engineering etc. Depending upon the stream in which a candidate has his educational qualification, one could practice more of such questions during preparation time.
Excellent Article. Have known Dr Chopra for quite some time now. I believe that she is doing commendable work in creating awareness about IPR in India and specific sectors.
ReplyDeleteI am sure she would achieve her goal soonest.
Thank you so much for the appreciation Ankur Trivedi and we wish Sheetal madam success in her career. We are blessed to have your support for us..
ReplyDeleteThankyou for your valuable information
ReplyDelete