Research Methodology and

Intellectual Property Rights

Notes for M. Tech. Civil (Structural Engineering) - I

by

I M CHANDARKI
Sinhgad Institutes
Solapur

2021
SPSPM SINHGAD PUBLICATIONS
N B Navale Sinhgad College of Engineering and Center for Research and
Technology Development, Solapur(MS)INDIA, 2020–2021

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND IPR

2021

N B Navale Sinhgad College of Engineering and Center for Research

and Technology Development, Solapur(MS)INDIA, 2020–2021
Contents

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Defining Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Management Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 Reporting type of research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.3 Descriptive Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.4 Explanatory Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.5 Predictive Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Scientific Enquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.1 Process of Scientific Enquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Scientific Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4.1 Formal Science and Empirical Science . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4.2 Logical Calculus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4.3 Logic of Scientific Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.4 Deductive Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.5 Inductive Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Types of research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5.1 Descriptive versus analytical: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5.2 Applied versus fundamental: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5.3 Quantitative versus qualitative: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5.4 Conceptual versus empirical: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5.5 Other types of research: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6 Research Process and steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6.1 Research planning (design): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.6.2 Reporting results: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.7 Research process/Steps: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.8 Research Proposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.8.1 Types of Research Proposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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 1.8.2 Research Proposals contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.8.3 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.8.4 Research Proposals sponsor agent’s requirements . . . . 18
1.9 Some Implicit Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.9.1 Ethical Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.9.2 Training Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.9.3 Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.9.4 Legal aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2 Research Design 21
2.1 Research Design: Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 Research Design: Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3 Concepts related Research Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.1 Dependent and independent variables: . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.2 Extraneous variables: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.3 Confounded relationship: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.4 Research hypothesis: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.5 Experimental and non-experimental hypothesis testing
research: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.6 Experimental and control groups: . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.3.7 Treatments: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.3.8 Experiment: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.3.9 Experimental unit(s): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4 categories Literature Survey and Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.5 Dimensions and issues of Research Design . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.6 Research Design Process – Selection of type of research . . . . . 27
2.6.1 Exploratory research design: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.6.2 Descriptive and diagnostic research design: . . . . . . . . 27
2.6.3 Hypothesis-Testing research design: . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.7 Measurement and measurement techniques . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.7.1 Techniques of Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.7.2 Errors of Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.8 Selection of Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.9 Selection of Data Collection Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.9.1 Secondary Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.9.2 Primary data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.10 Selection of Methods of Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

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 2.11 Errors in Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3 Research Problem 34
3.0.1 Generation of Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.0.2 Formulation of The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.1 Problem Solving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.2 Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.2.1 simple and complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.2.2 well-defined and ill-defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.2.3 Tame and Wicked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.3 Process and Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.3.1 Logical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.3.2 Soft System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.3.3 Creative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.4 Creative problem solving process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.5 Development of Creativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.6 Group Problem Solving Techniques for Idea Generation . . . . 43
3.7 Brain storming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.8 Delphi Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

4 Nature of Intellectual Property 46

4.1 Trademarks and Service Marks: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.1.1 Federal Registration of trademarks: . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2 Copyrights: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2.1 Federal Registration of Copyrights: . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.3 Patents: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.3.1 Federal Registration of Patents: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.4 Trade Secrets: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.5 Patents Trade and Copyright Process of Patenting and Develop-
ment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.5.1 Patent Prosecution flowchart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.5.2 Technological . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.5.3 Research innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.5.4 Patenting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.5.5 Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

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 4.6 International Scenario: International cooperation on Intellectual
Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.7 Procedure for grants of patents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.8 Patenting under PCT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.8.1 Broad Provisions of the Patent Cooperation Treaty . . . 58
4.8.2 Foreign Patent Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.8.3 Broad Provisions of the Patent Cooperation Treaty . . 60

5 Patent Rights 61
5.1 Scope of Patent Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.2 Licensing and transfer of technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.2.1 What is Technology Transfer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.2.2 Why Transfer Technology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.2.3 How Do You Transfer Technology? . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.2.4 Private technology transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.2.5 Technology Transfer from Government to Industry . . . 69
5.2.6 University-industry technology transfer . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.3 Patent information and databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.3.1 Patent Searching Process The need for a search: . . . . . 72
5.3.2 obviousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.3.3 Searching tools: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.4 Geographical Indications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5.4.1 What rights does a geographical indication provide? . . . 74
5.4.2 For what type of products can geographical indications
be used? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

6 New Developments in IPR 76

6.1 New Development in Trade Marks Law: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.1.1 The Internet: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.2 Assignment of Domain names: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.2.1 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers[ICANN]: 77
6.2.2 Protecting a Domain Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.3 New Development in Copy Right Law: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.4 New Development in Patent Law: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.4.1 Business method and software patent: . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.4.2 Biotechnology patent: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

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 6.4.3 American Investors Protection Act of 1999[AIPA]: . . . . 80
6.4.4 Introduction of International Patent protection: . . . . . 80
6.5 Administration of Patent System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.5.1 Brief history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.5.2 Legal and administrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.6 IPR of Biological Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.6.1 Importance of traditional knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.6.2 India and traditional knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.6.3 Biopiracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
6.7 Patent, Copyright, and Trade Secret Protection in Computer
Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

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Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Defining Research

Research is defined as a systematic, self-critical enquiry. The enquiry is aimed at
understanding a thing or phenomenon or solving a problem. When an enquiry
is aimed at understanding, it is termed as basic or fundamental research, which
pursues knowledge, and may or may not have practical or commercial use.
When the enquiry is aimed at applying the available knowledge for practical
or commercial use, or for solving a problem faced in practice, it is termed as
applied research.
Research is a systematic enquiry, whether scientific or otherwise. Scientific
research, on the other hand, employing scientific method, (to be dealt with later
in the chapter) has well defined objectives and methods, generates dependable
data, reliable and unambiguous findings, and justifiable conclusions.

1.1.1 Management Research

Research in management is primarily applied research, in the sense that it is
directed towards aiding the manager in his decision-making. Research is car-
ried out in the enterprise to solve managers’ immediate problems or help them
in their predictive efforts for determining the future course of action or tack-
ling an anticipated problem. However, management research may be carried
out in universities and research institutions where the primary objective of the
researcher is to understand the phenomena of decision-making processes and
their environments. In this case, research tends to be basic or fundamental.
The manager himself may carry out management research in the enterprise
when he makes systematic enquiries. Data/information is collected and anal-
ysed, depending upon his own background and experience. Such research may

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not be scientific but would be useful in decision-making. However, more often,
a hired outside specialist (management scientist or consultant), in collabora-
tion with the manager, carries out the research. Research in such cases is more
scientific and also gives practically useful results. The manager tends to check
on the objectives, methods, and the terms of research to make it more useful
to the firm, and within this framework the scientist makes a scientific enquiry
to derive valid results. In either of these cases, the research process follows the
same general steps.

1.1.2 Reporting type of research

It consists of furnishing data, information, or statistics. It may involve consid-
erable skill in obtaining data from sources, abstracting the information from it,
and evaluating the information thus obtained

1.1.3 Descriptive Research

In descriptive type of research, the researcher may try to describe a single
event or characteristic through distributions or may try to relate a few events
or variables through statistical analysis. The results cater to broader decision
interests in the organisation, relating to policy, administration, and the like.

1.1.4 Explanatory Research

Explanatory research explains the phenomenon. Hypotheses and theories mark
this kind of research. Statistical or Operations Research (OR) modelling may
be used in analysis.

1.1.5 Predictive Research

Predictive research uses the type of modelling done in explanatory research to
forecast the occurrence of an event or events under certain conditions arising in
the future; for example, when a capacity addition/expansion of a plant would
be desirable with the current trends of demand continuing or changing because
of technological changes. Predictive research is particularly useful in planning
the activities of a firm.

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1.2 Scientific Enquiry
It is a mental activity both speculative( based on conjecture rather than knowl-
edge.) and critical in which critical (analytical) activity dominates.
Science is at once a body of knowledge and the process of generating that knowl-
edge. Science as a process is one of enquiry. It is different from common sense
enquiry in that it is controlled (Ackoff, 1962).
Science is “. . . trained and organised common sense” (Huxley, 1953). Further,
scientific enquiry has goals of improving the method of conducting the enquiry
itself, of answering questions, and of solving problems.

The central goal of science is the enhancement of knowledge. Bunge (1967)

proposes the following goals:
ˆ Advancement of knowledge and prediction

ˆ Mapping the patterns of various domains of facts (conceptual mappings)

ˆ Continuous improvement of its products through a set of partial models,

using logical and empirical analysis
ˆ Meta science, which is the science of science itself.

Science, in the main, aims at developing more and more true patterns of re-
ality gradually. It starts with simple and partial models representing different
aspects of reality—first its components, then the relationships among them. It
then adds on more and more territories and features.
Another major objective of science is to sharpen and improve its own method-
ology and techniques for gaining knowledge of reality and of predicting it. This
is referred to as metascience by Bunge (1967).

1.2.1 Process of Scientific Enquiry

Science deals with nature and has grown out of natural philosophy. Bwad
(1923) identifies two models of philosophical activities as a means of enquiry—
speculative and critical (analytical). Speculative activity depends much on
broad experience and imagination. Analytical activity, on the other hand, re-
quires thoroughness, insight, and concentration on detail. It is clear that each
must complement the other. In science, as in metaphysics, both the modes are

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necessary. There is, however, a dominance of analytical activity in scientific en-
quiry and method. Analysis is concerned with the language in which thinking
is expressed, and can be done in three ways, namely, through the method of
redefinition, the method of explication, and the method of illustration in use
(Caws, 1965)

1.3 Hypothesis
It is the declarative sentence or proposition in which at least one empirical
generalization follows and states the existence of the size, form or distribution
of some variables. The relation between a fact and its cause is expressed as
hypothesis, which must be capable of being experimentally verified and must
have a definite practical consequence.
Based on enquiry or insight or a limited observation of phenomena, a scientist
may make a proposition. A proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence
used for the assertion of some relationship between concepts.
If a series of observations are made on objects O, in order to determine whether
or not the objects in this class exhibit property P, and if in each case of O and
so on, that is, O1, O2, O3, and so on, the property P is observed, the scientist
moves from a declarative statement with respect to each observation of O to a
universal statement about class P, like all Os are P. Such a jump is known as
generalisation.
Hypothesis is any declarative sentence in which at least one empirical gener-
alisation follows but whose contradiction does not take the form of a protocol
sentence. Hypothesis is a proposition that typically states the existence, size,
form, or distribution of some variable (Emory 1976). In this form, a proposi-
tion can be tested and becomes a hypothesis. If a declarative sentence whose
consequences, when tested empirically, result in reality not leading to them
it becomes necessary to reject it. What is scientific is, therefore, relative to
the status of knowledge at the time of making the hypothesis. Hypotheses are
rejected not because they are false but because they are irrelevant. Usually,
generalisations that are not confirmed are called hypotheses. They are only
tentative, need to be confirmed, and are only just ‘working hypotheses’. Gen-
eralisations emerge but hypotheses have to be invented (Caws, 1965). In any
case, a hypothesis that is confirmed indicates confidence in the repeatability of
observations.

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1.4 Scientific Method
Scientific method is one that uses hypothetico-deductive method for developing
laws and theories, evoking hypotheses inductively and testing them deductively.

1.4.1 Formal Science and Empirical Science

Formal science (for example, mathematical sciences) is based on the axiomatic
method. An axiom is postulated as true and further axioms are deduced from
it. Thus, an axiom is an analytical truth. The only truths that logical terms
deal with are analytical and a science embodying only such terms is called a
formal science. In formal science some of the following terms are relevant.

1.4.2 Logical Calculus

It is a system within which formal properties and relationships can be calcu-
lated. (for example, Calculus). A deductive system is one that has interrelated
statements out of which some follow from the others deductively. An axiomatic
system is either an axiom (not following deductively from any statement) or an
axiom has to result in a useful calculus and must be independent. Axioms, in
general, should be consistent. A theorem is a sentence arrived at by using a set
of axioms put together by means of acceptable transformation rules, inference
rules, formation rules, or rules for specification of terms. A series of sentences
starting with axioms and ending with a theorem is the proof of the theorem.
(Bullock Alan, et al. (1990), pp.64-65
Empirical science draws inspiration from natural sciences (like physics, chem-
istry, geology, astronomy, and so on) and is based on facts. The scientific
method used in developing scientific laws and theory uses the hypothetico de-
ductive procedure (Popper, 1959). This procedure inductively evokes hypoth-
esis by experience or by the study of a phenomenon and tests it deductively
using information from the phenomenon. Science, in this sense, has empirical
meaning.
The scientific method uses, both descriptive terms and logical terms, and axioms
both logical, like in formal science, and syntactical (axioms that are empirical).
Arguably, the best way to go about science is to separate the mathematical
form and the empirical meaning and argument (Braithwaite, 1973).

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1.4.3 Logic of Scientific Methods
A satisfactory scientific explanation is one that logically classifies the relation-
ships between facts and not one that is merely psychologically acceptable. Logic
has two values, like simple switches, connoting either a Yes or a No. In a logical
system, deriving logical truth from one sentence to another is called inference.
In logical inference there is a need to start with a true sentence. The relation-
ship, which can be inferred in such a process, is called implication.
If the inferences in a logical system are certainties, they are called demonstra-
tive, and if they are probable, they are called non-demonstrative. Demonstra-
tive inferences are deductive—drawing particular conclusions (true inferences)
from general principles. The set of sentences deriving conclusions (last sen-
tences) from other sentences is called an argument. The set of sentences, rea-
sons, or premises must be true for the conclusion to be true, then the argument
is valid. Propositions are true or false; reasoning or argument is valid or in-
valid. Deductive logic is the study of validity and not of truth. The following
examples illustrate this.

1.4.4 Deductive Logic

Deductive logic (also called deductive reasoning or deduction) is a precise and
well-ordered system that aims to provide definite support for a conclusion.
While inductive reasoning can show that a conclusion is probably true, deduc-
tive reasoning can show that a conclusion must be true. In other words, if we
use deductive logic and if we have a valid argument with premises that are def-
initely true, then we can guarantee that our conclusion is true. Some examples
of deductive reasoning are implication and syllogism.

If the inferences in a logical system are certainties, they are called demonstra-
tive, and if they are probable, they are called non-demonstrative. Demonstra-
tive inferences are deductive—drawing particular conclusions (true inferences)
from general principles. The set of sentences deriving conclusions (last sen-
tences) from other sentences is called an argument. The set of sentences, rea-
sons, or premises must be true for the conclusion to be true, then the argument
is valid. Propositions are true or false; reasoning or argument is valid or invalid.
Deductive logic is the study of validity and not of truth.

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1.4.5 Inductive Logic
There is one logic exercise we do nearly every day, though we’re scarcely aware
of it. We take tiny things we’ve seen or read and draw general principles from
them—an act known as inductive reasoning.
This form of reasoning plays an important role in writing, too. But there’s a
big gap between a strong inductive argument and a weak one.
Francis Bacon introduced the use of inductive logic. In induction, empirical ev-
idence or fact is the starting point. Inference is drawn from the evidence in the
form of conclusions, which explain the evidence or facts. An inductive conclu-
sion may be one of the many possible explanations of the fact and is, therefore,
only tentative. It may also explain facts other than those observed as evidence.
Therefore, it is usual to refer to the relation between evidence and inductive
conclusion as supporting, that is, the evidence supports the conclusion. When
contradictory new evidence is observed, the conclusion has to be abandoned.

1.5 Types of research

There are different types of research. The basic ones are as follows.

1.5.1 Descriptive versus analytical:

Descriptive research consists of surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different
types. The main objective of descriptive research is describing the state of af-
fairs as it prevails at the time of study. The term ex post facto research is
quite often used for descriptive research studies in social sciences and business
research. The most distinguishing feature of this method is that the researcher
has no control over the variables here. He/she has to only report what is hap-
pening or what has happened.Majority of the ex post facto research projects
are used for descriptive studies in which the researcher attempts to examine
phenomena, such as the consumers‘ preferences, frequency of purchases, shop-
ping, etc. Despite the inability of the researchers to control the variables, ex
post facto studies may also comprise attempts by them
to discover the causes of the selected problem. The methods of research adopted
in conducting descriptive research are survey methods of all kinds, including
correlational and comparative methods. Meanwhile in the Analytical research,
the researcher has to use the already available facts or information, and analyze

7
them to make a critical evaluation of the subject.

1.5.2 Applied versus fundamental:

Research can also be applied or fundamental in nature. An attempt to find a
solution to an immediate problem encountered by a firm, an industry, a business
organization, or the society is known as applied research. Researchers engaged
in such researches aim at drawing certain conclusions confronting a concrete
social or business problem.
On the other hand, fundamental research mainly concerns generalizations and
formulation of a theory. In other words, —Gathering knowledge for knowl-
edge‘s sake is termed pure‘ or basic‘ research (Young in Kothari, 1988). Re-
searches relating to pure mathematics or concerning some natural phenomenon
are instances of Fundamental Research. Likewise, studies focusing on human
behaviour also fall under the category of fundamental research.
Thus, while the principal objective of applied research is to find a solution
to some pressing practical problem, the objective of basic research is to find
information with a broad base of application and add to the already existing
organized body of scientific knowledge.

1.5.3 Quantitative versus qualitative:

Quantitative research relates to aspects that can be quantified or can be ex-
pressed in terms of quantity. It involves the measurement of quantity or amount.
Various available statistical and econometric methods are adopted for analysis
in such research. Which includes correlation, regressions and time series anal-
ysisetc,.
On the other hand, Qualitative research is concerned with qualitative phenom-
ena, or more specifically, the aspects related to or involving quality or kind.
For example, an important type of qualitative research is Motivation Research‘,
whichinvestigates into the reasonsfor certain human behavior. The main aim
of this type of research is discoveringtheunderlyingmotivesanddesiresofin-depth
interviews. The other techniques employedin such researchare story comple-
tion tests, sentence completion tests, word association tests, and other similar
projective methods. Qualitative research is particularly significant in the con-
text of behavioral sciences, which aim at discovering the underlying motives
of human behaviour. Such research helps to analyze the various factors that

8
motivate human beings to behave in a certain manner, besides contributing to
an understanding of what makes individuals like or dislike a particular thing.
However, it is worth noting that
conducting qualitative research in practice is considerably a difficult task. Hence,
while undertaking such research, seeking guidance from experienced expert re-
searchers isimportant.

1.5.4 Conceptual versus empirical:

The research related to some abstract idea or theory is known as Conceptual
Research. Generally, philosophers and thinkers use it for developing new con-
cepts or for reinterpreting the existing ones. Empirical Research, on the other
hand, exclusively relies on the observation or experience with hardly any re-
gard for theory and system.Such research is data based, which often comes up
with conclusions that can be verified through experiments or observation. Em-
pirical research is also known as experimental type of research, in which it is
important to first collect the facts and their sources, and actively take steps to
stimulate the production of desired information. In this type of research, the re-
searcher first formulates a working hypothesis, and then gathers sufficient facts
to prove or disprove the stated hypothesis. He/she formulates the experimen-
tal design,whichaccordingtohim/herwouldmanipulatethevariables,soasto obtain
the desired information. This type of research is thus characterized by the
researcher‘s control over the variables under study. In simple term, empirical
research is most appropriate when an attempt is made to prove that certain
variables influence the other variables in some way. Therefore, the results ob-
tained by using the experimental or empirical studies are considered to be the
most powerful evidences for a given hypothesis.

1.5.5 Other types of research:

The remaining types of research are variations of one or more ofthe afore-
mentioned type of research. They vary in terms of the purpose of research,or
the time required to complete it,or may be based on some other similar factor.
On the basis of time, research may either be in the nature of one-time or
longitudinal time series research. While the research is restricted to a single
time-period in the former case, it is conducted over several time-periods in
the latter case. Depending upon the environment in which the research is to
be conducted, it can also be laboratory research or field-setting research, or

9
simulation research, besides being diagnostic or clinical in nature. Under such
research, in-depth approaches or case study method may be employed to analyse
the basic causal relations. These studies usually undertake a detailed in-depth
analysis of the causes of certain events of interest, and use very small samples
and sharp data collection methods. The research may also be explanatory
in nature. Formalized research studies consist of substantial structure and
specific hypotheses to be verified. As regards to historical research, sources like
historical documents, remains, etc. Are utilized to study past events or ideas.
It also includes philosophy of persons and groups of the past or any remote
point of time.
Research has also been classified into decision-oriented and conclusion-oriented
categories. The decision-oriented research is always carried out as per the need
of a decision maker and hence,the researcher has no freedom to conduct the
research according to his/her own desires. On the other hand, in the case of
Conclusion-oriented research, the researcher is free to choose the problem, re-
design the enquiry as it progresses and even change conceptualization as he/she
wishes. An operation research is a kind of decision- oriented research, where in
scientific method is used in providing the departments, a quantitative basis for
decision-making with respect to the activities under their purview.

1.6 Research Process and steps

The typical research process is succinctly represented in the diagram given in
Fig. Scientific research process outlined in Fig. 2.1 has typically the following
stages:
Problem identification: Sources of a research problem are:
(1) A manager who is faced with a problem to be solved or who needs improve-
ment in some aspect of his decision-making. (2) Research literature, consisting
of theses, research journal articles, books, general observations in conferences
and seminars, and opinions of experts in the field of interest.
(3) Considerable personal experience of the above researcher in the field of re-
search interest.
(4) A scientific observation of a phenomenon or a managerial set up.

In problem identification
(a) the problem faced in practice by a manager or organisation is translated
into a research problem or examined for application of standard methods of

10
solution available, or
(b) inadequate treatment of a problem is improved, or (c) new problem ideas
are creatively generated.

Research problem definition: The tentative and general statements of problems

obtained in the identification phase are converted into researchable questions
and propositions. Clear and unambiguous statements of the problem are made
and the information required for research is stated.

Theoretical framework: Variables required for solving the problem are identi-
fied, partly from literature and partly by the researcher for defining the problem.
The problem is related to the existing research—theories, constructs, and hy-
pothesis in a theoretical framework that will ensure step-by-step progress of
knowledge (as in pure research) or a strong basis for the current problem solv-
ing (as in applied research).
Tentative hypothes/models development: The problem definitions/propositions
are converted into hypotheses or models, which are in testable form to ascertain
whether they can be verified statistically or are feasible for solution procedures.
(Hypothesis and theoretical framework are termed research problem formula-
tion.)

1.6.1 Research planning (design):

This involves the following steps:
(i) Determining the type of research to be carried out for data collection—secondary
data, experiment, ex post facto, or model building;
(ii) Selection of the measurement and scaling of the variables that is, whether
questionnaires, or observations or interview techniques are used;
(iii) Selection of the representative sample: specification of how many respon-
dents, and what kind of respondents or objects to measure;
(iv) Selection of the appropriate method/techniques of analysis of data; and
(v) Preparation of a research proposal. In addition to the above steps in re-
search design specification of the time schedule of research, cost estimates and
usefulness of the research are summarised in a research project proposal. This
serves as a means of communication to the sponsorer or the administration of
a university for obtaining funds or approval.

11
 Figure 1.1: Research Process

Execution of research study: Data is collected as per the sampling plan using
the instrument developed as per the specification in the design phase.
Data preparation and analysis: The raw data collected in the earlier step is
converted into data usable for research by carrying out coding, transformation,
and performing descriptive analysis, as required. This converted data is used
for verifying hypothesis, deriving significant relationships, or testing models, as
required, and inferences are drawn from the study and results are analysed.

1.6.2 Reporting results:

The results obtained in the research are presented in the form of a written re-
port, thesis, or in an oral presentation.

12
1.7 Research process/Steps:
Research process consists of a series of steps or actions required for effectively
conducting research. The following are the steps that provide useful procedural
guidelines regarding the conduct of research:
(1) Formulating the research problem;
(2) Extensive literature survey;
(3) Developing hypothesis;
(4) Preparing the research design;
(5) Determining sample design;
(6) Collecting data;
(7) Execution of the project;
(8) Analysis of data;
(9) Hypothesis testing;
(10) Generalization and interpretation,and
(11) Preparation of the reporter presentation of the results.
In other words, it involves the formal write-up of conclusions.

1.8 Research Proposals

A research proposal is a blueprint for conducting and controlling research. It
is considered as a research plan to serve as a means of communication between
the researchers and the research supporters.
When a researcher needs approval and/or financial support for an intended re-
search, he prepares a formal proposal and submits it to an appropriate approv-
ing/sponsoring authority. It is a bid for undertaking research. The proposal is
the form of a research design, which is the blueprint for conducting and control-
ling research. It can also be considered a research plan or a research project.
Making a research proposal and getting it approved and supported may appear
to be an administrative activity rather than a step in the process of research,
but it is not so. Therefore, it is necessary to define research proposal as an inte-
gral part of the general research flow. Figure 1.2 details the process of research
in three stages: (i) The preliminary investigation stage in the first step, at the
end of which a research problem is defined with a great degree of confidence. It
may also be derived from the study of the actual problem of a manager or from
a feasibility or an exploratory study carried out on the scientist’s perceptual
formulation of the research problem. (ii) When the problem becomes clear, the

13
 Figure 1.2: Research Proposal in Research flow

next step of the process is research planning, comprising research design (the
technical planning of the details of the research process) and the managerial
portion of planning to obtain resources, in terms of outside help, equipment,
scientific manpower, time and funds. Every research requires resources, the
allocation of which must be planned in advance. (iii) After obtaining approval
of research proposal and resources, research activities can be initiated and ex-
ecuted as per the design and within the framework of control by the funding
agency. The form and content of the research proposals vary depending upon
the researcher and his organisation, the client’s organisations, and the support-
ing agency. The research proposal serves as a means of communication between
the researcher and the research supporter, and must necessarily be drawn up
with care and clarity.
In this section, the purpose, content, types, and format of research propos-
als will be presented. Needless to say, the details for a typical proposal will
be presented with qualifications wherever necessary and illustrations will be
provided.

Purpose of Research Proposal

The purpose of a research proposal is to clearly communicate the following to

the sponsor:
1. Need of the particular research
2. Benefits of the research
3. Beneficiaries of the research
4. Kind of data to be collected and the means
5. Type of analysis that will be done

14
 6. Whether help of other organisations will be needed
7. Duration, facilities, and funds required to carry out the research
8. Credentials of the proposers
A research proposal is critical, for it makes the researcher think of the possible
roadblocks on the way and alternate bypasses to be taken in such cases. Another
very important use of a research proposal is that it helps the decision maker and
the researcher to arrive at agreements on the problem with regard to objectives,
information required, and the methods of analysis.

1.8.1 Types of Research Proposals

There are three types of Research Proposal (a) Academic Research Proposal for
Conferments (b) Proposals internally generated and funded and (c) Proposal
internally generated and externally funded either by a public or private funding
agency.
The type of proposal depends on the type of project it deals with. It may range
from a simple pilot study to a large complex project. It may originate from
corporations (firms), research students (graduates), faculty in a university, or
research organisations, both private and public, or research consultants. One
way of classifying research proposals is to consider them as internal proposals
or external proposals.

Internal Research Proposals

These are proposals generated within an organisation or agency and submit-

ted to its management for approval or funding. They are responses to specific
management needs of problem solving or product or process development, and
are funded internally. The emphasis is on solving the immediate problem or
developing new product/process or modifying old ones. They do not emphasise
literature reviews. An executive summary is required in these proposals for
quick management appreciation. Schedule of funds and time frame for com-
pletion should also be included. Project plans like Program Evaluation and
Review Technique/Critical Path Method charts are not generally required.

15
External Research Proposals

A proposal generated within an organisation and directed to an outside cus-

tomer, organisation, or funding agency, is an external proposal. This may be
against an advertisement or solicitation from the customer. Then the pro-
posal becomes a competing bid. It may also be unsolicited, in which case the
proposing scientist or organisation makes the proposal based on a perceived
general/natural need after a preliminary/feasibility study. Usually, the exter-
nal proposal is larger in scope because it aims at winning funding for research,
as in research institutes/universities, or winning contracts to generate profits, as
in industry. In external proposals, objectives, detailed research design, creden-
tials of the research scientist/ team, and the budget become vital. In complex
and large projects, a detailed project plan like PERT charts may be required
but specifications of the funding agency must be met in this regard (Krathwohl,
1988).

1.8.2 Research Proposals contents

Research Objective

This item states the purpose of the investigation. It could be to test a hypothe-
sis, as in a causal study, or answer a research question, as in descriptive areas, or
obtain a solution to a problem. This should emerge naturally from the problem
statement and constitute achievable goals of the research. The remaining items
of the proposal should be consistent with the research objective, for example,
data obtained, its analysis, and conclusions.

Research Design

This is the technical portion of the proposal indicating the phases/steps of the
research action to be taken. Such tasks as sample size determination, sample
selection, data sources, and method of data collection are stated. Also, the
design of the instrument, procedures for data collection, giving possible reasons
for rejecting alternate approaches, whenever they do exist, are also given. For
example, in a causal study, why a descriptive field study was used instead of
experimentation will be elucidated.

16
Time Frame

Time table of the major phases of the research should be included in this, for ex-
ample, literature review, pilot study, finalisation of questionnaire, (main study)
data collection, data preparation, report generation where the project is large
and complex, a summary CPM/PERT network showing the interrelationship of
the phases, and project duration may have to be provided, particularly when the
sponsoring organisation demands it. There are a few items required only by in-
dustry or sponsoring agents but not required in academic research like master’s
thesis/doctoral thesis. These are generally the credentials of the researcher, the
budget, details of project management, and an executive summary.

Credentials of the Researcher

These include the academic qualifications, positions held, industrial/managerial/research

experience, areas of expertise, papers published in reputed journals, by the team
members and the consultations offered, memberships of technical/managerial/
research institutions/associations held by them, and honours/medals awarded
to them. This will give an indication as to the competence and technical capa-
bilities of the team to carry out the research study proposed.

Budget

In all cases of internal and external proposals, except very short ones, a maxi-
mum estimated cost of the research in some form of budget is a must.

1.8.3 Literature Review

A review of literature should concentrate on recent research studies or devel-
opments, company data, or computerised data banks. From a quick compre-
hensive review in the general area of the research, it should delve critically and
elaborately into the problem area, clearly bringing out the research premises on
which the research methods and approaches have been developed in the pro-
posal. Short comings, lacunae, and gaps in current research should be brought
out. At the end of the review, a short summary pointing to the need of the
research should be included. Whenever a literature review is mandatory, a bibli-
ography is a must and it must follow one of the standards suggested by research
manuals (see Turabian, 1971). A few other details like special equipment, glos-

17
sary of special terms specific to a research area, and instrument details also
have to be provided.

1.8.4 Research Proposals sponsor agent’s requirements

There may be other requirements of the sponsoring agents (SA), such as the
following:
ˆ The project proposals should clearly focus on any of the areas listed by it.

ˆ Every project should have local project advisory committee of experts

constituted by the research team in consultation with the SA.
ˆ The organisation carrying out research must take the responsibility for
administering the project.
ˆ Proposals will be reviewed by experts in the field. The principal inves-
tigator has to make a presentation to the experts who may require the
investigators to modify the proposals.
ˆ Periodic expenditure statements have to be submitted by the research or-
ganisation to the sponsoring organisation, with respect to funds received
for the project.
ˆ A percentage of overheads will have to be earmarked for the institution in
the budget proposal.

1.9 Some Implicit Considerations

A few important considerations not specifically dealt with in the research pro-
posal are discussed in this section. However, they are extremely critical in the
execution of research study in a professional manner:

1.9.1 Ethical Aspects

Whenever human subjects are involved in the research—experiment, inter-
views, observation, and response to a self administered questionnaire—three
aspects have to be carefully kept in mind. They are safety, confidentiality, and
anonymity.
ˆ Safety: This aspect is particularly important in experiments. No subject

18
should undergo any harm, physical or psychological, while (and after) partic-
ipating in an experiment. If there are risks involved, they should be clearly
explained to the subject and a written consent should be obtained. Secret ob-
servation of an individual (if involved in the experiment or study) should not
result in anyway in jeopardising the professional career of the individual or tar-
nishing his/her personal image
ˆ Confidentiality: Any information obtained from the individual, group, or or-
ganisation should be kept strictly confidential and be merged in the aggregated
disclosed information. If such individual information is necessary to be dis-
closed in the research, it should be disclosed only with the written consent of
the individual unit. Personal data should be revealed only with prior written
consent.
ˆ Anonymity: Any sensitive information disclosed in a research study should
not lead to the identity of the individual/group/organisation. Anonymity of
these units should be strictly maintained.

1.9.2 Training Aspects

Qualified personnel hired/employed as project assistants should be adequately
trained to make the execution of the project successful. The training may con-
sist of (i) orientation and (ii) rehearsals.
ˆ Orientation: The objectives of the study, the kind of data collection to be
carried out, and the type of data preparation and analysis to be carried out
should be explained to the assistants. It may be useful to them to study some
relevant literature. What they should do and how they should do it, the exact
nature of work and its details should be spelt out to them. Likely problems,
difficulties, and restrictions in their work should be discussed. The importance
of a good approach and human relations must be stressed.
ˆ Rehearsals: Some mock up situations should be used so that the assistants
(a) carry out interviews (among themselves or with the investigators), (b) get
questionnaires filled up, (c) extract data from records, (d) make scientific ob-
servations, and (e) analyse fictitious data.

1.9.3 Cooperation
Any research project involves the participation, in some way, of co-investigators,
managers, and other employees and administration of an organisation, and the
project assistants. Cooperation of all these people is vital to the success of

19
a research study. Openness about the research study, data needed, assured
confidentiality, and sincerity are essential to secure this cooperation. One of
the most important factors to secure cooperation is to minimise the manager’s
work in the project and make it easy and clear. At each stage, human relations is
a dominant factor. A sine qua non for securing cooperation is to make a written
request for their participation and obtain consent as a regular procedure.

1.9.4 Legal aspects

One of the best ways to get the approval for the project is to get it whetted by
the University Research Committee, which has the responsibility of protecting
the safety and confidentiality of the subjects, or use public procedures laid
down by the national committees on safety and confidentiality of research. The
core of the whole legal aspect is to obtain the consent of the individual unit
after revealing the details of the project and the implications to the individual
unit (for details with respect to this subsection please refer to the appropriate
sources in the bibliography).

20
Chapter 2

Research Design

A research design is a plan, structure and strategy of investigation so conceived

as to obtain answers to research questions or problems. The plan is the com-
plete scheme or programme of the research. It includes an outline of what the
investigator will do from writing the hypotheses and their operational implica-
tions to the final analysis of data. (Kerlinger 1986: 279)
A traditional research design is a blueprint or detailed plan for how a research
study is to be completed—operationalizing variables so they can be measured,
selecting a sample of interest to study, collecting data to be used as a basis for
testing hypotheses, and analysing the results. (Thyer 1993: 94)

2.1 Research Design: Meaning

A research design is a procedural plan that is adopted by the researcher to an-
swer questions validly, objectively, accurately and economically. According to
Selltiz, Deutsch and Cook, ‘A research design is the arrangement of conditions
for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance
to the research purpose with economy in procedure’ (1962: 50).

2.2 Research Design: Need

Through a research design you decide for yourself and communicate to others
your decisions regarding what study design you propose to use, how you are
going to collect information from your respondents, how you are going to select
your respondents, how the information you are going to collect is to be analysed
and how you are going to communicate your findings. In addition, you will need

21
to detail in your research design the rationale and justification for each decision
that shapes your answers to the ‘how’ of the research journey. In presenting
your rationale and justification you need to support them critically from the
literature reviewed. You also need to assure yourself and others that the path
you have proposed will yield valid and reliable results.

2.3 Concepts related Research Design

Some of the important concepts relating to Research Design are discussed below:

2.3.1 Dependent and independent variables:

A magnitude that varies is known as a variable.Theconcept may assume dif-
ferent quantitative values like height, weight, income etc. Qualitative variables
are not quantifiable in the strictest sense of the term. However,the qualitative
phenomena may also be quantified in terms of the presence or absence of the
attribute(s) considered. The phenomena that assume different values quan-
titatively even in decimal points are known as continuous variables. But all
variables need not be continuous. Values that can be expressed only in integer
values are called non-continuous variables.
In statistical terms, they are also known as discrete variables. For example, age
is a continuous variable, whereas the number of children is a non-continuous
variable. When changes in one variable depend upon the changes in other vari-
able or variables, it is known as a dependent or endogenous variable, and the
variables that cause the changes in the dependent variable are known as the
independent or explanatory or exogenous variables. For example, if demand
depends upon price, then demand is a dependent variable, while price is the
independent variable. And, if more variables determine demand, like income
and price of the substitute commodity, then demand also depends upon them
in addition to the price of original commodity. In other words, demand is a
dependent variable which is determined by the independent variables like price
of the original commodity, income and price of substitutes.

2.3.2 Extraneous variables:

The independent variables which are not directly related to the purpose of the
study but affect the dependent variables, are known as extraneous variables. For

22
instance, assume that a researcher wants to test the hypothesis that there is a
relationship between children‘s school performance and their self-confidence, in
which case the latter is an independent variable and the former, a dependent
variable. In this context, intelligence may also influence the school performance.
However, since it is not directly related to the purpose of the study under taken
by the researcher, it would be known as an extraneous variable. The influence
caused by the extraneous variable(s) on the dependent variable is technically
called the experimental error‘. Therefore, a research study should always be
framed in such a manner that the influence of extraneous variables on the de-
pendent variable/s is completely controlled, and the influence of independent
variable/s is clearly evident.Control, One of the most important features of a
good research design is to minimize the effect of extraneous variable(s). Tech-
nically, the term control‘ is used when a researcher designs the study in such
a manner that it minimizes the effects of extraneous variables. The term con-
trol‘ is used in experimental research to reflect the restrain in experimental
conditions.

2.3.3 Confounded relationship:

The relationship between the dependent and independent variables is said to
be confounded by an extraneous variable, when the dependent variable is not
free from its effects.

2.3.4 Research hypothesis:

When a prediction or a hypothesized relationship is tested by adopting scientific
methods, it is known as research hypothesis. The research hypothesis is a
predictive statement which relates to a dependent variable and an independent
variable. Generally, a research hypothesis must consist of at least one dependent
variable and one independent variable. Whereas, the relationships that are
assumed but not to be tested are predictive statements that are not to be
objectively verified, thus are not classified as research hypotheses.

2.3.5 Experimental and non-experimental hypothesis testing re-

search:
When the objective of a research is to test a research hypothesis, it is known
as hypothesis- testing research. Such research may be in the nature of exper-

23
imental design or non- experimental design. The research in which the inde-
pendent variable is manipulated is known as experimental hypothesis-testing
research‘,where as the research in which the independent Variable is not ma-
nipulated is termed as non-experimental hypothesis- testing research‘.
For example, assume that a researcher wants to examine whether family income
influences the school attendance of a group of students, by calculating the co-
efficient of correlation between the two variables. Such an example is known
as a non-experimental hypothesis- testing research, because the independent
variable - family income is not manipulated here. Again assume that the re-
searcher randomly selects 150 students from a group of students who pay their
school fees regularly and then classifies them into two sub-groups by randomly
including 75 in Group A, whose parents have regular earning, and 75 in Group
B, whose parents do not have regular earning. Assume that at the end of the
study, the researcher conducts a test on each group in order to examine the
effects of regular earnings of the parents on the school attendance of the stu-
dent. Such a study is an example of experimental hypothesis-testing research,
because in this particular study the independent variable regular earnings of
the parents have been manipulated.

2.3.6 Experimental and control groups:

When a group is exposed to usual conditions in an experimental hypothesis-
testing research, it is known as control group‘. On the other hand, when the
group is exposed to certain new or special condition, it is known as an exper-
imental group‘. In the afore-mentioned example, Group A can be called as
control group and Group B as experimental group. If both the groups, A and
B are exposed to some special feature, then both the groups may be called as
experimental groups‘. A research design may include only the experimental
group or both the experimental and control groups together.

2.3.7 Treatments:
Treatments refer to the different conditions to which the experimental and
control groups are subject to. In the example considered, the two treatments are
the parents with regular earnings and those with no regular earnings. Likewise,
if a research study attempts to examine through an experiment the comparative
effect of three different types of fertilizers on the yield of rice crop,then the three
types of fertilizers would be treated as the three treatments.

24
2.3.8 Experiment:
Experiment refers to the process of verifying the truth of a statistical hypoth-
esis relating to a given research problem. For instance, an experiment may be
conducted to examine the yield of a certain new variety of rice crop developed.
Further, Experiments may be categorized in to two types,namely, absolute ex-
periment and comparative experiment‘. If a researcher wishes to determine the
impact of a chemical fertilizer on the yield of a particular variety of rice crop,
then it is known as absolute experiment. Meanwhile, if the researcher wishes
to determine the impact of chemical fertilizer as compared to the impact of
bio-fertilizer, then the experiment is known as a comparative experiment.

2.3.9 Experimental unit(s):

Experimental units refer to the pre-determined plots,characteristics or the blocks,
to which different treatments are applied. It is worth mentioning here that such
experimental units must be selected with great caution.

2.4 categories Literature Survey and Review

The process of literature survey or literature review is a critical informational
analysis procedure. Listing of bibliography is not research. Critical evaluation
and analysis of research material for purposes of interpretation and compar-
ison requires reflective thinking and can, therefore, be considered descriptive
research. In this sense, classical literature review would demand that the re-
searcher provide a critical analysis and comparisons to be called a part of re-
search.
In academic research, literature review holds a key place because any knowledge
gained in the research is placed in a total perspective of the existing knowledge
and integrated with it. a priori the problem is not formulated before the liter-
ature review. It is in a sense an outcome of the review. The role of literature
review, related to research problems translated from the problems faced by the
manager, is only to check whether a similar problem was researched earlier and
solved, whether it is totally new, or whether a method in the literature needs a
modification to solve the current research problem. Therefore, literature review
is close to the problem formulated and is less emphasised and can be brief.
Literature review has four broad aspects: (i) choice of literature, (ii) search for

25
location/ source of literature, (iii) study of literature, and (iv) organisation of
literature.

2.5 Dimensions and issues of Research Design

The basic research design issue involved in determining the kind of research
strategy is whether the study is a field study or a laboratory study. The con-
siderations in such a determination are the following (Whitney, 1958).

1. The richness of the research in the discipline is evaluated depending on

whether the discipline is in the initial stages of exploration and classification or
a mature subject leading to considerable amounts of application in practice.
2. The degree of clarity of the problem should be judged. The higher the degree
of clarity, the more rigorous the research design, tending towards experimental
research.
3. The degree of control that can be obtained over a variable should be evalu-
ated. If this is negligible, then field studies are preferred and the relationships
or hypotheses tend to become somewhat weak.
4. The time scale with respect to phenomenon to be studied should be de-
termined. If a phenomenon can be studied effectively, considered only over a
period of time, then longitudinal studies will be required.
5. The objectives set forth should be related to the units of study, that is, the
individuals, groups, organisations, or an economy/society. The research design
will considerably vary as the domain of research gets enlarged.
6. The kind of relationship that is implied by the objective or hypothesis is
important. This will considerably influence the type of techniques that will be
used for analysis.
7. Whether the research implies a statistical model dependent heavily on phe-
nomenological world or a conceptual (theoretical) mathematical model influ-
ences the design. The problem of verification and testing will become consid-
erably more difficult in these situations.
The research carried out will be a field study for most management problems
(Fig. 2.3). However, there are instances of experimental research, especially
in the areas of organisation theory and market research, where the researcher
intervenes with the phenomena in some way. Such cases are mostly field exper-
iments. The simulation experimentation is a classic example of how the data
and knowledge acquired in the field study is used for carrying out laboratory

26
experiments.

2.6 Research Design Process – Selection of type of re-

search
There are different types of research designs. They may be broadly categorized
as:

(1) Exploratory research design;

(2) Descriptive and diagnostic research design; and
(3) Hypothesis-testing research design.

2.6.1 Exploratory research design:

The Exploratory Research Design is known as formulative research design. The
main objective of using such a research design is to formulate a research prob-
lem for an in-depth or more precise investigation, or for developing a working
hypothesis from an operational aspect. The major purpose of such studies is
the discovery of ideas and insights. Therefore, such a research design suitable
for such a study should be flexible enough to provide opportunity for consider-
ing different dimensions of the problem understudy.The in- built flexibility in
research design is required as the initial research problem would be transformed
in to a more precise one in the exploratory study, which in turn may necessi-
tate changes in the research procedure for collecting relevant data. Usually, the
following three methods are considered in the context of a research design for
such studies. They are (a) a survey of related literature; (b) experience survey;
and (c) analysis of insight-stimulating‘instances.

2.6.2 Descriptive and diagnostic research design:

A Descriptive Research Design is concerned with describing the characteristics
of a particular individual or a group. Meanwhile, a diagnostic research de-
sign determines the frequency with which a variable occurs or its relationship
with another variable. In other words, the study analyzing whether a certain
variable is associated with another comprises a diagnostic research study. On
the other hand, a study that is concerned with specific predictions or with the

27
narration of facts and characteristics related to an individual, group or situa-
tion, are instances of descriptive research studies. Generally, most of the social
research design falls under this category. As a research design, both the de-
scriptive and diagnostic studies share common requirements, hence they are
grouped together. However, the procedure to be used and the research design
need to plan carefully. The research design must also make appropriate provi-
sion for protection against bias and thus maximize reliability, with due regard
to the completion of the research study in an economical manner. The research
design in such studies should be rigid and not flexible. Besides, it must also
focus attention on the following:

a) Formulation of the objectives of the study,

b) Proper designing of the methods of data collection,
c) Sample selection,
d) Data collection,
e) Processing and analysis of the collected data, and
f) Reporting the findings.

2.6.3 Hypothesis-Testing research design:

Hypothesis-Testing Research Designs are those in which the researcher tests the
hypothesis of causal relationship between two or more variables. These studies
require procedures that would not only decrease bias and enhance reliability, but
also facilitate deriving inferences about the causality. Generally, experiments
satisfy such requirements. Hence, when research design is discussed in such
studies, it often refers to the design of experiments.

2.7 Measurement and measurement techniques

Measurement is defined as the assignment of numbers to characteristics of ob-
jects, persons, states, or events according to rules (Tull & Hawkins, 1987). The
most critical aspect of measurement is the development of rules for assigning
numbers to the characteristics. This problem is particularly tricky and difficult
in social science and organisational research in which the definition of concepts
and variables are often neither easy nor direct. To overcome this difficulty, many
techniques of measurement have been developed by social science researchers.

28
These are very relevant in management research too.

2.7.1 Techniques of Measurements

Based on the research design characteristics and the kind of variables defined,
a suitable measurement technique is selected. In general, there are four tech-
niques available to a researcher—questionnaires, attitude scales, observation
sheets, and depth interview schedules.
Questionnaire: This is a set of questions, used as an instrument for seek-
ing relevant information directly from respondents. The questions pertain to
one or more of characteristics of the respondent, like behaviour, demographic
characteristic, knowledge, opinions, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Generally a
question or a set of questions represents a variable used in research. These are
usually specially designed for a particular research and then suitably validated
before use. However, in many studies standard inventories/tests designed and
tested by others may also be used.
Attitude scales: These scales elicit self-reports of beliefs and feelings towards
an object. There are different types of attitude scales:
(i) Rating Scales that require the respondent to place the object at some point
on a continuum that is numerically ordered;
(ii) Composite scales require a respondent to express a degree of belief with re-
gard to several attributes of an object; (iii) multidimensional scales and scales
developed using conjoint analysis are mathematically developed scales to be
used for inferring specific aspects of an individual’s attitude towards an ob-
ject as against direct evaluation of the respondents (as in the first two scaling
methods). Observation: This is the direct examination of behaviour or results
of behaviour. Depth interviews: These are interviews in which individuals are
made to express their feelings freely and without fear of dispute or disapproval.
The details are recorded in specifically designed sheets.

2.7.2 Errors of Measurement

A number of errors tend to vitiate a measurement. The researcher has to ensure
that the desired accuracy levels are achieved by conducting suitable tests. The
errors in measurement can be systematic or variable. Systematic errors, which
are consistent, constitute the bias in measurement. Validity refers to bias and
is the degree to which measurement is free from systematic error. The variable

29
error is associated with each replication of measurement and the term reliability
refers to variable errors. It is defined as the extent to which a measurement is
free of variable errors.
Therefore, unless a pre-evaluated and reliable instrument is used for data col-
lection, the validity and reliability of a measurement technique or instrument
designed by the researcher must be established.

2.8 Selection of Sample

The next step in research design is the selection of a sample of subjects for
study. In most cases of research, sampling is needed. Sampling is a necessary
and an inescapable part of any human book to read. If the population is small
enough, instead of sampling a census can be carried out.
But usually, populations are large and there is limited time and resources avail-
able with the researcher for data collection. Therefore, selecting a sample be-
comes necessary. Further, sampling by reducing the data collection effort makes
data collection more efficient and accurate.
Inspite of statistical methods being used in the selection of a sample, judgment
is central to all stages of sampling.
Sampling designs are aimed at two major objectives: (i) the sample is repre-
sentative of the population, and
(ii) the size of the sample is adequate to get the desired accuracy. In general,
the sampling process consists of:

ˆ A definition of the target population in terms of elements, sampling units,

domain, and period;
ˆ Specification of a frame of sampling if probability sampling is used (for
example, telephone directory, map, or listings);
ˆ Specifying sampling units (for example, a firm, department, group, or an
individual that is addressed in the sample);
ˆ The sampling method (for example, probability versus non-probability,
single versus cluster, stratified versus non-stratified, single stage versus
multistage);

30
 ˆ Determination of sample size, which is the number of elements in the sam-
ple, using statistical methods but often moderated by judgment based on
other considerations like availability, cost, and accessibility;
ˆ Implementation of the sampling plan by ensuring the various controls re-
quired in the field to attain the sampling objectives and by contacting the
sample members

2.9 Selection of Data Collection Procedures

The data collection phase itself is considerably developed in contemporary re-
search. Data collection will involve the development of the instruments for
data collection, identification of sources of data, and the context in which the
sampling has to be done. The sources of data are usually people and existing
records. To get information from people, it is either necessary to use inter-
views, where the information may be given readily, or questionnaires, where
the information may have to be given after careful reflection on the part of the
respondent. There are several procedures of data collection available to the
researcher. Depending on the problem, he may choose one or a combination of
more than one procedure.
There are two sources of data—secondary data and primary data.

2.9.1 Secondary Data

This kind of data is generated for purposes other than for solving the problem
under study. There are three methods of obtaining secondary data:
1. The data is available in published research journals, reports, and books open
to the public in libraries.
2. Search of data generated within the organisation through reports, log books,
records of unions, minutes of meetings, proceedings, accounting documents,
home journals, and so on.
3. Computer search of databases and the World Wide Web.

2.9.2 Primary data

The procedures used for collecting primary data in a research study are those
of the research types already discussed.
They are,

31
(a) questionnaire mail surveys,
(b) interviews of several kinds,
(c) observation of phenomena/subjects, and
(d) special techniques like video/audio recording/projective methods.
In general a researcher may use a pure strategy (one single type research) or
a combination of a few types as in mixed design. For example, cross-sectional
research may be repeated at many points of time in a longitudinal study. An
exploration may be used before a descriptive study or a field study or an ex-
periment.

2.10 Selection of Methods of Analysis

Data is useful only after analysis. Data analysis deals with the conversion of
a series of data gathered into information statements (i) which descriptively
state the information in terms of means, percentages, classification or distri-
bution, or (ii) which make assertions about relationships conjectured prior to
data collection, or (iii) which provide estimates for the purposes of prediction.
The selection of methods or techniques of analysis must generally precede the
collection of data in any good research. Dummy data (intuitional responses)
may be used with the designed instrument and subjected to analysis as per the
selected methods to test whether the results provide the desired information
for the solution of the problem at hand. There are a large number of statistical
methods available for analysing the research data collected. In this book we
deal with the more common ones that are used and their importance in research
design has been broadly outlined.

2.11 Errors in Research

Errors may creep in at any stage of the research process outlined in Section
2.1.1. The researcher has to be wary of them and must deliberately provide
means of minimising these errors. These errors are outlined here and will be
discussed in detail later at appropriate junctures.
Identification error: This error occurs when the researcher is unable to recog-
nise the correct problem and finds solutions to wrong ones.

Variable selection error: These errors are Type I and Type II, that is, omitting

32
a relevant variable and including an irrelevant variable, respectively, for the
purposes of formulation of problems or development of hypotheses.

ˆ Surrogate information errors: The respondents introduce this error while an-
swering the researchers’ questions. The information required is different from
the information sought for.
ˆ Measurement errors: The difference between the researcher’s requirement of
the information and what the instruments provide is measurement error.
ˆ Experimental errors: These are errors due to extraneous variables in an ex-
periment and the actual impact of the independent variables on the dependent
variables is different from the impact attributable in the experiment to the in-
dependent variables.
ˆ Errors of subject selection: This error is due to two reasons:
(a) the population required is different from population actually selected,
(b) The population specified is different from populations listed in a frame. It
is also called frame error.
ˆ Sampling error: Sampling error is the difference between a truly representa-
tive sample and a probability sample.
ˆ Selection error: This indicates errors due to the difference between a truly
representative sample and a non-probability sample. It largely constitutes bias
errors.
ˆ Non-Response error: Errors introduced by the lack of response of certain re-
spondents in a sample.

33
Chapter 3

Research Problem

The tentative and general statements of problems obtained in the identification

phase are converted into researchable questions and propositions. Clear and un-
ambiguous statements of the problem are made and the information required
for research is stated.
Depending upon whether the type of research involves hypothesis testing of a
statistical relationship or a mathematical model building, the research problem
definition may follow two patterns: (i) generation of hypotheses, and (ii) formu-
lation of the problem. (This view is ours and is a convention. It is maintained
throughout the text.)

3.0.1 Generation of Hypotheses

This is the most difficult phase of research. It is primarily a creative process and,
therefore attempting well structured approaches to this would be self defeat-
ing. However, there are some general approaches culled out of the experience of
many researchers, which may be useful to a student. A broad problem is stated
on the basis of a limited observation or a quick review of research literature as
well as secondary sources of data, discussions with executives, and so on. Usu-
ally tentative propositions or declarative statements regarding the description
or relations are first generated, which are later converted into hypotheses. Hy-
potheses are built on the basis of theoretical work that has already been done.
Examples of such work are the existence of a research gap, an unanswered re-
search question, or an unsolved research problem. Hypothesis generation will be
facilitated by broad knowledge of the area and good knowledge of research tech-
niques. Individual reflective enquiry can lead to hypothesis. Group techniques
like ISM (Interpretive Structural Modeling) and brainstorming can be used for
purposes of generating hypotheses. It should be ensured that hypotheses are

34
well grounded in the cultural setting of the decision-making system. Analogy
with problems in other disciplines is a useful method for generating hypotheses.
Before generating hypothesis, it is necessary to identify the relevant variables
related to the problem. A list of variables generally used in hypothesis genera-
tion is given below:
1. Independent variable (resultant variable): A manipulated variable in an ex-
periment (treatment).
2. Explanatory (causal) variable: Independent variable that influences the de-
pendent variable.
3. Dependent variable (criterion variable): The effect in an experiment.
4. Extraneous variable (non-observable): Independent variable other than the
one manipulated in an experiment, (independent variables that are not related
to the purpose of the study), which affects the result. Unless controlled, they
become sources of errors.
5. Moderating variable: Values that are not variable, which directly influence
the dependent variable but modify or moderate the influence on one or more
independent variables on the dependent variables.
6. Mediating variable: Values that affect the relationship between independent
and dependent variable but is not causal with respect to dependent variables.
7. Discrete variable: Values that the variable can take are non-continuous (for
example, integer variable).
8. Continuous variable: Values that the variable can take are continuous.
9. Dummy variable: Used in algebraic manipulations, but is a variable in a
technical sense only.

3.0.2 Formulation of The Problem

In the model building context, the researcher needs to make a study of the
system in which the decision-making problem resides. This will help in cor-
rectly diagnosing the problem and transforming the management problem into
a research problem. The objectives of the decision maker, the constraints in
the system, and alternative courses of action available are studied in depth. A
measure of effectiveness is developed and mathematically expressed in terms of
variables and parameters of the system.
In problem formulation, it is necessary to edit the objectives and the alterna-
tives carefully and to transform all the relevant variables to the same dimension
(usually this is done in monetary terms). The formulation will enable the re-

35
searcher to offer the best course of action to the executive.
The typical variables considered in problem formulation in the modeling con-
text are the following:
1. Exogenous variables Variables that reside outside the system in which the
problem resides, for example, demand in an inventory control model.
2. Endogenous variables Variables of the system under consideration.
3. Controllable variables Variables that can be controlled by the manager, for
example, the order quantity in a purchasing system or a batch in production.
4. Uncontrollable variables Variables that cannot be controlled by the manager
of the system, for example, due dates stipulated by the customer for order de-
livery.
5. Discrete variables Variables that assume only discrete values, for example,
the number of jobs completed in a period.
6. Continuous variables Variables that assume continuous values, for example,
price of a commodity or the total cost of a policy.
In addition, there are system parameters to be considered. Parameters are gen-
erally the cost factors like holding costs, repair costs, cost of a work package,
and so on. These are estimated and the influence of the errors in their estima-
tion on the model performance is an important aspect of model management
and is termed as sensitivity analysis.

3.1 Problem Solving

Management research was defined as applied research whose objective is to
solve the immediate problems of the manager. It has also been observed that
the manager may take the decision to solve a problem in a rational way based
on research or investigation; or he may prefer to depend upon his own or col-
lective experience and judgment. Some managers react individually to problem
situations. A manager’s decision-making behaviour depends upon his abilities,
background, training, and the organisational environment. This leads us to
several questions: What are the kinds of problem-solving approaches available
to a decision maker? What are their characteristics? In which situations is each
of these appropriate? Scientifically based education and training programs em-
phasise rational procedures where logical approach dominates. In areas related
to products, inventory, logistics, manufacturing, and finance, where human in-
tervention is low, analytical approaches of operations research are widely used
and implemented. There is a need to look at total systems and the decision

36
makers’ preferences to certain aspects of the system and of the accomplishment
of different performance objectives. Here the logical approach dominates.
In complex management problems where several organisational entities inter-
act, and have interest in solving a common/shared problem, their viewpoints
will generally be different. There will be multiple pressures on the problem
solver. Further, in management problems related to broader issues of policies
and strategies, long range concerns and questions of consensus and conflicting
viewpoints dominate. A system viewpoint is imperative. One of the emerging
approaches for such situations is the soft system methodology, which is a qual-
itative system approach.

In academic research, whether there is emphasis on adding on to the existing

knowledge or creating new knowledge, there is a need for generation of new
ideas for theory building. There is also a need for looking at phenomenon or
theory or even a single fact in new and novel ways while solving a particular
problem that is extremely difficult, complex, and ill-structured. This is in the
domain of creativity and is now attracting a lot of attention from researchers. In
this chapter, all the three—logical, system, and creative—approaches for prob-
lem solving are briefly described. Since there is usually very little emphasis
in education and training on creativity, this book attempts to discuss it more
elaborately.

We can define a problem as a perceived difference between what a situation is

and what it should be. Such a definition means the following:
(i) Such difference is perceived and, therefore, a problem exists with respect to
a person or a group;
(ii) what the solution “should be” indicates a liking or preference;
(iii) the reason for the problem is not known, and
(iv) in a decision making situation there may be many ways of solving the prob-
lem, closing the gap, or reducing the difference, but the best one is obscure.
The first aspect implies that a problem solving process begins with the recog-
nition of a problem. If the problem is not recognised or identified, no effort will
be made by the individual or the group to solve it, and the problem continues.
A problem may be identified wrongly and an irrelevant solution to the problem
will be sought (see Type III error in Chapter 2) and the problem will continue.
The second aspect is that the gap is not acceptable to the decision maker who
feels the need for closing it and is, therefore, motivated to make problem solving

37
efforts. In any management problem, it will be necessary to clearly understand
new viewpoints of the problem because the perceptions of individuals or groups
related to the problem may be different and the individuals or groups may have
different mechanisms for solving the problem. This leads to the concept of own-
ership of the problem. Thirdly, if the reasons for the problem are not known,
then an investigation or enquiry will be needed to gain understanding of the
problem, in other words, a research approach will be needed.

3.2 Types
Problems can be classified in several ways. Hicks (1991) classifies them as
(i) simple and complex;
(ii) well-defined and ill-defined; and
(iii) tame and wicked.

3.2.1 simple and complex

Simple problems are those whose components and their interrelationships are
transparent or are easily understandable. Complex ones are those in which
several simpler subsystems interact in ways that are difficult to comprehend.
Further, complex problems in management are generally related to large sys-
tems where some mechanistic and some heuristic subsystems interact. Breaking
down such problems into smaller ones and then trying to solve them may not
yield appropriate solutions to the total system problem. In such cases, interac-
tions across boundaries of the subsystems will have to be explicitly considered.
OR approaches are supposed to concentrate on such problems. In OR, a sym-
bolic model of the system is generally attempted. But restructuring of problems
may encourage the modeller to use oversimplifying assumptions and to fit a spe-
cific model type to the problem and solve a wrong problem. This is considered,
by many, as a weakness of the OR approach.

3.2.2 well-defined and ill-defined

When the problem solver is not sure of what the problem is, definition of the
problem becomes difficult and it may have to be viewed from many perspec-

38
tives. For example, when a firm has failed to convert a technology idea into a
suitable product, it becomes necessary to look at it from the point of manu-
facturing, R&D, consumer requirements, marketing, and technical manpower.
One may have to redefine the problem to arrive at a correct definition of the
right problem.

3.2.3 Tame and Wicked

These are determined according to some scale on which the whole problem
solving process may be rated. A wicked problem may be one in which the
description of the problem cannot be definite, derivation of solutions is difficult,
alternatives are too many, solutions cannot be accurate, and confidence in the
appropriateness of the solution is low.

3.3 Process and Approaches

Hicks (1991) presented a model of the problem-solving process, which is a mod-
ified version of the Parnes model (1972) .
1. The problem solving process starts with identifying a problem, which per-
plexes the problem solver and appears chaotic. It is termed a mess (Ackoff
1981), as many aspects of the problem are not clear.
2. In the next step of data gathering, both objective and subjective data are
collected. Objective data are the facts regarding the problem, where it is lo-
cated, how it arises, and so on. Subjective data includes feelings of people and
their views and perceptions of the problem. In addition, constraints in the sys-
tem are obtained.
3. A definition of the problem is made. This may include many redefinitions of
the problem defined initially or as given by the decision maker. Redefinitions
involve viewing the problem from many angles, which are those of the various
entities in the system.
4. Ideas for the problem solution are generated using individual and group
approaches creatively.
5. Ideas are evaluated and solutions using the most promising ideas are ob-
tained.
6. The best solution is implemented.
It can be seen from the model that it is not different from the problem-solving
process as defined in operations research or in work study. The reader is re-

39
ferred to (Bell 1999, Krick 1962). However, the real differences lie in the modus
operandi at each stage of the process and what kind of approach is used. Hicks
(1991) classified these approaches as:
(1) logical approaches, (2) soft system methodology, and
(3) creativity approaches. While, in general, any of the approaches can be useful
at any stage of a problem solving situation, due to certain inherent strengths of a
particular approach, it is specially useful at certain stages . Logical approaches
are very powerful in formulating and solving problems when the system is not
dominated by human behaviour (for example, inventory systems and financial
systems).

3.3.1 Logical
This approach involves abstraction in which a problem is expressed mathe-
matically, diagrammatically, or descriptively. Such an expression will only be
an approximation to reality. Through a process of deductive reasoning one
proceeds to define relationships. Breaking the problem into parts or sub prob-
lems can facilitate such an inferential process. Sometimes it is easier to solve
a problem backwards from the final solution desired. This is possible when
the objective is clear, but starting from the existing situation is not clear or
easy. Each backward step leads to what is required at the beginning of the
step in order to accomplish the condition. This process is continued until the
present condition is reached. One of the greatest advantages in using a logical
approach is its ability to check whether an already established standardised
solution method is useful in solving the problem. A classical example is a stan-
dardised OR technique like Linear Programming (LP), Dynamic Programming
(DP), and inventory modeling.

3.3.2 Soft System

When mathematical modelling of a complex system is attempted, the struc-
tural modelling procedure is useful ab initio (Finley (1985), Geoffrion (1987)).
In this procedure, an observation of the real world system is made and depend-
ing upon the researcher’s experience and comprehension, a complete scenario is
developed. The problem space is extracted for detailed modelling. The develop-
ment of scenario and problem space can be achieved effectively by using the soft
system methodology (SSM). This may aid the structural modelling advocated
by Geoffrion. Alternatively, interpretive structural modelling (Warfield, 1974)

40
can be used before the mathematical model is finally developed (see Chapter 4).
Making a meticulous observation of the system all complex details are obtained
in a qualitative and descriptive manner. Attitudes, reactions, and opinions of
various parties (individual and organisational units) involved in the problem
are gathered. In addition, factual or quantitative data and reactions to the
interactions of existing problem solutions are also obtained. In the main, each
of the human activity systems, connected with the problem situation is briefly
described as a separate module. This will help in giving a good insight into the
problem situation. For each of these systems a separate model is developed. A
simple overview of the SSM is given in (Hicks, 1991, pp.227). In this method,
a clear identification is made among the client, the problem solver, and the
problem owner (Checkland et al, 1990) and their roles are listed in a pictorial
diagram (Rich picture). This is developed without imposing a structure on it.
Its purpose is to convey a meaning to the problem solver and to provide ease
of communication with others. From Fig. 3.3, a root definition (a descrip-
tive statement of the activity system that is being modelled) is obtained. It
is desirable to generate alternate root definitions so that a choice can be made
after evaluation. Checkland suggests that a good root definition should include
ownership, actions, customers, environmental situations, global view, and the
transformation process.

3.3.3 Creative
In research, as in any other undertaking, one can learn its tools and techniques.
One can become proficient in them and become a competent technician. But in
order to enable one to make original contributions to one’s field of research, one
has to give oneself to it in a special way, that of creativity. This requires absence
of mental regimentation, a strong motivation, and freedom of self-expression.
Creative ability exists in every individual and exercise of experiments in creative
work is probably the best way to develop it. This section deals with creative
thinking, factors of creativity, and general approaches for its development in
the context of the problem-solving process. Some autocatalytic procedures on
creativity, suggested by researchers, are also discussed.

41
3.4 Creative problem solving process
Hutchinson (1949) presents four stages of a creative process as Preparation,
Incubation,Illumination and Verification:
1. Preparation: The stage in which the problem is investigated in all directions
with intense effort, which is given up in the later part of investigation.
2. Incubation: The stage, during which the individual is frustrated, exhausted,
and is not constantly thinking about the problem, and is relaxed.
3. Illumination: The stage during which the idea occurs along with psychologi-
cal factors like emotional release. Vividness of ideas and a feeling of insurgence
immediately precede it and accompany its appearance.
4. Verification: The stage in which the validity of the idea is tested and evalu-
ated. The idea is reduced to an exact form.
Hutchinson, after studying 250 most famous thinkers, differentiates between
systematic thinking and insight (creative insight). According to him systematic
thinking has the objective, problem, and method clearly defined. The method
is slow and deliberate, logical and associative thinking is maximised, trial and
error is minimised, and little emotion is felt during the process of thinking. It is
widely used during formulation of plans where only a small number of variables
and hypotheses are involved.
Insight is associated with baffling problems. An unpredicted feeling of frustra-
tion sets in, in the initial periods. In the final stages, effortless integration and
feelings of exultation take place.

3.5 Development of Creativity

There are two principals of creativity development principle of deferred judg-
ment and principle of extended effort in idea production. In addition, Saaty(1959)
lays down following few thoughts for creativity development: experimentation
with creative process, adequate motivation, competing in the world of ideas,
patient and independent thinking, trial error method, representation of famil-
iar things, emotional involvement and use of imagery in problem solving.

It is generally felt that an individual’s creativity can be consciously developed

by following certain principles. Some useful guidelines are available for an
individual researcher to develop a higher level of creativity.
Parnes (1964) outlines the following principles on the development of creativity.

42
ˆ Principle of deferred judgment: All problems that are implicit in a problem
situation should be considered. Problem sensitivity has to be developed. To do
this, evaluation should not take place while enumerating all problems.
ˆ Principle of extended effort in idea production: Generally, in problem solving
one gets an idea, sees it as a possible solution, and settles for it without further
ado. The creative problem solver on the contrary persists with getting more
ideas and different problem formulations until exhaustion results. It is found
empirically that later portions of effort bring more productive ideas than the
initial portions.

3.6 Group Problem Solving Techniques for Idea Gener-

ation
Here a formalized group of people come together to identify a problem or to
develop solution to a problem. Diverse viewpoints throw light on several as-
pects of the problem, interaction among group members makes idea generation
efficient, a number of new ideas can be created. Brain storming and Delphi are
two major examples.
During the formulation of a problem or generation of a hypothesis in developing
a theory, the researcher may like to take the help of a group in order to generate
problem ideas. This is a creative process, which can be formalised into a set of
group problem solving techniques.
There is probably no single set, which is assertable. For a detailed discussion
of many of these techniques the reader is referred to Olsen (1982), Hicks (1991)
Rawlinson (1994) and other references given at the end of the chapter. Brief
and quick outlines of these techniques are presented in this section as a com-
munication to the student of research and as a means of helping awareness.
As the problems become more complex and the environments of the problems
become large in number and interconnected they require knowledge and infor-
mation from many disciplines.
A team of researchers or experts from diverse backgrounds, values, and perspec-
tives can come together to assist in the identification of such problems and/or
in developing solutions to them.
The reasons for the efficiency of groups in solving problems are many:
ˆ Diverse viewpoints throw light on several aspects of the problem
ˆ Interactions among people are found to be very efficient in generating viable

43
ideas
ˆ A total lack of knowledge in a particular field may also be very helpful in cre-
ating a new idea rather than in winning an argument in conventional committee
interactions. These methods are very popular among design teams. However,
students of research can gainfully employ them.

3.7 Brain storming

Brainstorming is a group process in which members, usually from different
backgrounds, respond to a central question/theme. The emphasis is placed on
generating a large number of ideas while deferring criticism and evaluation. The
method is especially useful for attacking new problems or for identifying new
ways of looking at old problems. The originator was Osborne (1963). Brain-
storming sessions usually take place in a free and uninhibited atmosphere. The
central principle involved is deferment of judgment on the quality or viability of
the ideas presented by any member of the group. A group consists of approxi-
mately six to ten people. Half of these are experienced core participants and the
others are from as many disciplines as possible that will be able to understand
and contribute to the solution of the problem. The operational procedure has a
warm up session in which an introduction is made to the subject. Some inter-
active warming up takes place. The problem for focus of the particular session
must be presented in a form that is terse, clear, and sharp, which will allow
the formation of a range of ideas. The participants are advised to relax, just
express whatever ideas come to them (free wheeling), improve other people’s
ideas, and not evaluate anyone’s ideas, including their own.
A checklist may be useful for the participants: ˆ Using who, what, when, how,
and where type questions to study the problem;
ˆ Expanding, contracting, combining, reversing, eliminating, and modifying the
problem;
ˆ Forcing relationships among items seemingly unrelated;
ˆ Morphological analysis;
ˆ Encouraging wild idea generation; and
ˆ Reverse brain storming, where problems are anticipated.

44
3.8 Delphi Method
The Delphi method is a survey technique for achieving consensus among isolated
anonymous participants with a controlled feedback of opinions. This method is
the application of expert opinion to problem solution, problem identification,
or the temporal location of a problem. The central principle underlined in the
Delphi method is that a structured and interactive questionnaire, a kind of re-
mote conferencing procedure, can serve as an effective means to draw an expert
opinion in relation to certain kinds of problems or predictions.
There are many purposes for the technique but the ones that are of definite
interest to students of research are:
ˆ To determine and develop a range of possible alternatives.
ˆ To explore and expose underlying assumptions or information leading to dif-
ferent judgment.
The Delphi method has become an important tool in applied research in many
areas of physical sciences, social sciences, business administration, and engi-
neering; and is extensively used in technological forecasting. Delphi’s main
features, which are anonymity, interaction, controlled feedback, and statistical
responses, are intended to minimise the biasing effects of dominant individuals
or irrelevant communications and of group pressures towards conformity. The
Delphi method utilises a series of three or four polling, with questionnaires, the
first of which is generally open ended. The objective of Delphi is to get signif-
icant and substantial group consensus on priorities among items or divergent
opinions. It would appear that any use of Delphi for problem generation would
involve a single poll rather than multiple ones since consensus and validation
are not of prime importance at that stage.

45
Chapter 4

Nature of Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) is a term referring to creation of the intellect (the

term used in studies of the human mind) for which a monopoly (from greek
word monos means single pole in to sell) is assigned to designated owners by
law. Some common types of intellectual property rights (IPR), in some foreign
countries intellectual property rights is referred to as industrial property, copy-
right, patent and trademarks, trade secrets all these cover music, literature and
other artistic works, discoveries and inventions and words, phrases, symbols and
designs. Intellectual Property Rights are themselves a form of property called
intangible property.
Although many of the legal principles governing IP and IPR have evolved over
centuries, it was not until the 19thcentury that the term intellectual property
began to be used and not until the late 20thcentury that it became common-
place in the majority of the world. Types of Intellectual Property

The term intellectual property is usually thought of as comprising four separate

legal fields:

1. Trademarks

2. Copyrights

3. Patents

4. Trade secrets

46
4.1 Trademarks and Service Marks:
A trademark or service mark is a word, name, symbol, or device used to indi-
cate the source, quality and ownership of a product or service. A trademark is
used in the marketing is recognizable sign, design or expression which identifies
products or service of a particular source from those of others. The trademark
owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trade-
mark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher or on the product itself.
For the sake of corporate identity trademarks are also being.
In addition to words, trademarks can also consist of slogans, design, or sounds.
Trademark provides guarantee of quality and consistency of the product or ser-
vice they identify. Companies expend a great deal of time, effort and money/
in establishing consumer recognition of and confidence in their marks.

General Logos:

(a) The Trademark Registration Logo (b) IBM Logo

(c) BIPM Logo (d) Chocolate add with Logo and Slogan

Figure 4.1: Logos, Slogans, Design etc.

47
4.1.1 Federal Registration of trademarks:
Interstate use of trademarks is governed by federal law, namely, the United
States Trademark Act (also called the Lanham Act), found at 15 U.S.C 1051et
seq. In the United States, trademarks are generally protected from their date of
first public use. Registration of a mark is not required to secure protection for
a mark, although it offers numerous advantages, such as allowing the registrant
to bring an action in federal court for infringement of the mark.
Applications for federal registration of trademarks are made with the PTO.
Registration is a fairly lengthy process, generally taking anywhere from twelve
to twenty-four months or even longer. The filing fee is $335 per mark (Present
$225 per class) per class of goods or services covered by the mark.
A trademark registration is valid for 10 years and may be renewed for addi-
tional ten-year periods there after as long as the mark is in used in interstate
commerce. To maintain a mark the registrant is required to file an affidavit
with the PTO between the fifth and sixth year after registration and every ten
years to verify the mark is in continued use. Marks not in use are then available
to others.
A properly selected, registered and protected mark can be of great value to a
company or individual desiring to establish and expand market share and better
way to maintain a strong position in the marketplace.

4.2 Copyrights:
Copyright is a form of protection provided by U.S. law (17 U.S.C 101 etseq) to
the authors of ”original works of authorship” fixed in any tangible medium of
expression. The manner and medium of fixation are virtually unlimited. Cre-
ative expression may be captured in words, numbers, notes, sounds, pictures,
or any other graphic or symbolic media. The subject matter of copyright is ex-
tremely broad, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, audiovisual, and
architectural works. Copyright protection is available to both published and
unpublished works.
Copyright protection is available for more than merely serious works of fiction
or art. Marketing materials, advertising copy and cartoons are also protectable.
Copyright is available for original working protectable by copyright, such as ti-
tles, names, short phrases, or lists of ingredients. Similarly, ideas methods and
processes are not protectable by copyright, although the expression of those

48
ideas is.
Copyright protection exists automatically from the time a work is created in
fixed form. The owner of a copyright has the right to reproduce the work,
prepare derivative works based on the original work (such as a sequel to the
original), distribute copies of the work, and to perform and display the work.
Violations of such rights are protectable by infringement actions. Nevertheless,
some uses of copyrighted works are considered —fair use and do not constitute
infringement, such as use of an insignificant portion of a work for noncommer-
cial purposes or parody of a copyrighted work.

Definition:

General Definition of copyright —Copyright owner with respect to any one

of the exclusive rights comprised in a copyright, refers to the owner of that
particular right.

4.2.1 Federal Registration of Copyrights:

The works are protected under federal copyright law from the time of their
creation in a fixed form. Registration, however, is inexpensive, requiring only a
$30 (present $85) filing fee, and the process is expeditious. In most cases, the
Copyright Office processes applications within four to five months.
Copyrighted works are automatically protected from the moment of their cre-
ation for a term generally enduring for the author‘s life plus an additional
seventy years after the author‘s death. The policy underlying the long period
of copyright protection is that it may take several years for a painting, book,
or opera to achieve its true value, and thus, authors should receive a length of
protection that will enable the work to appreciate to its greatest extent.

4.3 Patents:
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued
by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, the term of a
new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent
was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier re-
lated application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. U.S.

49
patent grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories, and
U.S. possessions. Under certain circumstances, patent term extensions or ad-
justments may be available.
The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of
the grant itself, —the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for
sale, or selling† the invention in the United States or importing heinventionin-
totheUnitedStates.Whatisgrantedisnottherighttomake,use,offer for sale, sell or
import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale,
selling or importing the
invention. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent with-
out aid of the USPTO.

There are three types of patents:

1. Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new
and useful process, machine, article of manufacture,or composition of matter,or
any new and useful improvement there of;

2. Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and
ornamental design for an article of manufacture;and

3. Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asex-
ually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.

4.3.1 Federal Registration of Patents:

Patents are governed exclusively by federal law (35 U.S.C 100 et seq). To obtain
a patent, an inventor must file an application with the PTO (the same agency
that issues trademark registration) that fully describes the invention. Patent
prosecution is expensive, time consuming and complex. Costs can run into the
thousands of dollars, and it generally takes over two year for the PTO to issue
a patent.
Patent protection exists for twenty years from the date of filing of an application
for utility and patents and fourteen years from the date of grant for design
patents. After this period of time, the invention fall into the public domain and
may be used by any person without permission.
The inventor is granted an exclusive but limited period of time within which to

50
exploit the invention. After the patent expires, any member of the public is free
to use, manufacture, or sell the invention. Thus, patent law strikes a balance
between the need to protect inventors and the need to allow public access to
important discoveries.

4.4 Trade Secrets:

A trade secret consists of any valuable business information. The business se-
crets are not to be known by the competitor. There is no limit to the type of
information that can be protected as trade secrets;
For Example: Recipes, Marketing plans, financial projections, and methods of
conducting business can all constitute trade secrets. There is no requirement
that a trade secret be unique or complex; thus, even something as simple and
nontechnical as a list of customers can qualify as a trade secret as long as it
affords its owner a competitive advantage and is not common knowledge.
If trade secrets were not protectable, companies would no incentive to invest
time, money and effort in research and development that ultimately benefits
the public. Trade secret law thus promotes the development of new methods
and processes for doing business in the market place.
Protection of Trade Secrets: Although trademarks, copyrights and patents are
all subject to extensive statutory scheme for their protection, application and
registration, there is no federal law relating to trade secrets and no formalities
are required to obtain rights to trade secrets. Trade secrets are protectable
under various state statutes and cases and by contractual agreements between
parties.
For Example: Employers often require employees to sign confidentiality agree-
ments in which employees agree not to disclose proprietary information owned
by the employer.
If properly protected, trade secrets may last forever. On the other hand, if
companies fail to take reasonable measures to maintain the secrecy of the infor-
mation, trade secret protection may be lost. Thus, disclosure of the informa-
tion should be limited to those with a need to know† it so as to perform their
duties, confidential information should be kept in secure or restricted areas,
and employees with access to proprietary information should sign nondisclo-
sure agreements. If such measures are taken, a trade secret can be protected in
perpetuity.
Another method by which companies protect valuable information is by requir-

51
ing employee to sign agreements promising not to compete with the employer
after leaving the job. Such covenants are strictly scrutinized by courts, but
generally, if they are reasonable in regard to time, scope and subject matter,
they are enforceable.

4.5 Patents Trade and Copyright Process of Patenting

and Development
Overview of the Application Process
The process of preparing, filing, and shepherding a patent application through
the PTO towards issuance is called—prosecution. An application may be filed
by the inventor himself or herself or, as is more usual, by a patent attorney.
Only 20% of all applications are filed by inventors without the assistance of at-
torneys. The application is filled with PTO, it will be assigned to one of more
than 3500 patent examiners having experience in the area of technology related
to the invention who will review the application and conduct a search of patent
records to ensure the application complies with the statutory requirements for
patents.

The process may continue for several rounds.

A Notice of Allowance will be sent to the applicant, which specifies an issue
fee that must be paid to the PTO in order for the patent to be granted. Until
2000 all patent application were maintained in confidence, but after November
2000 they were publicized. It takes one to three years to prosecute a patent,
and costs and fees can range from $5000 to more than $30000 with fee generally
ranging for $10000 to$12000.

Patent Practice

While preparing trademark and copyright applications is relatively straightfor-

ward, preparing a patent application requires skillful drafting as well as knowl-
edge in the relevant fields, whether that is biotechnology, chemistry, mechanical
engineering, physics, computers, pharmacology, electrical engineering, and so
forth. They are divided into different groups, such as a mechanical group, a
biotech group, and an electrical group.

52
Many patent attorneys possess both a law degree and an advanced degree in
engineering, physics, chemistry, or the like. To represent patent applicants be-
fore the PTO, an attorney must be registered to practice with the PTO. An
attorney must pass the Patent Bar, which requires the attorney to demonstrate
background in science or engineering. The examination is very difficult it is a
multiple choice questions, and the pass rate tends to hover around one-third.
A list of attorneys and agents registered to practice before the PTO is available
from the Government Printing Office located in Washington, DC, Alternatively,
the PTO web site (http://www.uspto.gov/web/ofices/dcom/olia/oed/roster/)
provides an index to the more than 18000 attorneys and agents who are licensed
to practice before the PTO.

Confidentiality of Application Process and Publication of Patent Application.

More than 200 years, all patent applications filed with the PTO were main-
tained in strict confidence throughout the entire application process. Only
when the patent issued was the file wrapper open to public inspection. Under
the American Inventors Protection Act (AIPA) of 1999, however, which took ef-
fect in November of 2000, the PTO now publishes utility and plant applications
eighteen months after their filing. If the applicant later decides to apply for a
patent in a foreign country, the applicant must provide notice of this foreign
filing to the PTO within forty-five days or the application will be regarded as
abandoned. The intent of the new law is to harmonize U.S. patent procedures
with those of other countries, almost all of which publish patent applications
after an initial period of confidentiality. The new act protects inventors from
having their inventions infringed by providing that patentees can obtain rea-
sonable royalties if others make, used, or sell the invention during the period
between publication and actual grant of the patent.
Types of application

1. 1. Provisional application
2. Utility application
3. Design application
4. Plant application
5. Continuation application

53
 6. PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty)Application
7. Divisional application
Preparing the application

ˆ Title

ˆ Cross-references to related applications

ˆ Background

ˆ Summary of invention

ˆ Brief description of drawing

ˆ Detailed description of the invention

ˆ Claims

4.5.1 Patent Prosecution flowchart

ˆ Patents are items of personal property and thus may be owned, sold, li-
censed, or devised by will.
ˆ Applications for patent must be filed by the actual inventor of the article,
process, design, or plant.
ˆ If there is more than one inventor, the application must be signed by all
inventors.
ˆ In many instance, employees are required to sign agreements with their
employers whereby they agree that any invention or discovery invented by
them while on the job will belong to the employer and that they will agree
to assist and cooperate in any manner, including signing applications for
patents, to ensure the employer‘s rights are protected
ˆ Although the oath in the patent application is signed by the individual
inventor, when the application is filed, a simultaneous assignment is also
filed identifying the employer as the —true† owner of the application and
the invention.

54
Ownership Rights
Ownership transfer

ˆ As objects of intellectual property or intangible assets, patents and patent

applications may be transferred.
ˆ A transfer of patent or patent application can be the result of a financial
transaction, such as an assignment, a merger, a takeover or a demerger, or
the result of an operation of law, such as in an inheritance process, or in a
bankruptcy.
ˆ The rationale behind the transferability of patents and patent applications
is that it enables inventors to sell their rights and to let other people man-
age these intellectual property assets both on the valuation and enforce-
ment fronts. As The Economist put it, ”Patents are transferable assets,
and by the early 20th century they had made it possible to separate the
person who makes an invention from the one who commercialises it. This
recognised the fact that someone who is good at coming up with ideas is
not necessarily the best person to bring those ideas to market.

4.6 International Scenario: International cooperation

on Intellectual Property

4.7 Procedure for grants of patents

Patents: A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inven-
tor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, the
term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the
patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an ear-
lier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees.
U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories,
and U.S. possessions. Under certain circumstances, patent term extensions or
adjustments may be available.
The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and
of the grant itself,
—the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling†
the invention in the United States or

55
—importing†theinventionintotheUnitedStates. Whatisgrant Edisontotheright-
tomake,use,offerforsale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from mak-
ing, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. Once a patent
is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO.

There are three types of patents:

Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and
useful process, machine, article of manufacture,or composition of matter,or any
new and useful improvement thereof;
Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and
ornamental design for an article of manufacture;and
Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually
reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.
Federal Registration of Copyrights: Patents are governed exclusively by federal
law (35 U.S.C 100 et seq). To obtain a patent, an inventor must file an appli-
cation with the PTO (the same agency that issues trademark registration) that
fully describes the invention. Patent prosecution is expensive, time consuming
and complex. Costs can run into the thousands of dollars, and it generally
takes over two year for the PTO to issue patent. Patent protection exists for
twenty years from the date of filing of an application for utility and patents and
fourteen years from the date of grant for design patents. After this period of
time, the invention fall into the public domain and may be used by any person
without permission. The inventor is granted an exclusive but limited period
of time within which to exploit the invention. After the patent expires, any
member of the public is free to use, manufacture, or
sell the invention. Thus, patent law strikes a balance between the need to
protect inventors and the need to allow public access to importantdiscoveries.
Scope of patent right/law

4.8 Patenting under PCT

In 1978, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) went into effect, which works
with and utilizes the provisions of the Paris Convention of 1883. Thus, sub-
sequent to 1978, applicants for foreign patents can also claim the benefit of
the right of priority (their home country filing date) under the PCT as will be
explained. Under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the priority period for filing
an application in a foreign country is also 12 months, the same as the Paris

56
Convention. Also, claiming the right of priority is available under the PCT to
applications filed in any member country of the Paris Convention. The PCT
came into affect in 1978 to cure one of the major drawbacks of the Paris Con-
vention. Under the Paris Convention, filing several separate patent applications
in various different countries involves considerable duplication with multiple fil-
ings and searches in each of the countries, and in the languages of each of those
countries which can be rather expensive. Under the Paris Convention, the sev-
eral global patents that are granted based upon your first filed home country
patent application typically have different claims resulting from the varying and
separate examination procedures in different countries. Additionally, annuity
fees must also be paid in the currency of each country in which your patent
application was filed under the Paris Convention. Therefore, one of the major
goals of the Patent Cooperation Treaty is to reduce the costs in time and money
involved in obtaining worldwide patent protection under the Paris Convention,
depending on the number of countries in which patent protection is sought. An-
other factor was to provide additional time beyond the 12 month period of the
Paris Convention in which an inventor, or the inventor’s employer, could decide
whether significant sums of money should be spent to obtain foreign patent
protection on a particular invention. The period has been increased to up to 30
or 31 months, and sometimes more. Keep in mind, however, that none of the
treaties that I’ve mentioned so far provide that single “world patent” that would
be enforceable in every country. That result may be achieved someday, but not
now. Every so often, various countries of the world try to get together to har-
monize their patent statutes, but each country recommends that all the other
countries adopt their procedures. On that issue, the most recent harmonization
efforts came to naught. One of the major drawbacks is the provision that is
standard in many countries that the first inventor to file a patent application
will ultimately be granted the patent, and not necessarily the first inventor. In
the United States, however, those involved in harmonization discussions were
adamant about retaining the provision in the U.S. patent law that patent rights
are granted to the first to invent, and not the one who has engaged the services
of a speedier patent attorney.

57
4.8.1 Broad Provisions of the Patent Cooperation Treaty
The first economic simplification provided by the PCT is that the form and
content of an international patent application filed under the PCT is the same
for all signatory countries. Thus, an application that complies with the PCT
rules also meets the requirements of your home country Patent Office, and all
other signatory national Patent Offices. Once your original patent application
has been prepared by your patent attorney and reviewed by you as the inventor
and filed, the procedure for filing a PCT application comprises identifying your
home country patent application in a document filled out by your patent

4.8.2 Foreign Patent Protection

Attorney, setting forth all the details of the patent application, such as the
inventor’s name, address, home country, title of the application, original home
country filing date and serial number, and additional information.
Under the PCT rules, this PCT patent application document must be filed
within one year from the original home country filing date. Several major
Patent Offices around the world are designated as central receiving offices (the
United States Patent & Trademark Office is a central receiving office) where
your PCT application can be filed, along with the appropriate filing fee. The
form to be submitted with the application sets forth a country listing, allowing
the inventor to designate all of the signatory countries in which patent protec-
tion is desired, or may be desired. It is possible to designate one or several
countries in which you presently believe you will want to obtain patent protec-
tion, however you are not compelled later to actually seek patent protection in
all of those countries previously designated. Again, to obtain the benefits of
the Paris Convention, the PCT application must be filed on or before the first
year anniversary of the original home filing date, which is now known as the
“priority date.”
During the first phase of prosecution, of the PCT procedure, a prior art search is
conducted automatically and compulsorily by a patent examiner in the central
receiving office and sent to your patent attorney, after which the application and
the search report are published. For example, if you have filed a United States
patent application first, and have then timely filed a PCT application within the
12-month period, the PCT prior art search will most likely be conducted by the
same patent examiner handling your United States patent application. Upon
receipt of the search report by your patent attorney and you as the inventor,

58
the prior art patents are reviewed to determine the degree to which they are
relevant to your invention. No response to the search report is required. In the
second phase of procedure under the PCT, a preliminary examination is con-
ducted at the inventor’s or patent attorney’s request. During this examination,
the prior art uncovered by the search is applied to the claimed invention. The
patent examiner will then provide your patent attorney with an International
Preliminary Examination Report directed to the patentability of the claims in
the patent application. Under the applicant is then allowed a total of approx-
imately 30 months from the initial filing date of the home patent application
(the priority date) before the applicant must decide whether or not to proceed
with filing national applications to obtain patent protection in some or all of the
individual member countries of the PCT that were designated in the originally
filed PCT application document. The inventor and the inventor’s attorney have
the right to amend the PCT application if the results of the search and exam-
ination indicate that such alterations are desirable to obtain allowance of the
PCT application. For U.S. applicants, these amendments can be made in the
English language.
Also note that in many countries, a request for preliminary examination is no
longer required to obtain the full 30 (or 31) months to file national applications.
However, requesting examination provides advantages in expediting and reduc-
ing the cost of national patent prosecution. Timing is important at all stages
of the PCT procedure. If no demand for examination is made under Chapter
II of the PCT, the time in which the several national applications must be filed
may be limited to 19 months from the original filing or priority date. Therefore,
requesting such examination extends the time at which the decision has to be
made in which country applications should be filed from 19 months to approx-
imately 30 or 31 months. Thus, one of the major advantages of the PCT over
the Paris Convention is that you have approximately 2½ years from the original
filing date of

4.8.3 Broad Provisions of the Patent Cooperation Treaty

Your home country patent application to decide among those countries in which
you deem that you will achieve commercial success in marketing your invention.
If no PCT application is filed, the Paris Convention requires that the decision
as to foreign national filings must be made within 12 months, or in the first
year, from the date of filing the home patent application. Therefore, the Patent

59
Cooperation Treaty can be looked at as providing an extension of time to make
that important decision regarding the filing of foreign patent applications.
At the end of the 30- or 31-month period, assuming a Chapter II examination
has been requested, the applicant must designate those national countries in
which it desires to obtain patent protection based upon the PCT application.
Note that the European Patent Convention, discussed in Section 17.6, provides
that most of Western Europe at this point is considered as one nation. After the
PCT search and examination procedure is completed, the search report, copies
of the prior art and the application are sent to the national Patent Offices of each
of the countries designated by the applicant to initiate the process of separate
examinations for patentability in each designated country. At this point, the
patent application must be translated into the appropriate national language,
and a patent agent engaged in each country to prosecute your application before
the designated national Patent Office. Since this is an additional expense, the
applicant under the PCT has been given substantial time to determine in which
countries it is economically viable to proceed with obtaining patent protection.
The national Patent Offices which receive your patent application are not bound
by the preliminary examination report, and in most cases the national patent
examiners conduct their own search. Each national Patent Office is responsible
for issuing its own patents in accordance with its own laws and regulations.

60
Chapter 5

Patent Rights

5.1 Scope of Patent Rights

The Patent Law: What does it cover
Patent Law is a branch of intellectual property law that governs how patents
are granted by the Federal government. It is granted to an inventor for a lim-
ited time period (20 years) for the disclosure of his/her invention. Generally,
patents are granted if the invention is not a natural object or process. It should
be new, useful and not obvious.

It is worth to mention that patents do not protect ideas. Business methods,

manufactured articles, new compositions or software are eligible for protection.
Even some living organisms generated in a laboratory or man-made DNA are
under the protection of Patent Law. Yet, the scope of Patent Law does not
cover the protection of laws of nature, ideas, atomic weapons, human organisms,
naturally occurring phenomena and some other fields.
The three most common types of patents issued by United States Patent &
Trademark Office are a utility patent, a design patent and a plant patent. The
utility patent covers the functional aspects of products (processes); the design
patent covers the decorative design of objects; the plant patent covers new types
of living plants.

The first Patent Act, passed by the US Congress, was called —An Act to
promote the progress of useful Arts and dates back to April 1790. Samuel
Hopkins was the first inventor who was granted the patent for his new method
of producing potassium carbonate (July 31,1790).

61
5.2 Licensing and transfer of technology
Licensing: Agreement whereby an owner of a technological intellectual property
(the licensor) allows another party (the licensee) to use, modify, and/or resell
that property in exchange for a compensation (consideration).
The most common types of licensing agreements include technology (patents),
trademarks (merchandise), copyright and trade secrets

5.2.1 What is Technology Transfer?

Technology is information that is put to use in order to accomplish some task.
Transfer is the movement of technology via some communication channel from
one individual or organization to another. Technology is the useful applica-
tion of knowledge and expertise into an operation. Technology transfer usually
involves some source of technology, group which possess specialized technical
skills, which transfers the technology to a target group of receptors who do not
possess those specialized technical skills, and who therefore cannot create the
tool themselves (Carayannis et al., 1997). In the United States especially, the
technology transfer experience has pointed to multiple transfer strategies, two of
which are the most significant: the licensing of intellectual property rights and
extending property rights and technical expertise to developing firms. The ma-
jor categories of technology transfer and commercialization involve the transfer
of:

1. technology codified and embodied in tangible artifacts

2. processes for implementing technology
3. knowledge and skills that provide the basis for technology and process de-
velopment.

5.2.2 Why Transfer Technology?

Most technology transfer takes place because the organization in which a tech-
nology is developed is different from the organization that brings the technol-
ogy to market. The process of introducing a technology into the marketplace is
called technology commercialization. In many cases, technology commercializa-
tion is carried out by a single firm. The firm’s employees invent the technology,
develop it into a commercial product or process, and sell it to customers. In

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a growing number of cases, however, the organization that creates a technol-
ogy does not bring it to the market. There are several potential reasons for this:

If the inventing organization is a private company, it may not have the resources
needed to bring the technology to market, such as a distribution network, sales
organization, or simply the money and equipment for manufacturing the prod-
uct (these resources are called complementary assets). Even if the company has
those resources, the technology may not be viewed as a strategic product for
that firm, especially if the technology was created as a byproduct of a research
project with a different objective.

If the inventing organization is a government laboratory, that laboratory is for-

bidden in general by law or policy (in the United States) from competing with
the private sector by selling products or processes. Therefore, the technology
can only be brought to market by a private firm.
If the inventing organization is a university, the university usually does not
have the resources or expertise to produce and market the products from that
technology. Also, if the technology was developed with funding from the federal
government, U.S. law strongly encourages the university to transfer the tech-
nology to a private firm for commercialization.

From a public policy perspective, technology transfer is important because tech-

nology can be utilized as a resource for shared prosperity at home and abroad.
As a resource, technology (1) consists of a body of knowledge and know-how,
(2) acts as a stimulant for healthy competitive international trade, (3) is linked
with other nations’ commercial needs, and (4) needs an effective plan for man-
agement and entrepreneurship from lab to market.
From a business perspective, companies engage in technology transfer for a
number of reasons:

Companies look to transfer technologies from other organizations because it

may be cheaper, faster, and easier to develop products or processes based on a
technology someone else has invented rather than to start from scratch. Trans-
ferring technology may also be necessary to avoid a patent infringement lawsuit,
to make that technology available as an option for future technology develop-
ment, or to acquire a technology that is necessary for successfully commercial-
izing a technology the company already possesses.

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Companies look to transfer technologies to other organizations as a potential
source of revenue, to create a new industry standard, or to partner with a firm
that has the resources or complementary assets needed to commercialize the
technology.

For government laboratories and universities, the motivations for technology

transfer are somewhat different:

Governments or universities may transfer technology from outside organizations

if it is needed to accomplish a specific goal or mission (for example, universi-
ties may transfer in educational technologies), or if that technology would add
value to a technology the government or university is hoping to transfer out to
a company.
Government laboratories and universities commonly transfer technologies to
other organizations for economic development reasons (to create jobs and rev-
enues for local firms), as an alternate source of funding, or to establish a rela-
tionship with a company that could have benefits in the future.

5.2.3 How Do You Transfer Technology?

The first requirement for an organization to transfer a technology is to establish
legal ownership of that technology through intellectual property law. There are
four generally recognized forms of intellectual property in industrialized nations:
1. patents, dealing with functional and design inventions
2. trademarks, dealing with commercial origin and identity
3. copyrights, dealing with literary and artistic expressions
4. trade secrets, which protect the proprietary capabilities of the firm
Under U.S. law, a patent is granted only by the federal government and lets
the patentee exclude others from making, using, selling or offering an inven-
tion for a fixed term, currently 20 years from the date the patent application
is filed. The number of patents granted by the U.S. government is up by 21
percent in 2003. A trademark, as defined under the Trademark Act of 1946
(The Lanham Act) is ”any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination
thereof (1) used by a person, or (2) which a person has a bona fide intention

64
to use in commerce. . . to identify and distinguish his or her goods, including
a unique product, from those manufactured or sold by others, and to indicate
the source of the goods, even if that source is unknown.” A copyright seeks to
promote literary and artistic creativity by protecting, for a limited time, what
the U.S. Constitution broadly calls writings of authors. The general rule in the
United States for a work created on or after January 1, 1978, whether or not it
is published, is that copyright lasts for the author’s life-time plus 50 years after
the author’s death. The copyright in a work made for hire or in an anonymous
work lasts for 75 years from publication or 100 years from creation, whichever
is shorter.
A trade secret is information that an inventor chooses not to disclose and to
which the inventor also controls access, thus providing enduring protection.
Trade secrets remain in force only if the holder takes reasonable precautions to
prevent them from being revealed to people outside the firm, except through a
legal mechanism such as a license. Trade secrets are governed by state rather
than federal law.
The second step in technology transfer is finding a suitable recipient for that
technology—one that can use the technology and has something of value to
offer in return. Firms are now studying more systematically the process of li-
censing and technology transfer. There are five information activities needed
to support technology transfer:

ˆ technology scouting—searching for specific technologies to buy or license.

ˆ technology marketing—searching for buyers for a technology, the inverse of

tech scouting; also searching for collaborators, joint venture or development
partners, or for investors or venture capital to fund a specific technology.
ˆ technology assessment—evaluating technology, aimed at answering the
question ”what is this technology worth?” Includes research of any in-
tellectual properties, and market and competitor assessments.
ˆ transfer-related activities—information about the transfer process itself,
such as licensing terms and practices, contracts, conducting negotiations,
and how to do the transfer most successfully.
ˆ finding experts—to assist in any of the above areas. A common saying in
the field is, ”technology transfer is a contact sport.”

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These information needs are often supported by service companies, such as li-
censing consultants, and by electronic media, including databases and online
networks. Some new online networks use the Internet to help firms in these in-
formation activities. The information-transfer process is one of the most critical
steps in technology transfer. New licensing practices are designed to address
this process. For example, many licenses now bundle both the basic technology
and the equipment needed to utilize that technology in a single agreement. A
license may also include a ”know-how” agreement, which exchanges relevant
trade secrets (with appropriate protections) to the licensee to help in exploit-
ing technology. In some industries, such as petroleum exploration, firms even
practice wet licensing, whereby employees of the licenser are loaned out to the
licensee to teach how a technology should be properly used.
The major barrier to the increase in technology transfer among firms is organi-
zational behavior. In the past, cultural blocks such as the ”not invented here”
syndrome prevented firms from even showing interest in technology transfer.
New concepts along the lines of knowledge management are changing behaviors
and beliefs, leading firms to realize the enormous gains to be made through
the active pursuit of licensing. Once the organization has at least started to
establish ownership of the technology, there are several possible legal and/or
contractual mechanisms for transferring technology from one organization to
another:

ˆ Licensing—the exchange of access to a technology and perhaps associated

skills from one company for a regular stream of cash flows from another.
ˆ Cross-licensing—an agreement between two firms to allow each other use
of or access to specific technologies owned by the firms.
ˆ Strategic supplier agreement—a long-term supply contract, including guar-
antees of future purchases and greater integration of activity than a casual
market relationship. One prominent example is the second-source agree-
ments signed between semiconductor chip manufacturers.
ˆ contract R&D—an agreement under which one company or organization,
which generally specializes in research, conducts research in a specific area
on behalf of a sponsoring firm.
ˆ joint or cooperative R&D agreement—an agreement under which two or
more companies agree to cooperate in a specific area of R&D or a spe-

66
 cific project, coordinating research tasks across the partner firms and with
sharing of research results.
ˆ R&D corporation or research joint venture—the establishment of a sepa-
rate organization, jointly owned by two or more companies, which conducts
research on behalf of its owners. A notable example is Bellcore, which orig-
inally was established by the seven Regional Bell Holding Companies of
the United States and which would conduct research and set standards for
the local telephone system.
ˆ research consortium—any organization with multiple members formed to
conduct joint research in a broad area, often in its own facilities and using
personnel on loan from member firms and/or direct hires. The Microelec-
tronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) and Semiconductor
Manufacturing Technology (SEMATECH) are examples of such organiza-
tions.
The choice of which mechanism to use in a particular technology transaction
depends on many factors, including the stage of development for that technol-
ogy, what the company receiving the technology is willing or able to pay, what
technology or other assets it might be able to offer in place of money, the likely
benefits of establishing a longer-lasting partnership between the organizations
instead of a onetime transfer; and the exact legal status of ownership over that
technology. For example, if a small firm simply wants to sell its technology
to a large firm in exchange for money, it will probably choose to license the
technology. If the small firm also wants access to the large firm’s complemen-
tary assets, such as its production facilities and distribution network, it will try
to negotiate a more substantial and permanent relationship, such as an R&D
contract or a cooperative R&D agreement.

5.2.4 Private technology transfer

Technology transfer between private companies is most commonly accomplished
through licensing, although other mechanisms such as joint ventures, research
consortia, and research partnerships are also quite popular. Licensing is a big
business by itself. In 2002 U.S. companies received over $66 billion in payments
on technology licenses from other organizations, of which $58 billion was from
domestic sources. Data from the U.S. Department of Commerce compiled in
the mid-1990s indicated that international technology licensing was rising at

67
approximately 18 percent per year, and domestic technology licensing was ris-
ing at 10 percent per year.
Another growing mode of private technology transfer is the formation of re-
search joint ventures (RJVs) between companies in the United States. For
years, such joint ventures were rare, mostly due to fears among companies that
joint ventures would provoke antitrust litigation from the government. Passage
of the National Cooperative Research Act (NCRA) in 1984 and the National
Cooperative Research and Production Act in 1993 relaxed antitrust regulation
of such partnerships, leading to a substantial increase in RJVs.
Studies of the filings of RJVs registered with the Department of Justice under
the NCRA shows some interesting trends:

ˆ Although multi-firm consortia such as SEMATECH and the Microelectron-

ics and Computer Corporation (MCC) attract the most interest, about 85
percent of RJVs involve only two firms.
ˆ Most RJVs focus on developing process technologies rather than product
technologies, as processes are viewed as pre-competitive technologies in
many industries.
ˆ The largest concentration of RJVs focuses on Telecommunications.while
software and computer hardware are also leading industries for RJV activ-
ity. These industries have significant impact on technological advances in
other industries, and therefore attract much interest for partnering firms.
Not surprisingly, RJVs are less common in the chemical and pharmaceu-
tical industries, probably because process technologies have greater com-
petitive impact in those industries than in others.
Research joint ventures are an advantageous means of acquiring high-risk tech-
nologies, for several reasons. First, joint ventures enable the risks and costs
involved in early research in technology to be shared across multiple firms,
reducing the burden on each individual company. Second, the resources and
expertise needed to develop certain technologies may be distributed across mul-
tiple firms, so RJVs are the only way to combine those resources in one effort.
Third, in industries where technology advances quickly, RJVs are an effec-
tive way to keep up with new developments. Finally, RJVs are often used
to develop and set critical technical standards in certain industries, especially

68
telecommunications. These reasons indicate that RJVs will continue to increase
in significance as a tool for technology transfer.

5.2.5 Technology Transfer from Government to Industry

In an effort to increase the application of government research results to indus-
try technology problems (and therefore fuel technology-based economic growth),
the United States government has passed a series of laws since 1980 to encourage
the transfer of technologies from government laboratories to industry. Technol-
ogy licensing was the earliest focus of activity, based on the notion that govern-
ment laboratories were like treasure chests of available technologies that could
easily be applied to corporate needs. In fact, government technology licensing
activity is extremely limited, except in the National Institutes of Health. The
NIH has been the source of several ground breaking therapies and other med-
ical technologies and enjoys close relations with the pharmaceutical industry,
enabling the agency to gain large amounts of licensing revenue.
Other agencies face substantial difficulties in licensing technologies. Often, their
technologies require substantial development before commercialization, reduc-
ing their value to firms. Also, most government laboratories do research in areas
where there is no clear, consistent path to commercialization as exists in the
pharmaceutical industry. The uncertainty of commercialization also diminishes
the willingness of firms to purchase technology licenses from laboratories.
Instead, most agencies have focused on signing Cooperative Research and De-
velopment Agreements (CRADAs), a mechanism developed under the 1986 Fed-
eral Technology Transfer Act. CRADAs are contracts to conduct joint R&D
projects, where the government laboratory contributes personnel and equip-
ment, while the partner contributes these assets and funding as well. The num-
ber of CRADAs signed by government agencies has increased steadily in recent
years. There are several potential benefits and potential difficulties involved in
CRADA research relationships:
ˆ Transfer of product and process technologies can have a significant impact
on recipient firms’ business performance. For example, the invention of an
improved method for delivering the medication paclitaxel was licensed by
the National Institutes of Health to Bristol-Myers-Squibb as the product
Taxol, which has since become a leading treatment for breast and ovarian
cancer. However, there is no data to show what portion of transfers are
successful versus those which are not.

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 ˆ Technology transfer may or may not result in commercial products. A
survey of 229 technology transfer projects at 29 federal laboratories, con-
ducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology, found that 22 percent of
the projects resulted in new commercial products, while 38 percent con-
tributed to products under development. Interestingly, in 13 percent of
the projects, new product development or product improvement was never
a goal.
ˆ Laboratories’ views on technology transfer can affect success. Now that
most of the legal barriers to technology transfer have apparently been elim-
inated by congressional legislation, the true barriers are generated by the
culture of the laboratories and the attitudes of researchers and laboratory
administrators. For example, in several cases firms have complained that
laboratory researchers were not used to meeting the strict timetables on
project completion that private sector researchers must observe.
ˆ Technology transfer, especially in joint research, can aid the government
laboratory as well. A report by the GAO examining ten CRADA projects
found that the laboratories can also benefit from technology transfer, for
example, through enhanced expertise for researchers, development of tech-
nologies that also support the laboratory’s mission, acquisition of sophis-
ticated equipment and infrastructure, and increased laboratory revenues
from industrial sources.

5.2.6 University-industry technology transfer

One of the original pieces of U.S. technology-transfer legislation, the Bayh-Dole
Act, directed government agencies to encourage universities and other research
organizations to license out technologies developed with federal funding. Since
1980, this activity has become a small but growing source of revenue for uni-
versities. Technology transfer from academia and other research institutions to
industry continues to grow, according to the annual survey of the Association of
University Technology Managers. The 2003 survey shows that increasing num-
bers of research institutions are forging licensing agreements with commercial
entities to bring newly developed technology and products to the market. In
2003, the 165 institutions of higher education responding to the survey reported
receiving close to $1 billion in licensing revenue in 2003, a 1 percent increase
over 2002.

70
Commercial institutions pay royalties for the right to put inventions and discov-
eries from universities to commercial use in products such as computer-imaging
technology, medical diagnostic testing, and treatment of disease. Institutions
of higher education, in turn, can use the revenue to increase investments in
research and development. This technology transfer also leads to sponsored re-
search agreements between firms and universities, often to undertake additional
research needed to commercialize technologies. Universities now receive approx-
imately 7 percent of all research funding from industry, compared to about 3
percent in the 1970s. Institutions of higher education also reported spinning off
nearly 350 companies and receiving 3,450 U.S. patents for new technologies and
inventions. Since fiscal year 1998 when the question was first asked, 178 U.S.
survey respondents have reported a total of 2,230 new products introduced to
the market place.
For industry, universities offer the best way to acquire basic technological re-
search as those activities are curtailed within firms. Universities also house
experts in very focused fields of study that are likely to have benefits to a
small number of firms. Finally, joint industry-university research is viewed as
an important recruiting tool in today’s competition for scientific talent, since
industry-funded projects are often carried out by graduate students who later
go to work for their former sponsors.
Technology transfer is a valuable mechanism by which industry can acceler-
ate its innovation activities and gain competitive advantage through coopera-
tion. Technology transfer can also boost overall economic growth and regional
economic development. While further study is needed to estimate the exact
benefits gained from technology transfer and ways to achieve those benefits, it
is clear that this is an activity that is becoming a central feature of the U.S.
research and development system.

5.3 Patent information and databases

Patent information is the name we give to the technical information you find
in patent documents, plus legal and business-relevant information about them.
Patent documents consist of. a first page comprising basic information, such
as the title of the invention and the name of the inventor MBA Patent doc-
ument holds wealth of information in itself. A brief detail of Indian patent
application information is published as eighteen month publication by Indian
patent Office, in electronic gazette weekly. To date, a proper database of Indian

71
patents specifically for research determination has not been available, making
it complicated for researcher to use this data for measuring any kind of research
activities in terms of patents in India. To facilitate this, we constructed a com-
prehensive patent data base which incorporates the information presented in
the electronic gazette. This database includes information such as technology
class, applicant, inventor, country of origin etc., of the patent submitted. We
present the methodology for the creation of this database; its basic features
along with its accuracy and reliability in this research paper. Patent based
database has been developed and can be used for various innovation researches
and activities.

5.3.1 Patent Searching Process The need for a search:

ˆ Patentability requires novelty and non-obviousness.
ˆ The patentability search, sometimes called a novelty search
ˆ A search is recommended to determine the feasibility of obtaining a patent.
ˆ A novelty search is somewhat limited in scope and is designed to disclose
whether an application will be rejected on the basis of lack of novelty or

5.3.2 obviousness
ˆ A novelty search can usually be completed for less than$1,000.
ˆ If an invention is intended for immediate commercial use or sale, an ad-
ditional search, call an infringement search or investigation, is often con-
ducted concurrently with the novelty search.
ˆ This novelty search is thus more expensive
Searching Methods:
ˆ The PTO provides public search facilities for patent searching.
ˆ Searching is free and the PTO allows searchers to review issued patents,
complete with drawings.
ˆ Searching can be done either in the main public search room or in the
examiners‘ search areas where examiners will assist in searching. (The
patent search room contains copies of all U.S. issued patents from 1790 to
present as well as many foreign patents).

72
 ˆ The PTO employs a classification system that provides for the storage and
retrieval of patent documents
ˆ The patent examiners in the course of examining patent applications, the
system is also used by searchers, and classification files are divided in to
subclasses.
ˆ Most classes have approximately three hundred subclasses

5.3.3 Searching tools:

1) In-Depth Patent Data Search Tool at a Reasonable Price
ˆ Access the comprehensive full-text of a patent with the most accurate and
up-to-date status collected from the USPTO, EPO, CNIPA, JPO, and
WIPO.
ˆ A one-stop patent search tool with global coverage of 100+ countries.

ˆ Advanced data availability that goes beyond a simple patent number, in-
cluding current patent assignees and patent transfer histories, legal status
and remaining life, Patent cloud‘s exclusive and insightful Patent Quality
and Value Rankings , and more.
2) An AI-Powered Patent Search Tool with Great Searchability
ˆ Besides performing patent search by number, inventor, company or date,
our Search Editor empowers you to search by current assignee, assignment
history, status data and more.
ˆ Immediately get the most relevant prior art for your prior art search needs
with Semantic Search.
ˆ Get corrected and correlated corporate tree data with a Corporate Affili-
ation Search to ensure comprehensive results in a due-diligence search.
ˆ Extend your search results and avoid missing keywords with Keyword

Expansion, and conveniently obtain equivalent results with Smart Search when
navigating a patent document. 3) A Powerful and Interactive Patent Analytics
Dashboard

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 ˆ Uncover the unlimited potential of Patent cloud‘s proprietary Patent Ma-
trix for your patent landscape analysis, with an interactive pivot table for
insights gained from correlating patent data with your self-defined tags.
ˆ Interact with the intuitive Statistical Charts to conveniently navigate and
manipulate data fields and scopes to conduct further analysis and gain real
actionable insights.

5.4 Geographical Indications

A geographical indication (GI): Geographical indication is a sign used on prod-
ucts that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation
that are due to that origin. In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify
a product as originating in a given place.

In addition, the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should

be essentially due to the place of origin. Since the qualities depend on the
geographical place of production, there is a clear link between the product and
its original place of production.

5.4.1 What rights does a geographical indication provide?

A geographical indication right enables those who have the right to use the
indication to prevent its use by a third party whose product does not conform
to the applicable standards. For example, in the jurisdictions in which the
Darjeeling geographical indication is protected, producers of Darjeeling tea can
exclude use of the term —Darjeeling for tea not grown in their tea gardens or
not produced according to the standards set out in the code of practice for the
geographical indication.
However, a protected geographical indication does not enable the holder to pre-
vent someone from making a product using the same techniques as those set
out in the standards for that indication. Protection for a geographical indica-
tion is usually obtained by acquiring a right over the sign that constitutes the
indication.

74
5.4.2 For what type of products can geographical indications be
used?
Geographical indications are typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs,
wine and spirit drinks, handicrafts, and industrial products. How are geograph-
ical indications protected?

There are three main ways to protect a geographical indication:

ˆ so-called sui generis systems (i.e. special regimes of protection);

ˆ using collective or certification marks; and

ˆ methods focusing on business practices, including administrative product

approval schemes. These approaches involve differences with respect to
important questions, such as the conditions for protection or the scope of
protection. On the other hand, two of the modes of protection namely sui
generis systems and collective or certification mark systems — share some
common features, such as the fact that they set up rights for collective use
by those who comply with defined standards.
Broadly speaking geographical indications are protected in different countries
and regional systems through a wide variety of approaches and often using a
combination of two or more of the approaches outlined above. These approaches
have been developed in accordance with different legal traditions and within a
framework of individual historical and economic conditions.

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Chapter 6

New Developments in IPR

6.1 New Development in Trade Marks Law:

6.1.1 The Internet:
Trademark owners throughout the world are struggling with new issues pre-
sented by increased electronic communication, primarily that occurring through
the Internet. The Internet derives from a network set up in the 1970s by the
Department of Defense to connect military and research sites that could con-
tinue to communicate even in the event of nuclear at tract. In the 1980s, the
National Science Foundation expanded on the system, and its first significant
users were government agencies and universities. In the early1990s, however, it
became apparent that the system could provide a global communication net-
work, allowing people from all over the world to talk with each other; send
written messages, pictures, and text to each other; and establish web pages to
advertise their ware and provide information to their customers.

6.2 Assignment of Domain names:

A company‘s presence on the internet begins with its address or domain name
not only serves as a locator for a company but also functions as a designation
of origin and a symbol of good will–a trade mark. There are two portions to a
domain name: the generic top-level domain, which is the portion of the name
to the right of a period (such as .gov or .com) and the secondary level domain,
which is the portion of the name to the left of a period (such as —kraft in
Kraft.com.

76
Disputes frequently arise between owners of registered mark and owners of do-
main names whose domain names similar or identical to the registered marks.

6.2.1 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers[ICANN]:

To help resolve the problems in the domain names registration and use process
ˆ The government created the ICANN

ˆ It is a non profit corporation

ˆ It is governed by a board of directors elected in part by various members

of the Internet community.
ˆ ICANN are authorized to register domain names ending with .com, .org
and.net
ˆ Registrations usually last one year, at which time they can be removed or
will expire.
ˆ Registration requires a representation that the person seeing to register
the name is not doing so far an unlawful purpose and does not know of
any infringement
ˆ ICANN recently added seven new top-level domains, including .biz and.info

6.2.2 Protecting a Domain Name:

ˆ People register well-known marks as domain names to prey on consumer
confusion by misusing the domain name to divert customers from the legit-
imate mark owner‘s site. This practice is commonly called cyber squatting.
ˆ There are three approaches for against cyber squatter:

ˆ An action can be brought under the Federal Trademark dilution Act

ˆ A civil suit can be instituted under the recent Anti-cyber squatting con-
sumer protection Act,or
ˆ An arbitration proceeding can be instituted through ICANN‘s disputes
resolutions process

77
 ˆ Cyber squatters and the dilution doctrine: Federal trademark dilution Act
(15 U.S.C 1125 (C)
ˆ Cyber squatters and Anticyber squatting consumer protection Act (15
U.S.C § 1125 (d) [ACPA: Anti cyber squatting consumer Protection Act]

To prevail in a civil action under ACPA, a plaintiff must prove three thing:

1. The plaintiff‘s mark is a distinctive or famous mark deserving of protection

2. The alleged cyber squatter‘s infringing domain name is identical to or
confusingly similar to the plaintiff mark
3. The cyber squatter registered the domain name is bad faith

ˆ Resolving Disputes through the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution

Policy: [UDRP] 1999
ˆ The allegedly wrongful domain name is identical or confusingly similar to
the complainants‘trademark;
ˆ The domain name registrant has no legitimate interest in the domain name
and
ˆ The domain name is being used in bad faith

6.3 New Development in Copy Right Law:

While acknowledging that clothing is a useful article and thus not subject to
copyright protection, a New York Federal court ruled that lace design, copy-
righted as writing and incorporated into wedding dresses, were protectable and
enjoined another maker of wedding dresses from making or marketing copies.
Similarly, detailed embroiders or some other two dimensional drawing or graphic
work affixed to a portion of a garment may be copy rightable. A federal court
in California recently held that while type fonts themselves are not protectable
under copyright law, a software program that generated and created the type-
faces was protectable. As soon as Stephen King sold his book riding the Bullet
exclusively in an Internet format, an individual cracked the copyright protec-
tion software and posted free copies of the book on the Internet. The publishers

78
responded by adopting stronger encryption technology. Similarly, in 2000, Mr.
King suspended online publication of a serial novel because too many indi-
viduals were downloading the work without paying it. It late 1997 President
Clinton signed into law the No Electronic Theft [NET] Act [amending 18 U.S.C
§2319] to enhance criminal penalties for copyright infringement, even if the in-
fringer does not profit from the transaction. The act also extends the statutes
of limitations for criminal copyright infringement from three to five years, and
allows law enforcement officers to use federal copyright law against online copy-
right violation, thereby extending the same copyright protection to the Internet
that is provided to other media. In September 1999, the Clinton administration
relaxed government restrictions on the export of encryption products and simul-
taneously introduced new legislation to give law enforcement agencies greater
authority to combat the use of computers by terrorists and criminals and to
create a new code cracking unit within the FBI [Foreign Bureau of Investiga-
tion].

In mid-2000, president Clinton signed the Electronic signatures in Global and

National Commerce Act, making digital execution, called e-signatures, as legally
binding as their paper counter parts. In 2000, federal prosecutors in Chicago
indicted seventeen people who called themselves —Pirates with Attitude for
pirating thousands of software program. The case was brought under the NET
Act. Some of the individuals were former employees of Intel and Microsoft.
The copyright office has recommended that congress amend section 110 of the
copyright Act to grant educators the right to transmit copyrighted works for
distance learning if certain conditions are met.

6.4 New Development in Patent Law:

The patent Act has proven remarkably flexible in accommodating changes and
development in technology. Thus advisement in technology generally has not
necessitated changes in the stately governing patent protection.

6.4.1 Business method and software patent:

Many of the cutting-edge issues in patent law related to patents for computer
software. For several years, the conventional wisdom has been that unless
a computer program had significant commercial value and application patent

79
protection was often counterproductive or ineffective in that the PTO often
took two years to issue a patent, roughly the same time it took for the software
program to become absolute.

6.4.2 Biotechnology patent:

Medicines, Science, agricultural and pharmacology present the other cutting-
edge issues in patent law. Research into genes may hold the key to curing disease
throughout the world. Agricultural research may hold the key to providing
sufficient food for the world‘s ever- increasing population.
The development of strains of plants and crops that are resistant to brought and
disease has also led to an increasing number of patents issued, and attendant
litigation. In the field of a g biotech.

6.4.3 American Investors Protection Act of 1999[AIPA]:

The AIPA was signed into law in 1999 and represents the most significant
changes to patent law in twenty years. Although some of the provisions of
AIPA have been discussed earlier, its key subtitles are as follows:
ˆ Inventors Right Act of1999
ˆ The First Inventor Defense Act of1999
ˆ The patent term guarantee act of1999
ˆ The domestic publication of Foreign filed patent application act of1999
ˆ The optional Inter parts reexamination procedure Act of1999

6.4.4 Introduction of International Patent protection:

The rights granted by a U.S Patent extend only throughout the U.S and have no
effect in a foreign country. Therefore, an inventor who desires patent protection
in other countries must apply for a patent in each of the other countries or in
regional patent office.
ˆ The Paris convention (already it is in previous units) The European patent
organization
ˆ Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of IPR (already it is in previous
units)

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 ˆ The patent Law Treaty

ˆ Foreign Filling Licenses

ˆ Applications for United States Patents by Foreign applicants

The European patent organization:

The European Patent Organization (EPO) was founded in 1973 to provide a
uniform patent system in Europe. A European patent can be obtained by filing
a single application with the EPO headquartered in Munich (or its sub branches
in The Hague or Berlin or with the national offices in the contracting nations).
Once granted, the patent in valid in any of the EPO A country designated in
the application and has the same force as patent granted in any one of the
contracting nations.

6.5 Administration of Patent System

A brief history of patenting, and discusses the legal and administrative process
for obtaining a patent in the major world jurisdictions. Evidence on patent
effectiveness in encouraging innovation is surveyed, and the article concludes
with a discussion of the use of patent data in economic analysis. A patent is the
legal right of an inventor to exclude others from making or using a particular
invention. This right is customarily limited in time, to 20 years from the date of
the application submission in most countries. The principle behind the modern
patent is that an inventor is allowed a limited amount of time to exclude others
from supplying or using an invention in order to encourage inventive activity
by preventing immediate imitation. In return, the inventor is required to make
the description and implementation of the invention public rather than keeping
it secret, allowing others to build more easily on the knowledge contained in his
invention.
The economics of patents has two distinct components, one normative and one
positive. The first is directed towards questions of optimal patent policy, the
existence and strength of patents, and the design of the patent system. The
second uses patent data as an indicator of inventive activity, relying on the fact
that patent offices attempt to apply fairly uniform standards of novelty and in-
ventive step when granting patents, so that counts based on them should reflect
the innovative activity in a society or in a particular industrial or technology
sector. The advantage of patent data is that they are available in great detail

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over a wide range of time periods, geographic areas, and technological sectors
(Griliches, 1990). Nevertheless, all patents are not equal, and it is important to
understand the operation of patent systems throughout their history in order
to make effective use of these data. This article begins with a brief history of
patents, followed by a discussion of the legal and administrative processes for
obtaining a patent in the three major patent offices, the United States, Euro-
pean, and Japanese. Then the evidence on patent effectiveness in encouraging
innovation is surveyed. The final section discusses the use of patent data in
economic analysis.

6.5.1 Brief history

Patents have a long history, although some of the earliest patents are simply
the grant of a legal monopoly in a particular good rather than protection of
an invention from imitation. Early examples of technology-related patents are
Brunelleschi’s patent on a boat designed to carry marble up the Arno, issued in
Florence in 1421, the Venetian patent law of 1474, and various patent monop-
olies granted by the English crown between the 15th and 17th centuries. The
modern patent, which requires a working model or written description of an
invention, dates from the 18th century, first in Britain (1718) and then in the
United States (1790), followed closely by France (in both the latter two cases
one of the consequences of a revolution). Many other Continental European
countries introduced patents during the 19th century, as did Japan. During the
20th century, the use of patent systems became almost universal.
The French patent law of 1791 emphasizes the property right aspect of the
patent rather than its use in promoting the useful arts: ‘All new discoveries
are the property of the author; to assure the inventor the property and tem-
porary enjoyment of his discovery, there shall be delivered to him a patent for
five, ten or fifteen years’ (Ladas and Parry, 2003). In contrast, the Japanese
law of 1959 states that its goal is to encourage ‘inventions by promoting their
protection und utilization and thereby to contribute to the development of in-
dustry’ (JPO, 2006). Patents are enshrined in the US constitution with the
sentence ‘Congress shall have power ... to promote the progress of science and
useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive
right to their respective writings and discoveries’ (Article 1, Section 8, clause
8), which implicitly recognizes both goals of a patent system, namely, reward
to the inventor and the promotion of inventive progress.

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In 1883 the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property ensured
national treatment of patent applicants from any country that was a party to it.
Its most important provision gave applicants who were nationals or residents
of one member state the right to file an application in their own country and
then, as long as an application was filed in another country that was a member
of the treaty within a specified time (now 12 months) to have the date of filing
in the home country count as the effective filing date in that other country
(the ‘priority date’). This is an important feature of the patent system, and
enables worldwide priority to be obtained for an invention originating in any
one country, in addition to ensuring that in principle all inventors are treated
equally by the system, regardless of the country from which they come.

6.5.2 Legal and administrative

Although the process for granting a patent varies slightly according to the
jurisdiction for which protection is desired, the adoption of the agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in 1995 ensures
that it is approximately the same everywhere in the world. This agreement re-
quires its member countries to make patent protection available for any product
or process invention in any field of technology with only a few specified excep-
tions. It also requires them to make the term of protection available for not
less than a period of 20 years from the date of filing the patent application.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has almost 200 member
states and lists an equivalent number of national patent offices and industrial
property offices on its website. In general, the patent right extends only within
the border of the jurisdiction that has granted it (usually but not always a coun-
try). An important exception is the European system, where it is possible to
file a patent application at the European Patent Office (EPO) that will become
a set of national patent rights in several European countries at the time of issue
(EPO, 2006). A similar situation exists with respect to the African Regional
Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO). The exact number and choice of
countries is under control of the applicant. Patents granted by the EPO have
the same legal status as patents granted by the various national offices that are
party to the
Many patent offices have a provision for challenging patents following their is-
sue. In the United States, any third party may request re-examination of a
patent during its lifetime, although for various reasons related to potential sub-

83
sequent litigation this opportunity is rarely taken up. In Europe and Japan,
robust patent opposition systems with limited time frames operate, and these
systems are often used by rival firms as an alternative to more expensive lit-
igation (Hall et al., 2003). In Europe this avenue of challenge is particularly
attractive because it is the last opportunity to attack a patent at the European-
wide level rather than in individual national courts. Patents are valuable only
if they can be enforced and this fact has a number of implications for their use.
First, the ability of the courts to reach the ‘correct’ verdict with respect to in-
fringement and validity will matter; in situations or jurisdictions where there is
a great deal of uncertainty about the outcome, and even if both parties agree as
to the merits of the case, it may be worth pursuing the issue further or in some
cases, reaching a private financial settlement to avoid a random outcome in the
courts. Second, the costs of litigation will matter: parties with deep pockets
can threaten those with less access to resources, or where the opportunity cost
of paying attention to a patent suit is high. On the other hand smaller parties
with less to lose can also hold up firms with large sunk
investments that they might lose. Finally, the threat of litigation may discour-
age firms from even entering certain areas, thus providing a disincentive rather
than an incentive for R&D. Lerner (1995) documented this phenomenon for
biotechnology. The degree to which these kinds of threats matter depends to
a great extent on the costs and extent of litigation, both of which tend to be
higher in the United States than in many other countries.
Research on patent litigation is difficult because of the data collection prob-
lem (it frequently requires accessing the records of courts in several different
jurisdictions) but in recent years there have been series of studies of US patent
litigation (Moore, 2000; Lanjouw and Schankerman, 2001; Bessen and Meurer,
2005) and at least one of the German system (Cremers, 2004). All of these
studies document the fact that litigated patents tend to be the more valuable.
The US studies also show that only about five per cent of such suits go to trial,
with the remainder being settled before going to trial. They also show that
whether patent litigation has increased depends on whether it is measured in
aggregate or per patent. That is, the increase in patent litigation has roughly
paralleled the increase in patenting, at least in the United States.

84
6.6 IPR of Biological Systems
Over last few years many controversies have raised on biological patents. Patent-
ing of biological extracts from plants, animals and organisms which is previously
recognized by indigenous people, is referred as Biopiracy. One among the main
purposes of IPR protection is to move a fraction of wet lab investigations to
industries. These IPR’s deny the right to local population in using these in-
novations. For example, Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Diagnostic Company) has the
patent for BRCA2 gene and many others. In 2009, a case was filed against it
by scientists and doctors that patent on genes prohibited patients from think-
ing in a different way over their examination reports. In 2013, Association for
Molecular Pathology challenged the patent rights of Myriad Genetics. A case
appeared in US District Court gave the decision that every challenged assert is
not patentable. A DNA or genes of organisms cannot be patented because it is
a natural product, but cDNA is patentable because it is modified by researchers
and is not an original product of nature.

6.6.1 Importance of traditional knowledge

Traditional knowledge plays an important role in the conservation of biodiver-
sity and its traditional uses:
a. Indian Systems of Medicine (Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani) are part of the offi-
cial healthcare system in India, and depend on a diversity of biological resources
and traditional knowledge.
b. Farmers and livestock keepers have improved and nurtured diverse varieties
of crops and domesticated animals over generations. This has been invaluable
for food security and in providing clothing, healthcare and shelter.
c. All over India local communities have independently conserved wild areas, in-
cluding natural ecosystems, sometimes deemed to be sacred e.g. ‘sacred groves’,
some thousands of years old, dedicated to a local deity.

6.6.2 India and traditional knowledge

India is a country which has a tradition of civilization of nearly 5,000years.
India’s ancient scriptures consist of 4 Vedas, 108 Upanishads, 2 epics, Bhagavad-
Gita, Brahma sutras, 18 Puranas and Kautilya Shastra. It is known for its rich
heritage of biological diversity but still has documented very less number of
animals and plants. Ayurveda is the oldest and most effective of alternative of

85
medicine. The ancient scriptures of the Ayurveda are full of instances where
herbs with medicinal properties were used not only for treatment but also for
increasing physical and mental efficiency.26 Nearly 76 species of vertebrates
have been found to be useful in tribal medicine.30 Jeevani is a poly herbal drug
in a granular form shows restorative, immuno enhancing, anti-stress and anti
fatigue properties. The members of the Kani tribe chew fruits of the plant,
Arogyappacha but since fruits are available in limited numbers, the TBGRI
team scientifically validated all parts of the plant including the roots and leaves
for possible leads. Eventually they found leaves with the necessary chemical
and pharmacological properties.31 The knowledge was shared by three Kani
tribal members to the Indian scientists who isolated 12 active compounds from
arogyapaacha, developed the drug “Jevaani”, and filed two patent applications
on the drug. Plat his, tribal leaders have customary rights to share or transfer
and practice certain traditional and medicinal knowledge.
The technology was then licensed to the Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, Ltd., an In-
dian pharmaceutical manufacturer pursuing the commercialization of Ayurvedic
herbal formulations. India possesses one of the largest livestock populations
in the world, which is more than 484.9million with the top position in cattle
(178million), buffalo (98.7million), goat (125.46million) and sheep (64.27mil-
lion), poultry (505million), and pig (16million). Further, the country has 16.49
percent of the world cattle population and 56.78 percent of the world buffalo
population. Out of the total livestock in the country, around 38.2 percent are
cattle, 20.2 percent are buffaloes, 12.7 percent are sheep, 25.6 percent are goats
and 2.8 percent are pigs. All other animals account for less than 0.50 percent
of the total livestock population. There are unique traits of the farm animals
inhabiting Indian sub-continent which hold considerable potential application
or utilization through biotechnologies.32 Under the Central Herd Registration
Scheme of the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, animals belong-
ing to Hariana, Gir, Kankrej and Ongole breeds of cattle and Murrah, Surti,
Mehsana and Jaffrabadi breeds of buffalo are registered depending on the con-
formation to breed characteristics and prescribed milk being misappropriated
by others. Until now, the enforcement of IPR in livestock sector is not so rigid
in India which reduces the effectiveness of IPR laws and regulations. It also
generates a bias towards research outputs primarily marketed in industrialized
countries with functional rule of law.

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6.6.3 Biopiracy
Bioprospectors, depend on the knowledge of indigenous and local communi-
ties that have preserved these resources for ages and understand them best for
commercialization of valuable genetic resources. This process of “appropriating
biodiversity and the knowledge “involved is termed biopiracy.33 The term can
also be used for breach of contract related to access and use of TK. Bioprospec-
tors are those scientists which discover and commercialize new products based
on biological resources.
In 2000, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India, found
that almost 80 per cent of the medicinal plants were granted by United States
Patents Office,34 and in that year only 7 medicinal plants of Indian origin were
patented. Then again after three years almost 15.000 patents were granted
at USPTO, EPO etc. In 2005, this number increased to 35,000,which clearly
demonstrated the interest of the developed world in the TK of the develop-
ing countries.35 With reference to Yoga, the study conducted by Traditional
Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) team on the international patent databases
in February 2004 found 249 patents were granted on Yoga and by May 2005 its
number drastically increased to over 2300patents, 2315 trademarks and nearly
150copyrights.The reason for this misappropriation at international patent of-
fice’s is that the traditional medicinal knowledge exists only in local languages,
such as Sanskrit, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, and Tamil which cannot be understood
by patent examiner.
A few examples of bio-piracy of traditional knowledge are:
Turmeric (Curcuma longa):
Curcuma longa, a type of turmeric commonly called Haldi, is an Indian herb
which is used for treatment of sprains, inflammatory conditions and wounds.
The orange colored root is native to the subcontinent and South East Asia, and
for thousands of years has been a one of the major components of Ayurvedic
medicine. In 1995, two US scientists from the University of Mississippi were
granted US patent 5,401,504 on the use of turmeric. The scientists claimed that
turmeric could heal wounds and claiming this to be novel(Bhattacharya,2014).36
The CSIR challenged this patent on grounds of prior art, supporting their claim
by documentary evidence of traditional knowledge which includes ancient San-
skrit text and a paper published in 1953 in the Journal of Indian Medical
Association. USPTO revoked this patent in 1997 after enquiring that there
was no novelty and the innovation has been used in India for centuries.

87
Neem (Azadirachtaindica):
It is derived from the persian name AzadDarakth, meaning “the free tree”. In
India it has been widely used for several decades and is mentioned in Indian
texts written 2000years ago. The remarkable properties of this compound have
been used by Indian small farmers and industries in medicine and agriculture
in form of insect and pest repellant, toiletries and cosmetics etc.
In 1994, European Patent Office (EPO) granted a patent to the US Corpora-
tion W.R. Grace Company and US Department of Agriculture for a method
for controlling fungi on plant by the aid of hydropholic extracted Neem oil). In
May 2000, a coalition of groups successfully overturned the patent held by the
United States of America (US) company, WR Grace and the US Department
of Agriculture over the Indian neem tree. Basmati rice (Oryza sativa linn): It
is largely produced in many parts of India and some parts of Pakistan. It is
evident that basmati is grown in subcontinent for centuries and farmers have
developed numerous varieties of rice to meet various ecological conditions, cook-
ing need and taste. Texas based Rice Tec received a US patent 5,663,484 on
basmati rice in 1997. This patent permitted the company to develop and sell
a ‘new’ variety, which it claims to have progressed under the name of basmati,
in the US and abroad. But it was retracted due to the efforts of Indian Agri-
cultural and Research Institute (IARI).
Nap hal (Wheat):
EPO granted a patent to MONSANTO, Seed Corporation. Research Founda-
tion for Science Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) along with Greenpeace and
Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS) filed a petition at the EPO, Munich, challenging
the patent rights given to MONSANTO on Indian Landrace of wheat, Nap Hal.
The patent was revoked in October 2004.

Amla (Phyllanthusemblica):
It is widely grown and used in India and is a main ingredient of triphala which
is a traditional ayurvedic formulation used for thousands of years. USPTO has
granted 5 patents and one of the patents is claims an invention using extracts
of am lain a hair coloring preparation. Four further patents involving Alma
have been filed in the Japanese Patent Office.
Karela (bitter gourd):
Jamun (blackberry), Gumar and Brinjal, for instance, are commonly known
in India for their anti diabetic characteristics. Their uses are so common in
India that there is no novelty involved while using them for curbing diabetes.

88
A patent was, however, obtained in the U.S. by three NRIs for their utilization
as a cure for diabetes.

6.7 Patent, Copyright, and Trade Secret Protection in

Computer Software
As gleaned from the material in this text, both patents and copyright regis-
trations are available to protect the unlawful duplication and copying of com-
puter software. Although patents usually provide stronger intellectual property
rights, patents are normally more costly and possibly more difficult to obtain
than copyright registrations. The patent law requires a full disclosure of the
best mode of carrying out the steps in the computer program invention as they
were contemplated by the inventor. In contrast, as stated above, copyright reg-
istration is available for software where the owner prefers aspects of the software
to remain secret.
Keep in mind that unlike patents, copyrights only provide protection from copy-
ing, and not independent creation of a same or similar work. Also, in most
countries throughout the world, copyright protection is automatically available
whenever a work is created in a tangible form. This contrasts with the patent
law, where protection does not arise until the examination process in the U.S.
or foreign Patent and Trademark Office has been completed and the patent has
been issued by a governmental body. Also, copyright registration must take
place within three months after the first publication of the work to provide the
full range of remedies under the copyright law. By using the methods described
above where trade secret material is blocked out, the owner of a computer pro-
gram can obtain meaningful copyright protection without revealing any trade
secrets that are embedded in the program.
Deposit material is sent to the Copyright Office as a means of later identify-
ing the work covered by the copyright certificate if the copyright registration
is being enforced in litigation. When you obtain a certificate of registration
from the Copyright Office, the work that was deposited with the Copyright
Office does not accompany that registration, and certain deposits of works are
ultimately destroyed. Therefore, the registration certificate must contain suffi-
cient information to allow the proper identification of the work covered by the
certificate.

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Question Bank

1. Define various forms of Research? Explain the objectives of research and

motivation in doing Research.
2. Explain Ex-Post facto research
3. Differentiate between the following (a). Applied vs Fundamental Research
(b). Quantitative vs Qualitative Research (c).Conceptual vs Empirical
Research
4. Explain briefly about the (a). Research Approaches (b). Significance of
Research
5. Define Research Methodology? Differentiate between Research Methods
vs Methodology
6. Explain briefly the importance of research and scientific methods
7. Describe briefly the Research process with neat sketch
8. Write short notes on the following (a). Collecting the data (b). Hypothesis
9. (a). Write briefly about good Research criteria (b). Explain problems
Encountered by Researchers in INDIA
10. Describe fully the techniques of defining a Research Problem.
11. How do you define a Research Problem? Give three examples to illustrate
your answer.
12. (a). Describe briefly about selecting a Research Problem (b). Explain the
necessity of defining the problem
13. Write short notes on (a). Experience Survey (b). Pilot Survey (c). Com-
ponents of Research Problem (d). Rephrasing the Research Problem

90
14. Explain the meaning of the following in context of Research design (a). Ex-
traneous variables (b). Confounded Relationship (c). Research Hypothesis
(d). Experimental and Control Group (e). Treatments
15. Explain the meaning and significance of research design and also write
features of a good design.
16. Discuss clearly about different research Designs.
17. Explain clearly the basic principle importance of experimental designs.
18. . What is Interpretation? Why it is the necessity in Research? Explain
the techniques of Interpretation.
19. (a). What Precautions should take in Interpretation? (b). Discuss the
Significance of Report Writing?
20. (a). Explain the Different Steps involved in Report Writing? Explain (b).
Describe the Layout of Research Report.
21. (a). Explain different types of Reports? (b). Explain the Mechanism
Involved in Writing a Research Report
22. (a). Explain basic Intellectual Property laws. Write the rationalization
for protection of IP? (b). Write short notes on importance of intellectual
Properties.
23. Discuss various types of Intellectual Property
24. Write short notes on (a). US patent trade office (b). Library of congress.
25. Write briefly about International Organizations, Agencies and Treaties
26. (a). Briefly explain the functions and purpose of the trademarks (b). Ex-
plain the Laws and Treaties governing trademarks.
27. Explain the following (a). Trademarks (b). Service Marks (c). Certifica-
tion Marks (d). Collective Marks
28. Write about the various steps in acquisition of trademarks rights
29. Discuss briefly about various categories of marks
30. Write Short notes on (a). Common Law Rights (b). Federal Registration
(c). State Trademark Registrations

91
31. Explain various protect able matter in detail
32. Write different matters which are considered as Exclusions from Trademark
protection
33. Explain Patent Laws? Write Rights under Federal Laws
34. Explain briefly about Patentability.
35. Explain about Design Patent methods.
36. Explain about Plant Patent methods.
37. (a). Explain clearly significance of double Patenting (b). Write about
Orphan Drug act.
38. Explain clearly about resources of Patent search and also explain Patent
search methods.
39. Discuss clearly about Patent application process.
40. Write about proceeding Patent application
41. Write about post issuance actions of Patents.
42. What is Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)?
43. What are the different types of IPR, explain who is benefitted from each
type of IPR and how?
44. What is Trademark?
45. Explain the different types of trademarks with examples. Differentiate
between Trademark and design.
46. What is the process of registering a trademark?
47. What is the role of IPR in electronics industry? Explain in terms of circuit
boards and integrated chips, how IPR can be used to protect them.
48. What is trade secret? Give any famous example of trade secret. Why are
trade secrets so significant and what is the negative aspect of trade secret?
Explain in brief the historical perspective of trade secret.

92
49. Hypothetically, you are setting a new cold drink manufacturing company
with new and innovative machineries and recipes. You plan to use your
knowledge of IPR to safeguard your new company from old bigshot com-
panies as well as new budding companies. Describe in details, what all
rights you will register and how you will benefit out of it.
50. What is a Geographical Indication (GI) and what is its function? Name
the legislation for its protection in India and briefly outline the procedure
of registration. What are the rights of a Registered Proprietor of a GI?
Explain how Registered GIs benefit local populations.
51. Define Industrial Design and discuss the need to protect it as an intellectual
property. Explain the grounds for registration of designs and the rights of
a design holder? Discuss infringement of Industrial Designs.
52. Describe Copyright and the works protected under copyright act. Briefly
explain the process of obtaining copyright. Differentiate between Copy-
right infringement and Trademark infringement.
53. . Comment on the Patent Act 1970 and its amendment. Explain in brief
the Patent filing procedure. What are the differences between Product
Patents and Process Patents?

93