The Centre for Internet and Society
http://editors.cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 1 to 15.
Interviews with App Developers: Name of the Game (Part IV)
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-app-developers-name-of-the-game-part-iv
<b>The following is a concluding piece in a series reporting on interviews conducted with 10 of Bangalore's mobile app developers and other industry stakeholders. Within this research, CIS attempts to understand how they engage with the law within their practice, particularly with respect to IP. Here we examine responses given across interviews regarding instances of infringement of IP within their work.
</b>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Before commencing our interviews with India's mobile app developers and other industry players, a small series of questions had been devised in hopes of enabling us a glimpse at the facets of the picture of our main interest: those related to intellectual property. What we soon came to find, was that these questions may have too bluntly stated, producing hesitant and wary responses from those interviewed. After breaking this immediate ice, however, we often were given the privilege of hearing from these talented and thoughtful individuals several times over. And it is through this set of questions that the space was created for us to work together to reach an understanding of how different types of players orient themselves within the industry, in relation to their practices, policies, and business relationships, and voice any concerns or questions of their own.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The last of these questions to look at, is arguably the most sensitive in nature, asking whether one has ever had their works infringed upon, or has been accused for infringement upon those of others. In asking this question, we had hoped to gain some insight about occurrences of infringement taking place within the mobile app ecosystem, how this occurs, and in what sort of context.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Preceding conversations revealed differing experiences related to infringement; some experiences common across most, while others limited to one or two individuals. What these experiences, in turn, revealed, is what seems to be polarized stances on the very notion of infringement, reflecting personal histories and differing interests.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">But what even is “infringement?” The term may be generally defined as:</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><b> infringement</b></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><i> noun</i></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><i> </i><span>The action of breaking the terms of a law, agreement, etc.; a violation</span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><span>But what exactly does this mean for a mobile app developer? Having not been previously defined or explained to those interviewed, the term had been used across responses in reference to various instances of infringement, spanning across many areas related to mobile app development. These instances will be looked at to follow.</span></p>
<ul>
<li>Mobile app content (i.e. logos, pictures, etc.)</li>
<li>Pirated apps in app stores</li>
<li>“Dummy apps” or imitations of another's app</li>
<li>Breaching app stores user agreement</li>
<li>License agreements of code created by another</li>
<li>Open source licenses</li>
<li>Breaching of terms of agreement for by commissioning clients</li>
<li>Breaching of terms of agreement for by those hired</li>
</ul>
<h3>Not a threat to the threatening</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After implying that his enterprise uses components that are owned by another without the proper permission to do so (whether source code or visual components was not specified), one developer simply stated that “no one would come after us—we have no money!” IP Strategy Consultant, Arjun Bala, explained to us that “here, developers do not need to worry about being sued. The big companies do not go after small developers; it depends on how much money they're making.” Bala continues in saying that, “Patent lawsuits can cost something like millions of dollars, so unless they're going to get more back, they wouldn't go throught the trouble of doing so... but that is true even in the US.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This soon revealed to be a demonstrated theme known across those within the developer ecosystem. Developer, Aravind Krishnaswamy stated that the “startup mentality is to break all of the rules first, then concern themselves with IP as a means of covering their own tracks.” There is a perceivable difference, he says in their motives regulating their behaviours that differ from “I shouldn't do this because I can get caught vs. I shouldn't do this because it's against the law.”</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Towards being infringed upon</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">For those within service agreements, this was generally so due to the fact that one does not own their works and instead assigns ownership to their mobile apps to clients. Rahul of Uncommon explains that any cases of infringement upon their work is unconcerning to his team: “Because once we hand it off [to clients], it's their issue,” he says.<br /><br />Contrasting to this perspective, however, is the apprehension exhibited by some towards not clearly knowing whether they are incidently infringing upon others people's work. Because of this unknowing, however, others are indifferent. "There's a few people who I think looked at what we're doing and tried to copy some of the features or just the positioning,” Krishnaswamy suspects, “but, ultimately there are some things you can be bothered about as a small company.” He continues in saying that those suspects to be copying you “could have been working on their product independently—it's quite possible.”<br /><br />Sree of Mahiti, on the other hand is not too concerned about others infringing upon their products or copying them as such is “irrelevant to their business model.” In making their software products open source, Sree explains, that they do not care how people use it, but if he were to come across infringement, he would likely act upon it.<br /><br />But how can one be indifferent to infringement while licensing under GNU, a perpetual copyleft license?</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Name of the game</h3>
<p>Perhaps one could even go a step further in arguing that being a developer (a startup developer, especially) necessitates bending the rules at some point. Of all of the bits of open source code used, how many of the licenses are actually considered and complied to in their entirety? As stated by Vivek Durai of Humble Paper: “In a mobile app where you're producing software, you could potentially be violating the terms of OS licenses.” Tewari argues that this actually occurs in pretty much all cases.<br /><br />“Everyone is in non-compliance. That is a given,” Tewari asserts. However, the distinction he makes is that more corporate players are in non-compliance knowingly than not, where is more SMEs infringe upon others without being aware that they are. Just as well, the degree to which infringement takes place may differ between the two types of industry players: “At the corporate level, where they know they are not in compliance, the degree of non-compliance might be very small or specific, but it still exists.” On the other hand, for startup developers, a substantial amount of their code may not comply with the licenses and agreements they are obliged to—something that could pose problems for them later down the road if left unfixed.</p>
<p><b>“Everyone is in non-compliance. That is a given... It is similar to asking 'do I know anyone who has never paid a bribe?' My answer is no.”</b></p>
<p>To put simply, Tewari draws the following comparison “It is similar to asking 'do I know anyone who has never paid a bribe?' My answer is no.” Here, he suggests that non-compliance to legal agreement, although technically unjust, is as tacit to the software sector as bribes are to the justice sector. Although perhaps not a perfect comparison, it definitely helps to put things into perspective.</p>
<h3>Mope App Matrix</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After speaking with numerous mobile app developers, lawyers, and other community players, it is difficult to say whether our findings have brought clarity to the nature the problem at hand, or if our research has, instead, shed light on additional problems within our realm of vision—at varying heights and depths, cutting across one another to form a matrix of indivisible linkages, or just plain chaos.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In the next of our exercises, we hope to comprehensively illustrate this matrix, by categorizing the different stakeholders across this ecosystem according to their interests and the ways in which they operate, and in turn, affect each other.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We look forward to bringing to completion (even if only to return to later) the first of our stages within this chapter of the Pervasive Technologies Project, which, to recap, had initially been to understand the mobile app ecosystem in light of India's IP regime. But what we are arriving at may be regarded, instead, as an understanding of the ecosystem informed by the stories and experiences of the ecosystem's central organisms: its developers. Perhaps it can only be here, at the intersection of stories—whether complementary or contradictory in nature—where the intricacies of processes deeply-embedded and their implications begin to reveal themselves.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-app-developers-name-of-the-game-part-iv'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-app-developers-name-of-the-game-part-iv</a>
</p>
No publishersamanthaAccess to Knowledge2015-04-03T08:58:27ZBlog EntryMobile App Developer Series: Terms of Agreement – Part IV
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mobile-app-developer-series-terms-of-agreement-iv
<b>The following is Part Four in a series reporting on interviews conducted with 10 of Bangalore's mobile app developers and other industry stakeholders. Through this research, CIS attempts to understand how the developers interviewed engage with the law within their practice, particularly with respect to IP. Here we examine different attitudes and work practices related to contracts agreements and developer culture in the legal realm.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We left off in our blog series considering the reported reasons why one would protect their mobile app by intellectual property means and how they relate back to (or contradict) their values as a mobile app developer in India. Here, we would like to get into more of the nitty gritty of contracts—which clauses are most important to mobile app developers, and what they think of them—followed by a cultural interpretation of the dynamics of this developer community with respect to contracts, and then lastly, a look at copyright, more generally.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Contracts in mobile app developing services</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Previously, we shed light on the tendency for mobile app developers, in India particularly, to create mobile apps or mobile app components for clients, often overseas, within a work-for-hire agreement. Within such an agreement, the rights to (or ownership over) one's work is generally handed over to the client the moment the code comes into creation. Simply put, if paid to carry out a particular project, whatever is created within the project belongs to the client.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This is not the only instance where we encounter contract agreements in the mobile app ecosystem, however. For startups where team players are small in number, it is likely that all will have access to any contract agreements entered into with clients. For larger corporate software developer firms, there may be a specialized department for legal-related matters. In such cases, the mobile app developers themselves would seldom lay eyes on the legalese of contracts, for the primary reason being that it doesn't concern them. Instead, the terms of agreement more familiar to them would be those that they obliged to upon working for their employer.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, after conversing with multiple stakeholders within India's mobile app space, what we came into understanding is that the importance of contract agreements for mobile app developers may be generally underestimated by the developers—both from within the startup to the corporate employer.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Clauses of caution</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Within a work-for-hire agreement, it is commonplace for developers to enter into restrictive agreements that obstruct the freedoms of what they can do with the code created for the client. Across interviews with developers in startups and SMEs working for clients, this seemed to be a prevalent problem. Problematic areas proved to be those related to the time periods in which the developer was not allowed to take up future work for competing clients (i.e. the non-compete clause), or could not talk about their work for the client at all (the “quiet period”).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Designer, Rahul Gonsalves explains how these areas of their contracts with clients may impact his team at Uncommon: “The non-compete and the quiet periods are the two bits which are most germane to us, because if I can’t do work for a year in the same area, that impacts my ability to run my company.” Fortunately, Gonsalves says that less frequently are they obliged into quiet periods—in which they would not be able to talk about the work they do for their clients—as this poses an even bigger problem when trying to keep a portfolio for prospective clients, or when writing or speaking on behalf of their experience at conferences.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On several occasions Gonsalves and his team have tried to license their work to clients while retaining ownership... without much luck. “Clients typically do not want a perpetual license, but complete ownership.” Gonsalves goes on in explaining that, “this means they could make a derivative work or use it for another project. Depending on how bad we want the project, we'll work out some middle ground.” But it does not seem to be so easy for he and his SME to do so: “The thing about contracts is it’s all about a sort of differential bargaining power that the two parties have... you’ll have very little control about what happens once you’ve got paid.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>“The thing about contracts is it’s all about a sort of differential bargaining power that the two parties have... you’ll have very little control about what happens once you’ve got paid.” </b></p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Contract confusion</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To have any sort of bargaining power within a work-for-hire arrangement requires a lot of time for negotiating, and the space for communication to begin with. In many cases, contracts may not even be introduced into a work agreement, leaving a lot of intricacies to the unknown. <br /><br />“Getting these things down in a legal document is a big deal. It matters,” says Aravind Krishnaswamy of Levitum. The topic came up while speaking about the process of creating the content for one of his startup's apps, which entailed arranging contracts with several third parties involved in. Krishnaswamy and his team did so to ensure that they retained ownership (or co-ownership) over all of the content featured within their app, which features instructional videos on Indian music.<br /><br />Another developer interviewed, Naveen*, shared with us his experience coming out of college and into employment. Upon joining his first employer, who happened to be a large company, he along with the new “batch” of employees attended a legal session within their training, “but that was Greek and Latin to us then,” he jokes. “We were fresh out of college and had no idea what a software license was... and it was after lunch, so everyone was sleeping.” <br /><br />Lucky for Naveen, he didn't need to deal with that area too much, as his employer had a legal team to take care of such matters when it came to transactions with clients or third parties. For his current employer, on the other hand, Naveen explained that he could not recall the terms of his employment, as it had been a very long time ago when he signed his employment contract.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Not a contract culture?</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Naveen suggests that the problem is one of contract-illiteracy, or simply not having the background knowledge to truly understand the legal facets of the industry, especially as you move away from India's entrepreneurial hubs: “In tier 1 cities, like Bangalore or Chennai, the colleges and students do have some knowledge about open source, licensing and terms, but when you go to tier 2 cities, that's where the problem is.”<br /><br />But is anyone contract-literate anyway? With the exception of lawyers or legal departments, of course, don't we all have the immediate impulse to click “Next” or sign our signature as soon as we see the words “User Agreements” followed by infinite paragraphs in the smallest font?<br /><br />However, for the developer in the increasingly-complex mobile app space with numerous parties and transactions involved, terms of contractual agreements may dictate everything from whether one can develop for competing clients, to whether an employee can contribute to open source projects on their own time. Still think that reading those clauses are a waste of time?<br /><br />We are not arguing that the fact that the developer community seems to be far removed from “contract culture” is in itself a bad thing. As Jayant Tewari of Outsourced CFO & Business Advisory Services asserts: “How mobile app developers regard IP laws—or better yet, disregard—is fine for their sake.” What they must instead learn is to maneuver the landscape to avoid troubles as best as possible. <br /><br />A good way of going about it, however, may be to begin with the agreements that a developer is already committed to—with clients, employers, and third parties, alike. One should be able to articulate: What is expected of me? Within what limitations? What am I not allowed to do?<br /><br />Better familiarizing oneself with one's own responsibilities and commitments may be the first step for a mobile app developer to educating him- or herself and become aware of what sort of choices could stir about conflicts in the future, potentially threatening their relationships, reputation, or even livelihood.<br /><br />But is it even possible to comply to all of the rules of the game?<br /><br />Within such an overcrowded industry, creation and innovation does not occur in a vacuum, and as a result, many may adjust their own creations as they see fit, according to whatever ways are most convenient and carry out the best function. But at what cost—or more appropriately, what risk?<br /><br />The next, and final of this blog series will shed light on responses given across interviews to the question of infringement. Here, we intend to connect the dots between the legal practices of mobile app developers and cases of infringement. We hope that after examining such numerous and wide sweeping—yet interconnected—facets of how mobile app developers in India engage with the law within their work, we will be able to comprehensively illustrate the role that these developers play in this economy, and ultimately, pass judgement on the laws that govern this space.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mobile-app-developer-series-terms-of-agreement-iv'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/mobile-app-developer-series-terms-of-agreement-iv</a>
</p>
No publishersamanthaAccess to Knowledge2015-04-03T08:26:27ZBlog EntryInterviews with App Developers: Open Source, Community, and Contradictions – Part III
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-app-developers-open-source-community-and-contradictions-iii
<b>The following is a third post within a series reporting on interviews conducted with 10 of Bangalore's mobile app developers and other industry stakeholders. Through this research, CIS attempts to understand how the developers interviewed engage with the law within their practice, particularly with respect to IP. Here we examine different attitudes and perspectives towards themes related to open software, as well as contract agreements.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">While interviewing 10 of Bangalore's mobile app developers, the conversations that proceeded the immediate responses to our questions posed proved to be the most insightful. Previously, we examined responses surrounding different views on intellectual property rights (IPR) and potential factors influencing these individuals' attitudes and practices within their work. Within these preceding blog posts reporting on our interviews, a prevalent device we have made reference to is the dichotomy across positions that app developers take at polar ends of various spectrums. Here are some examples of the ways we have observed individuals to have opposing standpoints:</p>
<table class="invisible">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>To work within a large corporate body</td>
<td>versus for a small startup enterprise</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>To develop mobile apps as one's own product</td>
<td>versus to develop apps as a service for another</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>To be familiar with intellectual property</td>
<td>versus to disregard intellectual property</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>To desire protection for one's intellectual property</td>
<td>versus not to care about protection for one's intellectual property</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Contrary to some pro-IPR stances, several of our app developers strongly opposed notions of strict IPR regimes (patents, especially) and advocated on behalf of the open source community. And yet, others expressed their appreciation for open source software (OSS), all the while pursuing their own IP protection—a contradiction?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">But is it really so cut and dry? Must an individual represent one side or the other? And if he or she does straddle the line that divides these opposing stances, is it by choice? Or necessity?</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">And what other dichotomies exist for the mobile app developer?</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Open values and open source</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Those interviewed who spoke highly of open source software often did so in referring to personal values of openness and the ability to share and use others' code freely within their work. One developer within a nonprofit enterprise explained that he would not want to restrict the future development and utilization of their idea, and would only consider licensing his source code under open source licensing, and not copyright.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Another common claim across developers is their involvement within the developer community, and contributions to open source libraries—and not only as a hobby. Large software development social enterprise, Mahiti, along with other interviewees representing social or nonprofit enterprises exhibited a particular interest in the use of and contributions to open source libraries.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sreekanth S. Rameshaiah, cofounder and CEO of Mahiti explains that they “require all software to be GNU licensed, unless decided otherwise by the clients.” GNU General Public License (GPL) is considered a free software license—one that allows the licensed works to be freely accessible to all and to be used, copied, and altered as desired—as well as copyleft—in requiring all users of any component of the previous work to license their succeeding work under the same license as well. Some clients for Mahiti, of course, wouldn't find such conditions desirable, if they are ever to profit off or retain full ownership over their products and services.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Open source for future protection</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">One designer from a services SME enlightened us of a different reason for doing so: to guarantee their ability to use their work again. “Since we use a bunch of templates and things like that, those we license using a non-exclusive license, because we reuse those elements on different bits of code in different projects,” he explains, “so there are bits of it which is used over multiple projects and there are stuff that is built exclusively for the client.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Here we are given some insight, that perhaps developers do not necessarily license for community values primarily, but for the ability to use their own work across clients. That being said, we begin to wonder what the possibility that open source code may serve as a loophole for work-for-hire contracts, which require the developer to assign all written intellectual property to whoever is commissioning the project. If the code happened to “already be available by open source,” a developer may still be honouring any restrictive agreements with clients, and ensuring their ability to use their code in this future again.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><span><span><span><span>Such a strategy complies with the advice of Jayant Tewari of </span></span></span><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/outsourcedcfo/">Out Sourced CFO & Business Advisory Services</a><span><span><span>. Some advice Tewari has for startups is to first and foremost protect themselves by making wiser choices related to code in order to prevent being litigated against by others—such as using an open source equivalent to a piece of code that one does not have the rights to, or instead putting the extra time in to develop it from scratch. </span></span></span></span></p>
<h3><span><span><span><span>Conflicting perspectives: hypocrisy or realism?</span></span></span></span></h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span><span><span><span>Of those who expressed an interest in the open source movement, not all had said that their products were to be open licensed as well. One developer explicitly stated: “I like the idea of open source, and building upon others' work...but our app is not open source, it's proprietary.” It may be a given, then, that all or most developers within our interview sample rely on open source code within their practice, but not all may contribute their resulting product's source code back.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><span><span>Vivek Durai, from </span></span><a href="https://humblepaper.com/">Humble Paper</a><span><span> says that despite the fact that “open source has really taken route... on the smaller levels, people will come to a point when philosophies begin to change the moment you start seeing commercial.”</span></span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><span><span>In our first blog post, we established the tendency for startup app developers to move away from the services model towards a product-oriented business model. If app developers most often contribute back to open source libraries when they do not have any mobile app products of their own to protect, I begin to wonder if we would see any change to the levels of content generation across open source libraries if, hypothetically speaking, all services app development enterprises began to solely develop their own products.</span></span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><span><span>Which brings us to an additional mobile app ecosystem dichotomy:</span></span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"><span><span>To license mobile app code as proprietary VS to license mobile app code as open source<br /><br />As individuals move away from the services model to focus their energy and investments on their own products, I begin to wonder if there is a tendency for them to also move away from the open source model as well...<br /><br />Although perhaps irrelevant, we also consider the question concerning the reasons mobile app developers moving away from the services model to begin with. In the first part of this series, we heard from industry consultants of the little financial incentive the services sector has to offer, but can that be all there is to it?<br /><br />Join us in our next post as we look closer at the mobile app ecosystem's business model trends, as well as its startup culture with regards to contracts and copyright.<br /></span></span></p>
<p align="JUSTIFY"> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-app-developers-open-source-community-and-contradictions-iii'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-app-developers-open-source-community-and-contradictions-iii</a>
</p>
No publishersamanthaAccess to Knowledge2015-04-03T08:15:25ZBlog EntryInterviews with App Developers: [dis]regard towards IPR vs. Patent Hype – Part II
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-app-developers-dis-regard-towards-ipr-vs-patent-hype-2013-part-ii
<b>The following is a second post within a series reporting on interviews conducted with 10 of Bangalore's mobile app developers and other industry stakeholders. Within this research, CIS attempts to understand how they engage with the law within their practice, particularly with respect to IP. Here we examine how these developers responded to a question on legal protection for their works.</b>
<p align="justify">Before one can identify the solution, one must first identify the problem. Yet, in order to understand the problem, we must first understand the individuals involved and the how the problem affects these individuals. We hope that the findings of this preliminary research initiative will provide sufficient groundwork to understand the problems that exist and the different ways of approaching them before determining the most suitable prospective option in changes at the policy level. In this case, the individuals under study are the key contributors to the mobile app space within India; and the problem, being those faced by them as they attempt to navigate an emerging and ambiguous ecosystem.</p>
<p align="justify">Previously, we looked at responses that were given across these mobile app developers interviewed which revealed how they orient notions of intellectual property within their practice and own products, specifically. Findings that were made included deductions that the majority of those interviewed developed mobile app products for clients, and in turn assigned ownership of their products to their clients. Just as well, they commonly shared an interest in leaving the services sector to create products of their own, with some of them already having made the transition within their business model.</p>
<h3><b>Question 2: “How is your IP protected?”</b></h3>
<p align="justify">Next, we asked how they go about protecting their intellectual property to get a feel of who is protecting their apps and who is not. In asking this question, we hoped to learn how they go about protecting their work via legal means. Across their various responses, we observed many patterns and contradictions which are conveyed here with reference to comments made across interviews. It is important to note, however, that no causal relations intend for be argued for, only suggested correlations.</p>
<p><b>How they responded</b></p>
<p align="justify">When asked, those interviewed responded with a variance in answers. Some simply stated that their work is not protected, while a few mentioned that they acquired trademark or intend to apply for trademark protection. One interviewee had a patent pending in India and the US, as well. In many of our conversations, developers mentioned that their code for their apps is under open source licenses, and a couple others entailed sharing that the content is under creative commons licenses, “individual licenses,” or joint copyright. Additionally, within one interview, one mentioned the use of encryption tools as a technical means of protection for their work.</p>
<div class="pullquote" style="text-align: justify; ">“The concept of securing IP is relatively new within the Indian context... it becomes a question of priority between innovation and protection" — Aravind Krishnaswamy, Levitum</div>
<p align="justify">Of the developers interviewed, many exhibited some sort of confusion or misunderstanding related to the protection of their works by means of intellectual property rights (IPR). Those interviewed seemed to either express an interest to acquire IPR in the future for their products in the forms of patent or trademark protection, or expressed their appreciation for openness source licensing—or both! Beneath these immediate responses, however, many repeated patterns, as well as contradictions, are revealed. Conversations that followed within these interviewed entailed the opportunity to hear from personal experiences and opinions on different areas within their practice intersecting IPR.</p>
<p><b>Reasons for IPR protection</b></p>
<p align="justify">If a startup or SME is bootstrapped with very little cash flow to begin with, what would provoke or inspire one to pursue the process of acquiring patent protection then? Aravind Krishnaswamy of startup, <a class="external-link" href="http://levitum.in/">Levitum</a>, considers “the concept of securing IP is relatively new within the Indian context.” So if this is the case, why did so many developers interviewed express an interest in IPR?</p>
<p align="justify">For those who did express interest in acquiring IPR as protection for their mobile app products, most seemed to express an interest in proving ownership over their work, or preventing problems in the future. One developer's commented on how the mobile app market is a “new and potentially volatile area for software development.” For this reason, it was imperative that he and his team attempted to avoid trouble in the future, and ensure that they going about mobile app development the right and moral way.</p>
<p align="justify">Within another interview, developer, John Paul of mobile app SME, Plackal, explains his motives for seeking to acquire patent protection, the application for which is currently pending in India and the US: "For us, applying for a patent is primarily defensive. And if it does get infringed upon, it would give us a good opportunity to generate revenue from it." For the company's trademark, they sought to be able to enforce their ownership over their product's brand: “As a precautionary, we've trademarked the app so that should there be a situation where the app is pirated, we can claim ownership for that app.”</p>
<p><b>Security not so easily attainable</b></p>
<div class="pullquote">“To some extent, IPR law is only accessible after moving away from the startup phase."—John Paul, Plackal</div>
<p align="justify">However, for the startup especially, such protection does not come without a cost. For this reason, IPR is generally perceived as a gamble or tradeoff. It becomes a “question of priority between innovation and protection,” says Krishnaswamy. He continues in saying that, "I feel like even if it’s a great idea if someone else copies it, that’s some level of validation, but as a small company I’d rather be nimble in terms of how we build it up and get it to a certain point. We're trying to move fast and get something going, and then figure it out.” For Krishnaswamy and his team, securing a patent on an area where they feel they feel they have unique work is on their list of things to do, “It's something for us to revisit in the future.”</p>
<p align="justify">Paul explains that he and his team didn't always have IPR within reach: “To some extent, IPR law is only accessible after moving away from the startup phase.” So what discourages startups from acquiring IPR, or simply seeking it out?</p>
<p align="justify">Patent attorney and IP consultant, Arjun Bala explains that “there is a lot to figure out. One aspect is filling it out, the other is how you write it so that it is easily granted and gives you the right sort of patent protection you are looking for. It is a very complex process that requires a lot of technical and legal expertise.” But even if one successfully manoeuvres the IPR system, is protection guaranteed?</p>
<p align="justify">Business Financial Strategist of Out Sourced CFO & Business Advisory Services, Jayant Tewari, illustrates the lack of security for the SME in the patent system, specifically, in saying, “Since a patent becomes public domain on filing, it can be effectively infringed based on the filing, even before it is granted.” Tewari continues in stressing the irrelevance of patents for SMEs due to the difficulty of enforcement: “the infringement will be adjudicated after 2 years at an immense cost to the SME patent-holder, who will go commercially belly-up due to the infringement. The regime does not protect the SME at all.”</p>
<div class="pullquote" style="text-align: justify; ">“It is easy to say 'this is the method and no once can copy', but unless the look and feel is the same, it is very hard to demonstrate that you have been infringed on.” <br />—Samuel Mani, Mani Chengappa & Mathur</div>
<p><b>Nevermind enforcement...</b></p>
<p align="justify">Not only did our interviews shed light on the difficulty for a startup developer to apply for and be granted protection for their intellectual property, but also for the enforcement of such. Partnering Lawyer, Samuel Mani, of technology-focused law firm, <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/www.mcmlaw.in" class="external-link">Mani Chengappa & Mathur</a>, speaks to us about the extensive procedure required to prove one's ownership over their IP: “To demonstrate copyright infringement, it requires going into millions of lines of code—unless it is the interface that is copied, which is easily visible.” Mani continues on the enforcement of patent protection by saying, “For a patent, the scope is even wider. It is easy to say 'this is the method and no once can copy', but unless the look and feel is the same, it is very hard to demonstrate that you have been infringed on.”</p>
<p><b>Planting the initial seed</b></p>
<p align="justify">If there is arguably so much risk associated with applying for IPR protection, as well with enforcement, what specifically gets startups thinking about IPR initially within their practice? What experiences help them formulate their opinions on the matter, and which forms of IPR do they seek out?</p>
<p align="justify">Across interviews conducted, one particular observation entailed the tendency for developers to have worked in the past for corporate employers that have dealt with cases of infringement or have acquired IP protection. Almost half of those interviewed shared the fact that they worked for a corporate employer and became better familiar with different notions of intellectual property through that experience. It may not be too farfetched to suggest, then, that for the developer the idea of acquiring IPR protection is one that may be reinforced from previous employers or other successful development companies with IPR of their own.</p>
<p align="justify">Cofounder and developer for a medium-sized software development enterprise, Anoop[1] explained that it wasn't until after the success of his enterprise's first application with $1 million in sales, that they started thinking about intellectual property and began to understand the value of it. This newly attained understanding, however, had not been enough to sufficiently equip his team with the knowledge to properly secure protection. For them, going after patent protection turned out to be a pursuit in vain.</p>
<p><b>Loss of faith in patents for SMEs</b></p>
<p align="justify">Anoop shares his disappointing experience after attempting to secure a patent for one of their mobile apps:</p>
<p class="callout"><i>“We burned our fingers with patents. We spent a lot of money for a game we invented about 3 years ago. We had a law firm in the US to help us. We applied for it, and it went through 3-4 revisions, costing us $25-30,000. We finally closed the file when we could not get it due to an existing patent. We were really surprised." </i></p>
<p>After much disappointment from not being successful in their attempts to acquire patent protection, however, Anoop came out of the experience with a new outlook on patents and their role for SMEs:</p>
<p class="callout"><i>“They're meant for large companies as means to bully your competitor. Only big players with the capacity to file for a patent as soon as it takes off benefit. The existing system doesn’t really work for startup companies. In India and anywhere. It’s an expensive process. If you’re a startup who’s just bootstrapping, there’s no guarantee that you will get it. It’s going to take you years.”</i></p>
<p align="justify"><b>Patent hype</b><br />Anoop is a prime example of developers in the startup space that fall victim to the promises of the patent system—only to be spat back out having exhausted their time and earnings. Already being aware of the probability for failure, Mani strongly discourages going after patent protection as a means of staying in the race. “With people spending millions on litigation, it is a recipe for disaster, especially considering the inherent delay of the Indian system.” For this reason, Mani stresses the importance of applying for the <i>right </i>protection.</p>
<p align="justify">Mani also suggests that the patent debate is driven by self-interest—people who simply make money off of application filing, regardless of whether or not the case succeeds. As a lawyer in the IT space, Mani claims to have turned away several prospective clients looking to patent their products when he insisted that such means of protection was not suitable for their product and interests...which brings us to an additional area of heated debate: the patentability of mobile apps.</p>
<p><b>Can mobile apps be patented?</b>[2]</p>
<p align="justify">One concept that seemed to receive contested responses across interviews is that of the patentability of mobile apps in the first place. When asked if mobile apps could be patented, former lawyer and startup founder, Vivek Durai, of HumblePaper, put it blatantly in responding, “absolutely not.” Others offered explanations of the Indian Patent Law nuances regarding when a mobile app is patentable and when one is not.</p>
<p align="justify">While consulting a SME with their own patent application, Bala explains their approach to ensure the mobile app's eligibility for patent protection, while providing some insight into the Indian patent system:</p>
<p class="callout"><i>“One approach that we've taken to getting a patent in India is it's not just a pure software, but a software plus a hardware—as in it requires a specific hardware to function. If [the software] makes the hardware perform better, then it has a technical effect... In which case, we have a better chance of getting a patent in India. If your software is agnostic to hardware, however, it is much more difficult to receive a patent in India.” </i></p>
<p align="justify"><b>To patent or not to patent? (or any IPR for that matter)</b><br />To Tewari, on the other hand, the question of whether a mobile app can be patented is one entirely irrelevant. The question Tewari introduces into the developer's market strategy is not 'can I patent my app?' but instead, '<i>should </i>I do so?' In response to which; he would predominantly reply: <i>No</i>.</p>
<p align="justify">“How [startup] mobile app developers regard IP laws—or better yet, disregard—is fine for their sake,” argues Tewari. Alternatively, he suggests developers learn how to maneuver the laws, to prevent themselves from arriving at any sticky situations after unknowingly using another's code. To his clients who have mobile apps of their own, he advises to use an open source equivalent of a piece of code if they do not have the rights to it. Doing so will help keep infringement upon others at a minimal and prevent litigation against oneself.</p>
<div class="pullquote" style="text-align: justify; ">“How [startup] mobile app developers regard IP laws—or better yet, disregard—is fine for their sake."—Jayant Tewari, Out Sourced CFO & Business Advisory Services</div>
<p align="justify">Not all developers interviewed, however, aspired to acquiring patent protection. In fact, some strongly opposed software patents, while expressing their appreciation for openness across the developer community. The other side to the IPR-Open Source dichotomy will be examined in the blog post to follow, after which, we will then look at accounts of infringement and threats of litigation across mobile app developers interviewed.</p>
<p><b>To recap<br /></b></p>
<p align="justify">By looking closely at the individual experiences across mobile app developers interviewed, we hope to begin to map out the mobile app ecosystem and the ways in which industry players engage with each other regarding their IPR. We also hope to begin to shed light on the different attitudes towards the law within one's practice, and how they shape their decisions related to their work. Only after doing so, may we be able to sufficiently assess how India's current IP laws govern this landscape.</p>
<p align="justify">Stay tuned for the next in this blog series! We hope that you may benefit from our findings in your own practice as a mobile app industry player or enthusiast, as well.</p>
<p align="justify"><b>Notes:</b><br />[1] <i>Name changed to protect the interviewee's identity</i></p>
<p align="justify">[2] In conducting interviews, our goal was not to test the legitimacy of responses, but instead, to map them out across various industry stakeholders. For this reason, this blog series will not be able to sufficiently respond to legal question, such as whether or not mobile apps are patentable to begin with. We intend to, however, undergo legal analysis of the Indian IPR system at its intersection with the mobile app space in India at a later stage in this project.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-app-developers-dis-regard-towards-ipr-vs-patent-hype-2013-part-ii'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/interviews-with-app-developers-dis-regard-towards-ipr-vs-patent-hype-2013-part-ii</a>
</p>
No publishersamanthaAccess to KnowledgeCopyrightPervasive TechnologiesResearchPatents2014-08-19T03:51:39ZBlog EntryInfographic2
http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/MobileappdevelopmentinIn.png
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/MobileappdevelopmentinIn.png'>http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/MobileappdevelopmentinIn.png</a>
</p>
No publishersamantha2014-07-21T01:36:41ZImagePune_Sunil
http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy2_of_copy_of_DSC_0050.JPG
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy2_of_copy_of_DSC_0050.JPG'>http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy2_of_copy_of_DSC_0050.JPG</a>
</p>
No publishersamantha2014-05-02T11:51:36ZImagePune_1
http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_5.JPG
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_5.JPG'>http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_5.JPG</a>
</p>
No publishersamantha2014-04-21T07:48:19ZImagePune_Sunil
http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_DSC_0050.JPG
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_DSC_0050.JPG'>http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/copy_of_DSC_0050.JPG</a>
</p>
No publishersamantha2014-04-21T07:45:35ZImageSamantha image
http://editors.cis-india.org/androidpic.jpg
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/androidpic.jpg'>http://editors.cis-india.org/androidpic.jpg</a>
</p>
No publishersamantha2014-04-15T07:24:46ZImageIndian mobile app developers_Infographic1
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/copy_of_infographic1.png
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/copy_of_infographic1.png'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/copy_of_infographic1.png</a>
</p>
No publishersamantha2014-04-15T07:22:22ZImageOnline Survey for Indian Mobile App Developer Startups & Enterprises
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/online-survey-for-indian-mobile-app-developer-enterprise
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) recently released an online survey for mobile app developers to respond on their legal practices within their work, as well as their business models and familiarity with India's laws. Through this research initiative, CIS hopes to better understand the dynamics of India's mobile app ecosystem amongst stakeholders, and how developers are directly or indirectly affected by the laws in place governing this ecosystem.</b>
<p align="justify">Developers, designers, and product managers of all sorts are invited to participate within CIS's research survey initiative so long as they are based in India and contribute to the development of at least one mobile application within a company or enterprise. Built in collaboration with <a class="external-link" href="http://hasgeek.com">HasGeek</a>, a community-oriented enterprise for developers in Bangalore, the survey asks participants to respond to questions on their practices related to ownership, licensing, contracts and protection of their works as intellectual property (IP). Questions also seek out background information and information related to one's business model to best contextualize responses, as well as personal insight on understandings of India's copyright laws and IP more generally.</p>
<p align="justify"><a href="https://survey.hasgeek.com/survey/index?sid=842153&lang=en">The survey can be accessed here, and will be available for completion until Tuesday, April 29, 2014.</a></p>
<p align="justify">Ultimately, CIS intends to comment on whether the current laws in place related to intellectual property are a causal factor in either encouraging or hindering mobile app development in India. In this sense, this initiative serves as preliminary policy research and strives to provide a comprehensive understanding on the widespread legal practices of developers as the supporting stakeholders of this mobile app ecosystem.</p>
<p align="justify">By the end of this survey's running, we hope to be able to better illustrate the complexities within an ever-growing ecosystem that are typically only considered at a level of technical or legal abstraction. For instance, it is quite common for discourse to reference the specific activities that developers might undergo while potentially violating another's rights to their works, such as those involving the direct copying of software code without the permission to do so. Other sources might advocate for the patenting of one's mobile app products and entail the complexities of the patent filing process to ensure the optimal likelihood of the application being granted.</p>
<p align="justify"><strong>But what are the trends that exist across developers related to such activities? What are the ways in which they carry out these activities, and most importantly, <em>why</em>?</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p align="justify"><strong>What determines who patents their product or copies another's? And what factors are at play in the shaping of an enterprise's business model and the methods that they adopt to meet their objectives? <br /></strong></p>
<p align="justify"><strong>What barriers do enterprises encounter along the way, from the startup to the corporate, and how do they get around them accordingly?</strong></p>
<p align="justify">We hope that through this online survey, CIS will begin to be able to address these areas of greyed understanding, and to identify existing correlation, if any, between the business models, legal practices and personal understandings related to IP, and how one's work within mobile app development is affected as a result.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/online-survey-for-indian-mobile-app-developer-enterprise'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/online-survey-for-indian-mobile-app-developer-enterprise</a>
</p>
No publishersamanthaAccess to Knowledge2014-04-15T08:33:10ZBlog EntryIndian mobile app developers_Infographic2
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/infographic2.png
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/infographic2.png'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/infographic2.png</a>
</p>
No publishersamantha2014-04-09T05:36:33ZImageApp Developers Series: Products-Services Dichotomy & IP (Part I)
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/app-developers-series-services-products-dichotomy-ip-2013-part-i
<b>Recently, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) held a series of interviews in attempts to better understand the ecosystem in which India's mobile app industry is emerging, how it is governed by India's current laws, and how mobile app developers are affected as a result. The following written series maps out the given responses and presents our findings from these interviews and accompanying conversations. </b>
<p align="justify">This preliminary round consisted of 10 interviews with app developers and an additional 6 with other individuals from differing perspectives within the mobile app development space; these being designers, lawyers, financial and legal advisers, and developer community mobilizers. Much insight was gained on the current legal practices of app developers within their work related to intellectual property rights (IPR), licensing, infringement and ownership. Through this preliminary research exercise, such practices are found to arise out of personal business models, sentiments towards the law, and how they are situated within the ecosystem to begin with.</p>
<h3><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/copy_of_infographic1.png/image_large" style="float: left;" title="Indian mobile app developers_Infographic1" height="597" width="346" alt="Infographic1" class="image-left image-inline" />Question 1: “What is your IP?”</h3>
<p align="justify">In the legal realm, mobile apps aren't simply mobile
apps, but a final product composite of numerous forms of intellectual
property (IP)—background processes, source code, user interface, brand,
content and more. But who owns the apps that are being made? Are they
protected, and if so, is this protection enforced? And how much do
developers know about IP anyway?</p>
<p align="justify">The first of the predetermined set of interview
questions begins to address these questions. Upon asking developers what
it is exactly that constituted their intellectual property, the most
frequent immediate responses consisted of “nothing” or one's own coding
for their mobile app product. Other responses included created content,
background processes, and works unpublished, as well as trademark and a
pending patent. Discussions to follow often pertained to one's
business model, as well as their different types of mobile app IP for
clients and of their own products.</p>
<p align="justify">So what did these responses reveal then?</p>
<ul><li>
<p align="justify"><strong>70% </strong>of app developers interviewed generally do
not own the products they create, and instead assign ownership of
their IP over to their clients</p>
</li><li>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>80%</strong> of app developers interviewed have either moved away from the services sector to create their own products or would like to</p>
</li><li>
<p align="justify"><strong>75%</strong> of app developers interviewed within
services have their own mobile app products, two thirds of which are in
an early product phase</p>
</li></ul>
<h3>Services for SMEs</h3>
<p align="justify">Across developers carrying out app development services, clients were often said to be based all over India, as well as the US and Europe. Despite this occurring trend within our interviews sample, Business Financial Strategist and CEO of <a class="external-link" href="https://sites.google.com/site/outsourcedcfo/">Out Sourced CFO & Business Advisory Services</a>, Jayant Tewari stresses that out-sourced 'mobile app services' is marginal as a business model here in India. Due to the fact that “apps are reasonably small in terms of code length and complexity, the concept is more important to and deliverable by a small skilled team,” he says. For this reason, mobiles apps is relatively a small-medium enterprise (SME) space: “some SMEs have grown but the ethos and challenges faced are entirely distinct from the Large Corporate.”</p>
<p align="justify">Tewari's insights reflect the few of the larger mobile app enterprises that had participated within our interviews. Of all app developers interviewed, it has been found that 80% have either moved away from the services sector to create their own products or would like to. The remaining 20%, on the other hand, represent larger enterprises that have now scaled up with teams from 70 to over 200 developers—one of which focus strictly on services for social enterprises and non-profits as clients.</p>
<p align="justify">Tewari continues in saying that “unless you're a 1000 man enterprise, there's no economic benefit in services; as competition has driven pricing so low, everyone's struggling to deliver $12-14 per hour.”</p>
<p align="justify">So then, if this is the case in India's mobile app economy and off-shore app development is marginal, why have we found developers are doing it then?</p>
<p align="justify">Vivek Durai, formerly a lawyer and now Founder of startup, <a class="external-link" href="https://www.humblepaper.com/">HumblePaper</a>, implies that this business model is not by first choice: “every startup in mobile development, especially, is doing services to stay afloat and would like to move toward a product model.” Accordingly and as mentioned above, 75% of those interviewed within services had their own mobile app products, the majority of which were only in an early product phase—suggesting the inclination for app developers to gradually move away from the services sector in pursuit of their own projects, as they are able to.</p>
<h3><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/MobileappdevelopmentinIn.png/image_large" title="Infographic2" height="585" width="344" alt="Infographic2" class="image-right" />Understandings of IP (and lack of)</h3>
<p align="justify">Come the time for this transition away from services, however, app developer enterprises may be ill-equipped to sufficiently navigate this mobile app product space. Due to the fact that those within services assign ownership to their clients with the mere signing of a contract (if any), mobile app developers do not have any need to concern themselves with all the legal nuances related to ownership and licensing of IP. Put simply by Durai, “when you ask a question about IP to developers, they don't know what it means, because it doesn't have anything to do with what they're doing.”</p>
<p align="justify">Within the responses received, we have found that
across those interviewed exist different personal understandings of the
meaning of “IP.” Badrinath Kulkarni, <a href="https://plus.google.com/104550553343399000979/posts">Google Developer Group (GDG) Bangalore Coordinator</a>,
shares his concern regarding this area of greyed understanding in
saying that “developers often do not know what part of their app is
IP... there is a gap in understanding with respect to IP.”</p>
<p align="justify">For the most part, it seems, IP was considered to
refer to content or code across interviews, and was even confused at one
point with IPR within a response referring to an SME's trademark and
pending pending. Although a subtle error, such may reflect the lack of a
comprehensive understanding across individuals—even those that are
applying for a patent.</p>
<p align="justify">For those who appeared to be better versed in matters
related to IP, a recurring theme seemed to be the need for developers
to broaden their understanding of what parts of their work are IP.
Within a conversation with Samuel Mani, Founding Partner of <a class="external-link" href="http://www.mcmlaw.in/">Mani Chengappa & Mathur</a>,
Mani stresses that developers should recognize the value within not
just the product or software itself, but the background business
processes. According to Mani, the execution of the idea is the true
source of innovation; how one accesses the market, and maybe who the
market is as well.</p>
<h3>IP understanding in services: irrelevant or important?</h3>
<p>
So what is the importance of having a concrete
understanding of notions of intellectual property to begin with? Does it
matter at all that those within development services are not as
familiar with the concept since IP is irrelevant to them? Or can knowledge of IP work to one's advantage within a services agreement?</p>
<p>
As we continue to examine the responses given across interviews pertaining to protection of one's intellectual property, perhaps these questions will answer themselves.</p>
<p></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/app-developers-series-services-products-dichotomy-ip-2013-part-i'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/app-developers-series-services-products-dichotomy-ip-2013-part-i</a>
</p>
No publishersamanthaFeaturedAccess to Knowledge2014-07-21T01:43:06ZBlog EntryCultural Interests vs. Modernization: Robert Shapiro on IPR & Innovation in India
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cultural-interests-v-international-economy-robert-shapiro-on-ipr-innovation-in-india
<b>Last Friday March 28, 2014, prominent economist and chairman of Sonecon, llc, Dr. Robert Shapiro, lead a discussion on the roles of IPR and FDI in innovation. Within his research findings, Shapiro argues for India to adopt a stricter IP regime in order to attract higher rates of FDI in pharmaceuticals and other industries, and in turn, to spur a more successful economy.</b>
<p align="JUSTIFY">The closed door round-table discussion had been organized by policy research and advocacy organization, <a href="http://takshashila.org.in/">T</a><a href="http://takshashila.org.in/">he Takshashila </a><a href="http://takshashila.org.in/">Institute</a>, and hosted by <a href="http://cobaltblr.com/">Cobalt</a>, a recently opened co-working space in Bangalore. The event's speaker, Robert Shapiro, has advised U.S. President Bill Clinton, British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and U.S. Vice President Albert Gore, as well as AT&T, Exxon-Mobil and Google, on economic policy and security matters. Recently he co-authored an economic research paper, titled, <em>How India Can Attract More Foreign Direct Investment, Create Jobs and Increase </em>GDP, which can be accessed <a href="http://www.sonecon.com/docs/studies/FDI_IP_and_the_Pharmaceutical_Sector_in_India-Shapiro-Mathur-Final-January2014.pdf">here</a>.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Within this paper, Shapiro and Dr. Aparna Mathur of the American Enterprise Institute argue that the most effective way for India to attract “further investment and job creation for improving the innovation environment in India” is by respecting the intellectual property rights of foreign investors—specifically within the pharmaceutical sector. The main points made by Shapiro within his session and research paper will be looked at closer to follow.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">FDI to spur innovation</h3>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Shapiro started the session by introducing the controversy over the role of innovation in economic processes. Contrary to the belief that the majority of economists share—that innovation happens outside the economy incidentally “because someone happens to have a bright idea”—Shapiro suggests that innovation plays a much more integral role within an economy, and even goes as far as considering innovation the most powerful underlying factor (possibly more so than education). Shapiro asserts that without innovation, “every economy has to stall out,” and what prevents this is new capital changing productivity and growth rates; and in India's case: through foreign direct investment (FDI).</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">With reference to China's manufacturing sectors, Shapiro depicts the immense benefits stemming from FDI. As a direct effect, he states that not only do new technologies come in but new ways of financing and management are brought in as well. The bulk of the impact of FDI, however, is an indirect function, resulting from a “spillover effect” at a regional level as more and more companies begin to adopt the ways of the new enterprises. The impact of innovation, however, is an exclusive function of how <em>effectively </em>it is applied. In order to maximize foreign investment, Shapiro stresses the need to eradicate any barriers to new businesses so that they may adopt and adapt to the new incoming technologies.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">On several occasions within his address and the accompanying discussion, Shapiro had asserted India as being an outlier in terms of FDI, with emphasis on India's FDI rates being half of those of Malaysia and Thailand (countries implied to be incomparable to India in an economic sense). He admits that he does not understand the reasons for this discrepancy, as standard economic factors alone cannot explain this; such as a country's market size, availability of labour, and quality of infrastructure (despite India's room for improvement here).</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">In order to understand India's FDI rates then, Shapiro offers the importance of considering the political factors at play to the same extent as the economic ones (if not, more) with some of such factors being: the state's attitudes towards property rights, bankruptcy regime, levels of corruption, and the enforcement of contracts and intellectual property rights.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">And it is supposedly here, at this last factor, where the central issue lies for India.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">IP as a product of cultural decisions</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As new ideas continue to dwarf the value of physical capital, economies are increasingly composite of these intangible assets (intellectual property)—such as patents, copyright, software and name brands—or at least within the US economy anyway. These intellectual asset-intensive economies are not limited to industries such as pharmaceuticals, software, and IT hardware (as one might initially suspect); rather, those of media, automobiles, beverages and tobacco and other consumer goods. In 2011, Shapiro states, half of US industries equalled or exceeded the three former industries in intellectual assets. These industries, which had formerly been sectors based on production, have now outsourced their production schemes to India and China.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Shapiro explains these economic trends as a function of a repeated set of choices in support of American values of growth, prosperity, and individualism. He continues in saying that cultural values are also important to consider when trying to undergo modernization. A country with more traditional values would be wrong to strive to modernize at the same rate as that of the US, for example. In such a case, modernizing at a much slower rate is advisable, and if this is unfavourable, Shapiro alternatively suggests that “you can sometimes change culture by changing the law.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">But how are US and Indian industries comparable, then, if India's economy is arguably a platform for production of US-owned intellectual assets? What are the odds that Indian companies will actually own their resulting innovations stemming from foreign investments? Presumably not very high.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And what sets of choices has India made to reflect its own sets of cultural values and principles in contrast to those of the US?</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">Consequences of a weak IP regime and over-regulation</h3>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Within his recent <a href="http://www.sonecon.com/docs/studies/FDI_IP_and_the_Pharmaceutical_Sector_in_India-Shapiro-Mathur-Final-January2014.pdf">research paper</a>, Shapiro recounts Indian laws related to IPR over the years and how the country's weak international IP regime has paved the way for its thriving generic pharmaceutical industry. Through enforcing restrictions on patent filings, shorter patent terms, and compulsory licensing, the Indian Patent Office enabled the manufacturing of domestic pharmaceutical products without having to pay outgoing royalty (or to a lesser degree) in promotion of increased access to medicines for Indians at much more affordable prices.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Shapiro argues that this disregard for foreign IPR discourages foreign companies from wanting to enter the Indian market in the future for fear of imitation products coming about to their detriment. Shapiro argues that if India adopted stronger IP rights and enforcement, FDI to the country's pharmaceutical industry would increase drastically; more so, if India adopted an IP system comparable to the US, FDI flows could even rise by 83 per cent per year, making it a centre for innovative pharmaceutical R&D. Just as well its access to new innovative drugs would increase by 5 per cent, contributing to a higher life expectancy and a larger work force (Shapiro, p. 3, 2014).</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">An IP regime comparable to the US and Europe, Shapiro suggests, promotes both endogenous and exogenous growth while bringing about competitive markets “with pockets of monopolies throughout.” Such [patent] regimes have evolved over decades and “simply work well,” he states. Also, in requiring patent applicants to publish all secrets—that which makes the invention novel—others are given the ability to benefit from such knowledge.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">So then, is India wrong in making decisions in accordance with its own set of cultural values and principles if they are not necessarily in accordance with those of the US?</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Arguably not. However, as Shapiro demonstrates, such decisions may bare consequence in India's pursuit to modernize as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that is not exactly in compliance with Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) standards. India may also be missing out on greater importation of technologies if foreign companies fear that their products will be imitated by local companies. According to Shapiro, India's services sector (including banking, insurance, outsourcing, R&D, courier and technology testing services) contribute to 60 per cent of the country's GDP, yet have declined in FDI for several reasons including the country's weak IP regime, as well as government regulations capping the maximum investments of foreign companies (Shapiro, p. 37, 2014).</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Which brings us to the notion of market deregulation as a mechanism of promoting FDI. Shapiro suggests this to be essential for India to enable a more even playing ground for new and emerging players to compete. A regulatory issue arises when new companies are up against companies receiving government subsidies. In this way, such regulations may also prohibit companies from reorganizing to implement new technologies or practices, undermining the spillover effects that FDI can bring about.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">IPR adoption vs. innovation</h3>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Shapiro stresses the importance in not only allowing companies to implement new technologies, but to encourage them to do so as well. A common mistake developing countries make, he says, is trying to be the <em>source</em> of innovation: “Although it's nice to be the source of innovation, what is more important is to adopt innovation of others.” In response, a contribution to discussion made by a fellow attendee commented on the inclination of developing countries to first duplicate, then adapt, and then innovate for themselves.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">So what is India left to do then? How do Indian companies navigate along the fine line distinguishing between <em>adopting</em> new technologies and <em>duplicating</em> them? And if innovation is so integral to a country's economy, will merely adopting and adapting to emerging foreign technologies suffice for the country's economy? Or can India only progress away from “duplication” with stricter IPR enforcement?</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">While citing studies based in Europe, Shapiro illustrates the relationship between IP regimes and inventions. The study's findings displayed that while there is no relationship between IPR and <em>occurrences</em> of inventions, there is correlation between IPR and the <em>kinds</em> of inventions. Jurisdictions with strict IP laws and greater IP protection were likelier to bring about inventions with significant business value, while the inventions of other jurisdictions without IPR did not entail the same level of business value—one cannot simply reverse-engineer a food invention for study, he says.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">This is not as to say that Indian companies cannot innovate. “India has a lot of innovators,” Shapiro says, “but they're in California and New York and Washington.” Even in these hubs for innovation, the Indian demographic is highly disproportionate, and estimated to be 20-40 per cent of the workforce, suggesting the potential of Indians in terms of innovation. Shapiro poses the question: “Why are they leaving?” and stresses the importance in India understanding this phenomenon.</p>
<h3 align="JUSTIFY">The modernization tradeoff</h3>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Is the departure of some of India's innovators another consequence of the country's path to modernization whilst maintaining cultural values? Just as some foreign pharmaceutical companies may stay far away from the Indian market?</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">If so, is India truly better off in striving for redemption from under the close watch of the US and in pursuit of foreign direct investment? What opportunities or cultural values might be abandoned within the domestic market in favour of foreign bodies, then? And more specifically, what would a stricter IP regime mean for the future of the generic pharmaceutical industry, and in turn, the cost of access for medicines that are presently only affordable through the bypassing of international IP standards?</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">Just as Shapiro gives importance to the consideration of political and cultural factors at play within one's economy, it is, then, essential to look beyond what the US wants for India economically to factor in what India wants for its own economy and the cultural and political reasons for such<em>. </em>I think we can both agree on the significance of India considering the consequences of resulting economic decisions (i.e., regarding market regulating and IP enforcement) from proxies inclusive of Indian consumers, as well as international bodies to the extent of the global systems that India is implicated in.</p>
<p align="JUSTIFY">But what about the question of innovation for India's economy? In the tradeoff between innovation (and prosperity) versus duplication (and accessibility), is a country of 1.2 billion people with different cultural values and economic needs really fair game to be idealized as “comparable to the US” in terms of its economic laws? Economist Robert Shapiro seems to think so.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cultural-interests-v-international-economy-robert-shapiro-on-ipr-innovation-in-india'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cultural-interests-v-international-economy-robert-shapiro-on-ipr-innovation-in-india</a>
</p>
No publishersamanthaEconomicsPatentsAccess to Knowledge2014-04-03T10:54:08ZBlog EntryPune_Chatting
http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/19.JPG
<b></b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/19.JPG'>http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/19.JPG</a>
</p>
No publishersamantha2014-03-15T10:23:21ZImage