Shamnad Basheer
Ministry of HRDC Professor in Intellectual Property law, NUJS, Kolkata, India
Shamnad Basheer is the Ministry of HRD Professor of IP Law at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata. Prior to this position, he was the Frank H. Marks Visiting Associate Professor of Intellectual Property Law at George Washington University law school. He is also the founder of SpicyIP, a leading blog dedicated to analyzing IP and innovation policy news and cases from India. His expertise is in the area of patents and innovation policy for developing countries, regulation/protection of traditional medicines and international trade issues. In this regard, he has provided strategic advise to the Indian government. He also has practical experience working with a leading IP law firm in India, Anand and Anand, and was rated by the IFLR 1000 guide as a leading technology lawyer. He graduated from India¹s premier law school, the National law school of India University, Bangalore. He has a BCL (as a Shell Centenary scholar) with distinction at the University of Oxford where he is currently completing his DPhil as a Wellcome Trust scholar.
Profile
“My broad focus is on looking at IP from a policy perspective but I also believe in operating on a practical level – how I can help government implement things right now.”
Shamnad was first drawn to IP as a means to combine his passion for law with his love of science. He built his academic reputation at top universities in India, the US and the UK, and now conducts research for clients as diverse as the European Union and the Japanese patent office. Shamnad is also known as the founder of Spicy IP, a playful blog that is India’s go-to source for the latest on IP.
What is the biggest challenge facing innovation and IP at the moment?
“The challenge lies in the fact that innovation is multi-foundational and that we still can’t point to which trigger or input is most important. We still don’t have a handle on this.”
What is one of the most influential publications you have read about innovation?
“The Medici Effect by Frans Johannson. It provides great insight into how the patronage of the Medici family created innovation during the Renaissance.”
Where do you see the future of innovation?
“The best ideas are going to be found on networks. It won’t be region specific as social networks are borderless.”
What is an important lesson from your research?
“The IP challenges we face are stimulating from an academic point of view but from a policy point of view, it’s very frustrating when we don’t know what foundations create innovation. I recall one policy expert saying it might just be luck. But if you ask me what will drive innovation most, it is not rooted in libraries – it’s human resources and educating people to think outside the box. That’s what innovation is.”