Events

Eleventh Conference of Rajasthan Library Association

The Conference was held at Govt. Teachers Training College, Ajmer during 11-12 March 2000. The inaugural address was deliverd by Mr. Lalit Bhati, MLA, and a member of Rajasthan Assembly Library Committee. He emphasized the importance of library legislation and libraries at grass root level. During the two days of the Conference some technical papers devoted to role of libraries in the 21st century, multimedia, digital libraries, virtual personal libraries, etc. were presented

During the Conference Dr. C D Sharma Memorial Awards for the year 1997, 1998, and 1999 were respectively presented to Dr. R S Sharma, Head, Space Centre Library, ISRO, Ahmedabad; Dr. D C Ojha, Librarian, CAZRI, Jodhpur; and Mr. Naresh Boolia, Librarian, Shri PSB Govt. College, Shahpura. Some retired librarians were also awarded. Elections for the new executive council were also held.

— Communicated by Deep Singh,
Public Relation & Organising Secretary, RLA, Jaipur.

One Day Seminar on Patent Information

The seminar held on 12 May 2000 at the seminar hall of ICAMT building with 35 delegates (4 from CMTI) was inaugurated by Mr. S Vasantha Kumar, Director, CMTI.

In his inaugural address, Mr. Vasantha Kumar addressed the issue of patents in the light of WTO for which India is also a signatory. He briefly depicted the prevalent industrial scenario and emphasized the need for change. He opined that emphasis on being competitive should not only be in the global market but also within our own country. The need to catch up with the quality demands and innovation was stressed. He cited examples of other countries who were able to innovate and generate intellectual property. The need for protecting the intellectual property already existing in the country and generation of knowledge bases for being competitive were highlighted. He cited typical examples of Indian processes or products being patented by foreign countries and insisted that we should wake up to the situation He focussed on the extent of patent illiteracy still existing in the S&T communities in the country and insisted on the need to educate these communities in this respect. He also dwelt on the Value Added Patent Information Centre at NICMAP, CMTI functioning under the aegis of the NISSAT and the DIPP; and the services offered by the centre to the industries. He concluded his address by saying that patenting is needed not only on breakthrough inventions but also on incremental improvements. He opined that protecting the Indian industry is not desirable as the competitiveness will not develop if the protection exists.

Inaugural Session in Progress
[Inaugural Session in Progress]

The inaugural session was followed by two technical sessions. The first session comprising three papers was chaired by Mr. M V Suryaprakash, Joint Director, CMTI.

The first paper presented by Mr. B Sudarshan of CMTI was devoted to basic concepts and sources of patent information. It dealt with formats of patent information, details of the organisations that provide patent information and the types of services provided by these organisations including the information resources available in these organisations. Addresses of publishers of patent databases on CD-ROM, list of patent offices in the world and in India, selected addresses of database producers and on-line service providers, and addresses of Indian organisations providing patent information were appended.

The second paper by Mr. S Chandrasekharan of Patent Office, Chennai Branch was on patenting processes in India and effects of PCT. The author briefly provided a history of patenting in India since 1854 and then discussed the issues of the intellectual property rights, the rights over patents, designs, trades and service markets, geographic indications and copyrights in India with suitable examples. He recounted the patentability of products and processes in terms of their contents, validity period, filing date, sealing date, and different ways of dealing with inventions; and explained how patent information can serve as a pedestal for further invention; and how recent changes would effect India.

The third and the last paper of the session was by Ms K T Anuradha of National Centre for Science Information, Bangalore. The paper dealt with the Internet sources on patent information encompassing online hosts distributing patent information, free patent databases available on the Net, meta sources on patents, patent classification systems, etc.; and provided addresses of the sites which might be tapped.

The session ended with the summing up of the presentations and concluding remarks by the chairman.

The second session comprising two papers started after lunch and was chaired by Mr. S Chandrasekharan, Deputy Controller of Patents, Patent Office, Chennai Branch.

The first paper of the session devoted to introduction to IPR and implication of TRIPS was presented by Mr. R Muralidharan, Advocate and Patent Attorney from Bangalore. He, at first, differentiated the concepts of copyright, trademarks, patents and designs and dwelt upon the purpose of trademark, disclosure theory and invention theory in the patent assigning system. He traced the history of IP law reformation in the Indian context, dwelt on the eligibility for patenting, explained the concept of `most favoured nation' in the context of TRIPS, the realities of WTO, Super 301, Paris Convention and the new provisions. The dearth of technically competent lawyers in the country was also pointed out.

Dr. S Ramamurthy of NAL presented case studies on patent filing. Touching upon the issues of novelty, inventive steps and usefulness of patents, the author elaborated on the practical aspects and basic requirements for drafting patent applications and examination of the application. He described his experiences in obtaining Indian, US, European and Japanese patents for two of his inventions at NAL, i.e. (i) Black chromium plating bath, and (ii) Air foil bearings. The problems faced in patenting at various stages were described, and some questions posed by the US Patent Office and the answers provided by NAL were also highlighted. He also threw some light as to how the patent is being exploited; and informed about a new procedure developed for searching and downloading patent information from patent databases available on the Internet. The procedure is going to be patented.

The session concluded with the summarisation of the presentations and remarks by the chairman.

The concluding session was chaired by Mr S Vasantha Kumar, Director, CMTI. The chairman invited the opinions and suggestions from the participants as to the coverage of the topics and their usefulness. Most of the participants felt that the seminar has been quite successful in providing a good understanding of the importance of patents, patenting procedures and the need for patent literacy. It was opined that CMTI should conduct a workshop to simulate the complete patenting process including planning and drafting . The necessity to set up a National Forum was also voiced by one participant. Other topics cropped up included issues relating to GATT, TRIPS, etc. Suggestions were put forward to hold such seminars and workshops at other places like IITs. The chairman agreed with most of the points raised by the participants, and mentioned about the Indian Institute of Patents and Trademarks set up by Br. Anji Reddy and Dr R A Mashelkar.

The seminar concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Mr. M S Srikantiah.

One-Day Training Programme on Web Designing and Web Page Creation

The in-house Training Programme was organized by the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages Library, Hyderabad on 14 May 2000 with 20 participants both from faculty and administration.

The Programme was inaugurated by Prof. Pramod Talgeri, Vice Chancellor of the Institute. Shri M LN Chary welcomed the gathering. Dr. T A V Murthy, Librarian and Chairman, Computer Committee gave a brief of the Programme. Shri Mallikarjuna Rao of National Information Service Centre (NISC) delivered lectures with practical demonstration on Web-designing and Web-page creation. Prof.V.Prakasam, Dean of Studies (English) in his concluding remarks greatly appreciated the programme and desired that many more programmes may be organized for the benefit of faculty and staff. Shri G S R K Babu Rao, Section Officer proposed a vote of thanks.

— Communicated by Dr. T A V Murthy

MLAI 2000

The annual convention of the Medical Library Association of India (MLAI-2000) will be held at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludiana (Punjab) in December 2000. The theme of the convention is New Approaches for Sharing of Information amongst Health Science Libraries.

Sub-Themes:

For further information, please contact: Dr. R.P. Kumar, Secretary, Medical Library Association of India, K-43, Kailash Colony, New Delhi-110048.

Forty-Sixth All India ILA Conference

The 46th All India Library Conference of Indian Library Association dedicated to the theme Quality Assurance in Library and Information Services: The Need of the Hour for Survival will be hosted at Ahmedabad during January 3-6, 2001 by the Nirma Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Papers are invited on the following sub-themes:

Relevance of Quality Assurance

Strategies for Quality in L&IS

TQM Tools and Techniques & Their Applications to Libraries

Integrating Qualities in Indian Libraries

Managing Change

National Policy on Quality Assurance

Schedule of Paper Submission

Papers should be Submitted to: The President (46th All India ILA Conference), Indian Library Association, A/40-41 Ansal Building, Dr Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi-110009. Phone/Fax: (011) 7651743

Communications regarding the Conference should be Addressed to: Shri Anil Kumar, Librarian & Organising Secretary, 46th All India ILA Conference, Sarkhej Gandhinagar Highway, P.O. Chandlodia via Gota, Ahmedabad-382481 (Gujarat). Phone: (079) 749 7700/7722/7788/7799/5733 Email : nim@ad1.vsnl.net.in

Third Annual National MANLIBNET Convention

The Convention dedicated to the theme of Business Librarianship & Information Services from Independence to Interdependence will be hosted at Lucknow during March 12-14, 2001 by Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.

The Convention will address the issues confronting the professionals in Business Libraries and Information Centres by providing them a forum for sharing information (and skills) necessary to augment and provide quality library and information support services to their clientele. The facets outlined below, therefore, have been worked out, keeping in mind the technological, the clientele and the professionals' perspectives.

Facets:

Technological Perspective

Clientele Perspective

Professionals' Perspective

For further information, please contact: Dr. Roshan Raina, Librarian, Indian Institute of Management, Prabandh Nagar, Off Sitapur Road, Lucknow-226 013.
Ph: (0522) 361889-97 Ext. (O) 661 (R) 504
Fax: (0522) 361 840 & (0522) 361 843

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Information Today & Tomorrow, Vol. 19, No. 3, September 2000, p.29-p.32
http://itt.nissat.tripod.com/itt20003/events2k03.htm