SKS Law Associates: Safeguarding Intellectual Capital through Right Legal Advice

Intellectual assets which include intellectual property are an intangible and key asset for all businesses. It provides a competitive advantage as well as generates revenue when it is licensed out or assigned. In today’s competitive market, the demand for strong protection of these assets from being infringed is increasing. A leading firm and specialist in end-to-end intellectual property advice, SKS Law Associates (SKS) provides high-end professional services and legal solutions.

SKS was established in 2007 with a vision of providing its clients’ services that help them create and maintain a valuable IP Portfolio and to leverage their intellectual assets for optimum commercial value. The firm is specialized in contentious and non-contentious work relating to patents, trademarks, copyright, industrial designs, geographical indications and plant variety protection. It also provides advice in complex areas such as licensing & technology transfer, protection of trade secrets and regulatory matters under the Biological Diversity Act.

Awards and Recognitions

• SKS has been recognized in ‘Asia Pacific Legal 500’
• Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) has recommended SKS Law Associates as ‘one of the top law firms in India’ for Patent Prosecution matters.
• SKS has been awarded ‘Newcomer of the Year in India’ Award 2010 by Corporate Intl Magazine Global Awards Committee, London, UK
• The firm has been awarded ‘MEDCON Healthcare Legal Consultants of The Year’ in 2016
• It has been also named by IBLJ in Top 50 Indian Law Firms 2013
• SKS has been recommended by Indian Lawyer 250 in 2014

A Self-motivated Professional with Demonstrated Leadership Strengths

Sunita K Sreedharan is the Founder and CEO of SKS Associates. She is a proficient lawyer as well as a patent agent licensed to practice in India. She earned her degree in LL.B. from Cochin University of Science and Technology and LL.M. from The George Washington University Law School. In her 20 years’ law practice, Sunita has developed expertise in Intellectual Property Law more notably Patent Law and by extension Biodiversity laws of India. Prior to this, she worked in the field of computer programming and computer education for about a decade.

She has provided legal advice to several esteemed institutes including the World Health Organization (WHO) on the effective implementation of International Health Regulations (IHR) in 2013 with follow up in 2015 and 2019 in Geneva. She was invited by the Royal Government of Bhutan to advise on the implementation of IHR 2005 in August 2013 in Bhutan, and to prepare the Draft National Health Law for their Ministry of Health in 2014-2015. She was also a member of the core team that prepared draft rules for the protection of traditional knowledge under the Biological Diversity Act 2002.  Sunita is an artist and an author too and has authored a book and published a number of articles in Indian and foreign journals. She has been a WIPO resource person for the Training the Trainer Program.

Sunita has won several prestigious accolades like, ‘MEDCON 2016 Healthcare Legal Consultants of the Year’ Award, she has been named in the list of Top 100 Powerful Women in Law by World IP Forum, IP Gems of India 2018 and Star Women in Law 2019 and IAM 300: World’s leading IP Strategists 2019. Also, in the past years she has been recognized by leading organizations for her contribution to the industry.

View on IP laws in India

The IP laws are slowly being aligned to provide for quick delivery of results in a rational manner based on clear and succinct evidence. The patent laws have been amended which recognizes the efforts of the start-ups, the contribution of women inventors. The recent Indo-Japan Public Prosecution Highway (PPH) seeks to streamline the patent prosecution systems.

IP enforcement still requires some work in sensitizing the enforcement agencies. The fact that a copycat product having a similar trade dress and almost the same/similar trademark is out there in the market capable of causing serious skin problems or health issues, is not an overwhelming concern for the enforcement agency. They would like to wait for a High Court Order in a civil suit for trademark infringement.

The National IP Policy of 2016 has been a boon to provide some policy guidelines, but much more needs to be done.  It is now time for National IP Policy version 2.0.  There are new emerging technologies such as AI that require a relook at patent laws and enact a robust data privacy laws etc.

Future Outlook

SKS aims to work hard to keep their clients out of the courts and ensure that they are able to create and manage a strong IP Portfolio as well as monetize their IP and trade secrets effectively. “The firm also aims to continue contributing to policy matters to ensure that we have a fair and effective IP system and biodiversity laws,” says Sunita.