eChapters

Abstract

Patent infringement is the act of unauthorized making, using, offering for sale or selling any patented invention within the India. In case of patent infringement it is necessary for the patentee to compare the claims granted to him with the allegedly infringing product an check whether there is an infringement – whether the infringing product falls within the scope of the claims of the patent. In such a case the patentee may sue for relief in an appropriate court. The patentee may ask for permanent injunction and damages on account of the infringement. It is the crusade of the inventor asserting his rights against an infringer and the law recognizes the importance of this right; because, without such positive and assertive rights, industrial progress would be hard to come by

Abstract

Patent is a monopoly right which is granted by the Government to the applicant for the full disclosure of an ‘invention’ which is ‘new’, ‘inventive’ and ‘industrially applicable’. Thus, before filing a patent application, the inventor must be sure that the work done by him is new and inventive. Further, during the examination of the patent application, it is required to be verified that the invention claimed in the disclosure/specification is new, inventive and industrially applicable. Since the search for the ‘Novelty’ of the invention is carried worldwide, it becomes all the more important for the inventor and the examiners to search for the prior art thoroughly. Searching for the prior art (i.e. state of the art) across the globe in around millions of documents both patents and non-patent documents, is like ‘searching a needle in the haystack’. However, by using proper keywords and classification techniques, it is possible to arrive at the closest prior art available. Each patent application is classified by the Indian Patent Office and thus attributed to one or several fields of technology. The classification scheme applied is the International Patent Classification (IPC).

A Patent is a written document explaining an invention with exclusive right. It is used to protect an inventor/scientist and to prevent other from making profits without permission. It is also used as an authority paper permitting license holders to duplicate the results. A patent application requires a combination of legal documentation and technical papers. This issue makes patent writing a very different writing style.

In India, patent applications can be filed by a patent agent or an individual having some scientific and technical background to understand the invention. However, no one can understand the invention better than the inventors themselves. Document preparation requires healthy discussions between the inventor and agent. For inventors, a good understanding on patent writing style can greatly facilitate the documentation process. Before filing the patent application inventor must be sure about that the subject is eligible for patent protection, the invention has something new, the invention is not obvious and is not easily predictable from general consensus, and the invention has practical application.

I. INTRODUCTION

In a global, knowledge-based economy, Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are a key to the international competitiveness of both nations and firms. International competition in the traded goods increasingly contains a high degree of innovation. IPRs have thus; become a trade issue and a major component of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Adequate IP protection at an international scale has become essential for appropriating global revenue streams to support investments in developing state of- the- art technology. Although the concept of intellectual property is very old, there appeared the need to harmonize laws to facilitate international trade and free flow of technology. This became very necessary because it was difficult to obtain sufficient protection in the other countries of the world, in view of the disparity in the laws in each country. As per World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) definition, intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce. Broadly, intellectual property is divided into two categories. The first category covers industrial property, which includes patents, industrial designs and trademarks, all of which have industrial applications. The other refers to copyright laws, which are applied to such things as literary, dramatic and artistic works; rights relating to performing artists, the production phonograms and rights of broadcasters in their radio and television programs.¹ Patented inventions have, in fact, pervaded every aspect of human life, from electric lighting and plastic, to ballpoint pens and microprocessors. During a time when the future of many industries seems uncertain, one industry in particular appears to be positioned for expansion and enduring success. This is the biotechnology industry, which according to some analysts will be a major driving force behind the new economy of the 21st century.2 This seemingly lofty prediction is based in large part on the immense promise offered by biotechnology. The innovations developed with biotechnological techniques promise to prolong and improve our lives and the world we live in by achieving advancements in health care, agriculture, food products and production, industrial processes and environmental preservation. Biotechnology is not a new science and it has existed in some form or the other for centuries. Biotechnology in one form or another has been part of human development since the dawn of agriculture. Human ingenuity has led to increased production and greater diversity and quality of livestock and varieties of crops. Today’s food crops and domestic animals embody the benefits of many generations of selection and breeding. However, the advent of genetics has opened exciting opportunities in this sector, because of its numerous applications, which range from improvement of human health and food production to reduction of environmental damage. These opportunities are also coupled with controversies that not only challenge the laws within which society functions, but also our ethical and religious beliefs.

This chapter provides an insight into the genotypic and phenotypic correlations between plant traits. It incorporates the study of genotypic and phenotypic path analysis and the understanding of genetic variability, all illustrated through practical examples in R, relevant to plant breeding research.

Path Analysis

Path analysis explains not only the direct impact of one character on another but also indirect effects mediated through other variables in the system. The approach is similar to the analysis of variance and is sometimes referred to as the analysis of correlation coefficients. A notable feature of path coefficients is that they are standardized partial regression coefficients, devoid of units. This standardization allows for the direct effects of different variables to be compared and ranked based on their magnitude. This approach was first applied in plant studies by Dewey and Lu in 1959, particularly to examine the factors influencing seed yield.

Path Coefficients

In the computation of path coefficients, a path diagram is translated into a series of simultaneous equations. These equations reveal the direct and indirect contributions of causal variables to the outcome. For example, in the field of plant breeding: consider the yield of forage (Y) being influenced by different variables. These could include the leaf length (X1), leaf width (X2), and number of leaves per plant (X3).

Introduction
Integrating information technology (IT) into governance and development frameworks has revolutionized how governments engage with citizens, driving empowerment across multiple dimensions. People-centric IT solutions focus on bridging the digital divide, promoting inclusivity, enhancing accessibility, and enabling active participation in governance and economic activities. These solutions leverage mobile technology, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and blockchain to create inclusive, transparent, and user-friendly platforms, ensuring equitable access to opportunities and resources.
Bridging the Digital Divide: One of the primary challenges in empowering people through IT is addressing the digital divide the gap between individuals with access to digital technologies and those without. In many developing nations, including India, large sections of the population remain excluded from the benefits of digital transformation due to socioeconomic, geographic, or infrastructural constraints.

ABSTRACT

A methodology for depiction of Brown Plant Hopper (BPH) pest incidence on rabi rice crop using Remote Sensing (RS) data was attempted. The reflectance and geographically registered RS images of Feb.12, Mar.13, and April 30, 2009  as well as Feb.23 and March 14, 2007 were used to classify the Godavari district for generation of rabi rice crop area map. The rice crop map thus generated was used as an overlaying layer of rice crop mask in GIS to derive other RS based indices described below over this crop mask. Land Surface Temperature (LST) data product for rice growing areas was generated using rice crop mask. Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI), Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) onices derived from MODIS data and NDWI from AWiFS data were correlated with pest count data for two years 2007 and 2009.

4.1 Phases of technology transfer
To translate laboratory research into market ready product, it is important to understand steps or phases involved in this technology transfer process. The process typically includes six main phases, each with a different role (figure 9).
4.1.1 Research
Technology transfer begins with research, the critical stage of exploring and discovering novel knowledge, technologies, or innovations that may have potential commercial applications. The research phase can occur in academic institutions, research organizations, or private sector companies, often funded by public or private sources. Thorough research ensures that the technologies being transitioned are scientifically and technically robust, thereby increasing their potential for market success. Therefore, the research phase involves creating and evaluating new ideas, confirming their feasibility, and identifying IP prospects, all of which are key components of TT success.
4.1.2 Innovation disclosure
Innovation disclosure is the first formal step where the innovation is reported to the appropriate TTO or IP management team. This process ensures that the institution or organization recognizes the innovation and evaluates its potential for protection and commercialization. It includes following information:

Being polytocous animal, sow give birth several (8-14) piglets in each farrowing, mother pig find several deficiencies and disorders during gestation, farrowing and postnatal conditions. Prior to birth intrauterine competition amongst the feotus piglets for nutrition and gas exchange is a big stress for abortion. Several infectious and non-infectious causes may hamper proper growth and pathological conditions resulting mortality (15-20%) in piglets than weaner and adults (Sarma, et al, 2012). Several risk factors are also responsible for piglet mortality.

Prenatal factors: Insults during pregnancy can impact a piglet’s ability to survive after birth and regulate their body temperature. Some maternal aspects that affect survability and mortality amongst piglets are prolong farrowing duration more than 4 hours, number of parity of sow, usually first and second parity show high mortality than subsequent parities and also older sow lose more piglets.

The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) based in Geneva, Switzerland and established in 1961 is an intergovernmental organization to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection, with the aim of encouraging the development of new varieties of plants, for the benefit of society. For plant breeders' rights to be granted, the new variety must meet four criteria under the rules established by UPOV as discussed earlier also.

Introduction
In the modern age of digital transformation, platforms have become critical enablers of sustainability. These digital infrastructures, which facilitate connectivity, resource sharing, and collaboration, are pivotal in accelerating the adoption of sustainable practices across various sectors. Platforms enable the effective integration of resources, stakeholders, and technologies, offering scalable solutions that can help achieve long-term environmental, economic, and social sustainability goals. Whether through promoting circular economy models, enabling efficient resource use, fostering innovation in green technologies, or driving policy changes, platforms serve as central hubs for fostering sustainable development.

A TTO fills the important intermediary position of linking research institution with industry so that innovations and new ideas can reach market. To be able to facilitate that effectively, the institutions must have well-defined R&D policies that include Sponsored R&D, Collaborative R&D, and Grant-in-Aid R&D. These ensure that the research remains properly managed, regulatory compliance assured and aligned with institutional priorities. This chapter has discussed about key policies that can help in successful operation of TTO while aligning institution’s mission and interests Various core policies that help in successful technology transfer include:
• Intellectual property policy
• Technology transfer policy
• Revenue sharing policy
• Startup/Spinout/Venture creation policy
• Conflict of interest/Conflict of commitment policy
Each policy has specific objectives. These policies collectively ensure a clear and consistent framework for technology commercialization.
11.1 Intellectual property policy
An IP policy is a formal document that provides guidelines for managing IP by an organisation. A strong IP policy build trust by ensuring efficiency and transparency. Other benefits of IP policy includes creation of environment to encourage innovation and commercialisation of IP. It also lays foundation to set out the rules for public-private partnerships while addressing issues among various stakeholders and ensures compliance. IP Policy is not law, but a proposed course of action.

I. INTRODUCTORY OUTLINE

The post-Vienna legal phase is remarkably known for revolutionary changes across the global wherein the third generation of human rights became the hallmark for the comity of nations and a liberational instrument to come out of nightmarish experiences of poverty and hunger.1 On the other hand the post-GATTised legal ordering is known for much publicized and debatable conclusion of Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and creation of World Trade Organisation (WTO).2 This new jurisprudential polemics soon evoked fierce scrutiny from the stand point of human right and poverty among third world countries.3 At home, it is dubbed as ‘bleeding operation with the dubious promise of benign global competition’, ‘de facto nullity of constitutional goal of social welfare’ and ‘contra- constitutional coup.4 Since India has become a member of WTO it indulged into massive rehabilitation and fundamental mutation of IPR regime. Despite the fact that it has a stark distinction of being a grain- surplus and food and livelihood insecure country. An inventory of over forty five million tonnes of wheat and rice in granaries remains ready for consumption. On the other hand over two hundred fifty million people generally go to bed partially hungry every day. There is a near consensus on the need to banish hunger but the realities on the ground remain that even at the risk of raising hopes the goal of food security may not be realized for generations.5 At home under the cover of food security the government is keeping millions of tonnes of food out of reach of the poor people.6 In fact India’s record breaking 200 plus million tonnes harvest is the result of steep fall in purchasing power of poor. The myth of surplus is based on sending hundreds of millions of human being hungry to their beds.7 Taken to its logical end we have abundance of food, surplus of hunger and scarcity of vision under the garb of food security.8

Precision feeding aims to supply animals with appropriate nutrients according to their changing physiological state, growth, production and environment. Conventional feeding plans are often static and may lead to waste, increased costs and environmental losses. This chapter introduces an AI-enabled framework integrating animal data, feed composition, growth characteristics and external factors. Regression, ensemble learning and other machine-learning models predict feed intake and weight gain, while linear programming and metaheuristic optimization generate efficient allocation plans. A decision-support system provides recommendations in real time. The approach can improve feed conversion, nutrient utilization, profitability and sustainability while reducing overfeeding, resource wastage and the environmental impact of livestock production.

Predictive analytics estimates future health risks and outcomes, while prescriptive analytics recommends appropriate interventions and resource-allocation strategies. This chapter explains how statistical models, machine learning and healthcare data can support disease-risk assessment, prognosis and personalized treatment. Applications involving cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic-disease management and early-warning systems are examined. The integration of clinical, genomic, lifestyle and electronic health-record data is discussed alongside survival analysis, disease-progression modelling and treatment-response prediction. The chapter also addresses bias, fairness, transparency, privacy, regulation and interoperability. Future developments involving real-time analytics, IoT-enabled monitoring and precision medicine illustrate the transition toward proactive, preventive and data-driven healthcare.

Predictive modelling of plant growth can help farmers and researchers improve crop management, resource utilization and production planning. This chapter examines machine learning approaches for predicting important plant growth characteristics. It introduces plant growth fundamentals and the environmental and management factors that influence development. The chapter covers the machine learning workflow, including data acquisition, preprocessing, feature engineering, model development and evaluation. Supervised learning, unsupervised learning and deep learning approaches are considered for predicting plant height, biomass, canopy development, leaf area and yield-related characteristics. Data from IoT devices, drones and satellite imagery can strengthen prediction models. The chapter also discusses precision agriculture applications, limitations and emerging technologies such as explainable AI, digital twins and edge AI.

Abstract

The study of computational toxicity prediction is very crucial and necessary, as it is quite time consuming and expensive to measure the toxicity via experimental techniques (Quan Liao et al., 2006). The use of computational approaches particularly to reduce the time and cost for the evaluation of the kinetic and toxic behaviour of any drug has been increased tremendously in recent time period (Richard Judson et al., 2004). Machine learning is a powerful tool to discover new complex combinatorial relationships in various in vitro and in vivo data information (Richard Judson et al., 2004) and has been successfully used in many diverse fields with numerous applications such as pharmacodynamics properties prediction (Czerminski et al., 2001; Livingstone et al., 2003), protein function prediction (Cai et al., 2003), medical decision making (Veropoulos, 2001), spam categorization (Drucker et al., 1999), detection of oil spills (Kubat et al., 1998), and speech recognition (Nuttakorn et al., 2001).

Abstract

Real-time PCR, also known as qPCR, is a highly sensitive technique used to determine the real-time amplification of a target DNA sequence. However, the presence of secondary structures or spurious amplicons can distort the results. When using SYBR Green chemistry, the features of qPCR primers differ from those of standard endpoint PCR primers. As a result, designing primers for SYBR Green qPCR requires extra caution and attention. This chapter outlines the essential features and conditions for designing qPCR primers, including primer length, melting temperature, GC content, specificity, and avoiding primer-dimer formation.

Abstract

PCR primer design is a crucial skill for molecular biologists, as it enables the study of gene expression, gene amplification, and molecular markers. Primer3 is an online tool widely used for designing optimal PCR primers, which are pairs of short oligonucleotides that initiate DNA synthesis in vitro using a thermocycler. This tool uses a range of parameters to generate high- quality primers, including target sequence length, melting temperature, GC content, specificity, and product size. Understanding and effectively utilizing these parameters is essential for achieving accurate and reliable PCR results. In this chapter, the practical aspect of primer designing using the online tool Primer3 has been discussed. The parameters and the purpose of their usage have been given in a tabulated manner.

It has been a general notion that if an experiment is conducted under identical conditions, values so obtained would be similar. But the experiences of people have dispelled this belief. Observations are always taken about a factor or character under study, which can take different values, and the factor or character is termed as variable.
Hence, we have a set of outcomes (sample points) of a random experiment. A rule that assigns a real number to each outcome (sample points) is called random variable. The rule is nothing about a function of the variable, say, X, that assigns a unique value to each sample point of the sample space.