With India’s emergence as a major economic player comes the need to grapple with obstacles that often confront developing nations, including intellectual property rights.

Intellectual property law deals with the legalities of patents, copyrights, trademarks and all other information that can be the “exclusive right” of a person or group.

The market demand of intellectual property (IP) professionals is expected to rise to 15,000 within the next three years, according to The Times of India.

As of right now, India has less than 1,000 practicing patent professionals.

To meet this demand, the UW’s Center for Advanced Study and Research on Intellectual Property (CASRIP), along with the UW’s Intellectual Property Law and Policy Masters of Law (LL.M.) program has agreed to join forces with the Global Institute of Intellectual Property (GIIP) to provide qualified Indian graduate students with an advance level certificate program on patent and intellectual property.

“A country such as India has a wealth of human capital and is rapidly advancing toward a more developed country in certain technological fields,” said CASRIP assistant director Signe Brunstad. “A challenge with such advancement is to correspondingly tailor, advance and educate technology producers with regard to intellectual property rights.”

The program, Brunstad said, would use the American model “to contribute to the understanding and advancement of India’s IP system.”

Chief among the reasons for IP law’s prevalence in today’s economy is the mandate issued by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that all of its members must adhere to the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights laws (TRIPS).

“Certainly India’s obligation under the TRIPS has caused greater respect for IP laws,” said UW law professor Dan Laster, who specializes in intellectual property.

Aside from meeting the demands of the WTO, the patent certificate program would serve to fulfill the goals presented on the CASRIP Web site — to facilitate a dialogue between various countries about their different approaches to IP law and to analyze the effects of these differences on technological invention and international trade.

“CASRIP does not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to intellectual property regimes but rather that India’s intellectual property leaders can learn from our experiences and our system and then use that as a model to fine-tune their own system,” Brunstad said.

GIIP has headquarters both in San Jose, Calif., and New Delhi, India. The organization’s chief goal is to train a team of Indian professionals who can accommodate the needs of global IP customers.

Brunstad predicts that the effects of the program offered by the collaboration between CASRIP and GIIP will be comprehensive.

“It is anticipated that graduates from the program in India — who will receive a certificate from the University of Washington Law School Foundation — will be employed by law firms, patent agencies, government laboratories, IT businesses and Indian companies,” she said. “Some may even attend LL.M. programs in the United States.”

[Reach contributing writer Sara Grimes at development@thedaily.washington.edu.]