I did not know this!

I had some learning after a visit
by a labour inspector to our premises on 26-Jan. I thought I should share this
learning with others.

All software companies, BPOs and
KPOs should know that we have certain flexibility given to us by TN state
legislations to operate on holidays, so that we support our clients abroad / in
India without any disruptions in our service.

Any shop or establishment can
work on a holiday (say on 26-Jan or 15-Aug) as per law (TN Shops and Establishment
Act).  If a shop or establishment wants
to work on a declared holiday, all that they have to do is (a) inform employees
24 hours before (b) inform labour office 24 hours before and (c) pay double the
wages for such holiday work.

Now, IT/Software companies are exempted
from point (a) and (b) above. This means IT/Software companies can work on a declared
holiday and there is no requirement (exempted) to inform employees or labour
office in advance.

Now, some
legal dose!

All companies and establishments in Tamil Nadu are governed by TN
National and Festival Holidays Act 1958.

·       
As per section 3 of the Act – Grant of National and Festival
Holidays – Every employee shall be allowed in each calendar year a holiday for
(1) Jan-26 : Republic Day (2) May-1 :  May day (3) Aug-15 : Independence
day (4) Oct-2 : Gandhi Jayanthi and five more holidays for festivals (so
totalling 9 holidays in a calendar year).

·       
However, any employee may be required by an employer to work on
any holiday allowed under above section (3) – Section 5 (2)(a).

In such cases :

·       
Section 5 (2)(a)(i) – give an advance notice to employees, 24
hours before

·       
Section 5 (2)(a)(ii) – give an advance notice to inspector of
labour office,  24 hours before and also display it in the notice board

·       
Section 5 (2)(b) – give twice the wages for employees on such
holidays.

·       
IT Companies -  As per TN ICT Policy 2008 and earlier IT
Polies and TN Govt GO Ms No 95 (No II(2)/LE/638/2003), Governor of TN has exempted
Information Technology establishments in TN from the provisions of 
Section (5)(2) (a) (i) and (ii).

This means for IT Companies (IT,
ITES, BPO, KPO), there is no need for serving notices to employees and serving
notice to labour office inspector for holiday work, when a IT company decides
to work on any holiday.

Please highlight this fact if a labour
office representative says an IT firm cannot work on a  holiday or
should have given advance notice to them.

What about Opening and Closing
Hours? Are there any guidelines / restrictions?

In general, there are guidelines as to when a
shop or establishment can open and when it should be closed.

However, as per TN ICT Policy 2008,  and
GO (Ms) No 316 of Labour and Employment Dated 24-Dec-2004 (Grant of exemption
to Software Industries in Tamil Nadu), IT-ITES companies are exempted from the
provisions of Chapter II and III of the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments
Act, 1947.

What does this mean to IT-ITES companies?

Chapter III (Sec 13) – Opening
and Closing Hours – IT-ITES companies can open and close any time, they can operate
any time for meeting the needs for customers outside of India / or in India.

Chapter III (Sec 14) – Daily and
weekly hours of work – in IT-ITES companies, employees can work / allowed to work
more than 8 hours in a day or 48 hours in a week if required to meet any business
/ client needs.

Chapter III (Sec 16) – Holidays – As per
this section ; every person employed in an establishment shall be allowed in
each week a day of holiday of one whole day. IT-ITES companies are
exempted here again, I guess, for meeting any urgent / emergency needs of customers,
go-live situations etc.

Note: Law and legal system is something
that always changes and subject to interpretations. For more
clarity please do research yourself and take an experts advice on the granularities
and details.

]]> http://dextrasys.com/home/blog/49/feed 0 http://dextrasys.com/home/blog/dextrasys-newzbox http://dextrasys.com/home/blog/dextrasys-newzbox#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:03:32 +0000 muthukumar http://dextrasys.com/home/blog/dextrasys-newzbox/40/ Dextrasys Newzbox – October 21, 2009 _ Volume 6_ Issue 6

All over the world, Invention and technology play a major role in the growth of countries. For making use of technology advancements for its development, each country has created its own laws and rights in the name of Intellectual property rights for protecting those advancements. As like other developed countries, India, which is a developing economy, is also progressing on the IPR framework and systems to fuel its own growth in the recent years.

The main purpose of this blog is to create awareness about Indian IP Systems.

 Indian IP System

What is IPR?
Intellectual Property is defined as any original creative work manifested in a tangible form that can be legally protected.
Rights associated with intellectual property which gives legal protection is referred to as IPR (Intellectual property Rights)

IPR Categories in india

Acts governing IP assets in India

Patent: The Patents Act, 1970
Trade Marks: The Trade Marks Act, 1999
Copyright: The Copyright Act, 1957
Designs: The Designs Act, 2000
Geographical Indications: The Geographical Indications of Goods Act, 1999
Plant Varieties: The Protection of plant varieties and Farmers’ Right Act, 2001
Semi conductor IC layout: Semi conductor IC layout design Act, 2000

Where to file the IP Assets in India

What is patent?

- A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention. The exclusive right granted to a patentee to prevent others from making, using, selling, or distributing the patented invention without the permission of patentee.
- Valid period is 20 years from the date of filing the application
- It can be transmitted / assigned and cannot be renewed.

Patentability Criteria in India

Under Patent Act 1970, the invention to be patentable should meet the following criteria:

i) Novel: The invention disclosed in the specification is not published in India or elsewhere before the date of filing of the patent application in India.
ii) Inventive: The invention is not obvious to a person skilled in the art / particular field
iii) Industrially applicable: Invention should possess utility, so that it can be made or used in the industry

What are not patentable in India

Under Section 3 & 4 in Patent Act, and in sub section 3 (a) to 3 (p) gives the areas of inventions that are not patentable.

- Which is frivolous or contrary to well established natural laws
- Which is contrary to public order or morality
- Mere discovery of a scientific principle or the formulation of an abstract theory or discovery of any
living thing or non-living substance occurring in nature
- Mere discovery of a new form, property or use of a known substance without any enhancement
- Substance obtained by a mere admixture resulting only in the aggregation of the properties of the
components thereof or a  process for producing such substance
- Mere arrangement or re-arrangement or duplication of known devices each functioning independently of one another in a known way
- Method of agriculture or horticulture
- Process for the medicinal or other treatment of human beings or animals to render them free of disease
- Mere scheme or rule or method of performing mental act or method of playing game
- Relating to atomic energy

Forms required for filing the patent in India

Form 1 – Application for the grant of patent
Form 2 – Provisional or complete specification
Form 3 – Statement and undertaking by the applicant
Priority document (if priority date is claimed) in convention application, when directed by the controller
Form 5 – Declaration as to Inventor ship
Form 26 – Authorization of patent agent or any other person

What is Trade Mark?

- A trademark (popularly known as “Brand name”) in layman’s language is a visual symbol which may be a word signature, name, device, label, numerals or combination of colours used by one who is undertaking on goods or services
- Valid period for TM is ten (10) years and it can be renewed
- Symbol ® is used to represent the registered trademark in India
- Symbol ™ is used to represent the application condition of TM
- Trademark can be registered in all Indian regional offices

What is Geographical Indication?

- Geographical Indication (GI) signifies to the name or sign, used in reference to the products which are corresponding to the particular geographical area or somewhat related to the origin like town, region or nation
- Any association of persons, producers, organization or authority established by or under the law can apply
- Valid period for GI is 10 years and can be renewed after each 10 years
- GI cannot be assigned / transmitted
- Some examples are :  Basmati Rice, Darjeeling Tea, Kanchipuram Silk Saree etc.,

Conclusion

What we have discussed so far is types of IPR available in India, where to file them, their coverage under Indian IP Act, description of patent, trademark, geographical indication and requirements for patent filling them

India has been moving fast on the value chain in providing business services to the world. Starting from Information Technology Outsourcing Services (ITO) and Business Process Outsourcing Services (BPO), we now have moved on to providing Knowledge Process Outsourcing Services (KPO).

In 2005, ‘New Scientist’ did an India special highlighting that India would be the next knowledge superpower. It highlighted ‘Some of the biggest names in IT (Information Technology) and Business are heading towards India and Bangalore once more, but now it’s the brightest minds they seek – not cheap labour’.

India has been the back office of many banks. It was the powerhouse for labor-intensive, often tedious programming. But that was past. Now many fortune 500 companies have their R&D labs and base in India. High tech companies are looking forward to inventor here for ideas that can change the world. There are many organizations which provide high end research services to global customers.

So India has been moving from Cost Driven Services (CDS) to Knowledge Enabled Services. That is what I called as moving up in the value chain.

ITO consisted of Application Development, Maintenance and Support. BPO included Customer Interaction Services and Process outsourcing in Insurance, Finance and Accounting and Human Resource Management and host of other areas. KPO has a range of service possibilities that include Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Legal and Intellectual Property, Publishing, Contract Research, and R&D and Innovation.

The central theme of Knowledge Services is to create value for the client by providing domain expertise rather than process expertise. It is knowledge driven as against process driven. BPO focuses on executing standardized, routine processes, where as KPO / KES focuses on domain expertise, analytical skills, judgment and decisions making.

Knowledge Service as an Industry is projected to grow at 45% for next few years. It is estimated that Knowledge Service would be $20 billion business by 2010 and a whooping 70% is expected to be India’s share. There would be more than 250,000 knowledge professionals by 2010.

So what does it translate for every one? Simply put it is unlimited opportunities.

Knowledge enabled services are currently provided in the following areas:

• Engineering
• Design
• Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals
• Animation
• Gaming Content Creation
• Learning Solutions
• Legal and Intellectual Property Services
• Publication Research and Services
• Financial Data and Market Research

Over next few years many new segments are likely to emerge. Successful application of Knowledge Services is only limited by imagination.

For those choosing a career in knowledge services, it provides opportunities to work with state of the art technology, exposure to a broader range of science and technology and business domains, great learning in analysis, technical and scientific reasoning, legal reasoning , to improve technical writing and communication skills.

For business, it provides exciting new areas to explore.

As we all know, Dextrasys is a family of passionate researchers and experts like you and me. We all derive lot of useful information from the web. Now its a chance for you to give back your respective portion to the web.

The party goes on all day and all night on the web and you are invited now. Millions have been invited already and all can be heard equally. This is our contribution to the noise. It is the right time to open the door and start a conversation with the Web community about the most happening things inside and outside the IP world.

This blog is going to be very much alive and thriving. A number of new entertaining, informative posts on various topics ranging from intellectual property to engineering sciences will be added and discussed every week.

Let us use this blog to:

- portray our literary/Graphic talents the world.
- to provide Dextrasys official press releases.
- recruit new ones. For those who are passionate about a joining us, let them get the feel of us .

Additionally I want to hear from you all.

What do you think about the website? Is there something you would like to see fixed? Some of you are bound to have great things to say, while others might have a few chosen words. Either way, I like to hear it!

I plan on hitting 10+ posts every week. So keep contributing your great ideas .

Deepak Julien A