Intellectual property rights management is the latest to join the vocational courses bandwagon. Cashing in on the need to protect one’s invention, educational institutes are la­unching post-graduate dip­loma courses in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Law.

National Law University (NLU), Delhi, and Karnataka State Open University have commenced th­ese courses this year.

NLU has partnered with Global Institute of Intellectual Property and Hughes Communications India to launch a one–year programme in IPR. Karnataka State Open University has teamed up with Formulate IP, a legal outsourcing firm to offer the course. With increasing globalisation and growth in Indian services industry in IT/ software, the relevance and essentiality of IPR management has assumed significance. Also, there is a sudden influx of business for the Indian outsourcing industry, which is expected to generate revenues of around $640 million by the end of 2010,”said Partho Banerjee, president and MD, Hughes Communications India.