Abhijeet Kumar

My expertise lies in intellectual property rights, and I teach IP-related modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I have always been interested in different aspects of IP and have specialised in this area since completing my undergraduate law degree. My doctoral research is on the topic ‘Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritages of Adivasis’, which I have been conducting as a Herchel Smith Researcher at Queen Mary University of London. I am also currently teaching on Land Law. 

Before joining Leicester, I was a Teaching Fellow at Queen Mary University of London, where I taught different undergraduate and postgraduate IP modules and also contributed to different energy law modules at a postgraduate level. I also have experience working as an In-house Counsel for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, A Government of India ‘Maharatna’ Undertaking, and practising law before courts in India.

My broad research interests lie in the intersection of intellectual property laws and the socio-economic needs of a developing country. This is reflected in the research output that I have produced in the last couple of years, where I have examined the international debates on relevant IP issues, such as gene or stem cell patenting, unconventional trademarks, trade secrets, valuation of intangibles (including non-industrial IPs viz. traditional knowledge, geographical indication, etc.), in the backdrop of societal demands and policy needs for India.

My doctoral research is a mix of doctrinal and empirical research work, where for the latter part I travelled to five different parts of India and lived with five different tribes, for collecting required data.

Books

• A Complete Guide to Valuation of IP Assets: With Discussion on Managing, Auditing and Taxing IPs, Thomson Reuters, 2020 (ISBN-10: 9390529441, ISBN-13:‎ 978-9390529445).

Book Chapters

• Trademarks in Healthcare and the Regulatory Process in India, in ‘IP and Healthcare in India’ (Yogesh Pai and Arul George Scaria), Centre for Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition (CIIPC) at National Law University Delhi. (Chapter Submitted) 
• Methods for Intellectual Property Valuation, in ‘Handbook of Intellectual Property Research: Lenses, Methods, and Perspectives’ (Irene Calboli and Maria Lillà Montagnani eds.), Oxford University Press, 2021. (Co-authored with Mr. Dilip Sharma)
• Bioinformatics: Nuances in Granting IP Protection, in ‘Intellectual Property Issues in Microbiology’ (Prof. H.B. Singh and Chetan Keswani, eds.) Springer-Nature, 2018.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

• “My Words, My Copyright”: Justifiability of Performer Owning ‘Speech’ or ‘Address’, Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, NISCAIR. Vol 27 (2) 79-90 (2022).  
• Stem Cell Patenting: Moral and Legal Dilemma, Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, NISCAIR. Vol 27 (1), 42-51 (2022). (Co-authored with Ms. Latika Chowdhary)
• ‘Unpackaging’ Trademark Through Tobacco Regulations, Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, NISCAIR. Vol 25 (1-2), 29-39 (2020).
• IP Protection to Software: Conflict between Indian Provision and Practice, Journal of Intellectual Property Rights. NISCAIR. Vol 22(5), 247-256 (2017).
• Protecting Smell Marks: Breaking Conventionality, Journal of Intellectual Property Rights. NISCAIR. Vol 21(3), 129-139 (2016).
• Gene Patenting vi-a-vis Notion of Patentability, Journal of Intellectual Property Rights. NISCAIR. Vol 20(6), 349-362 (2015). (Co-authored with Ms. Adrija Mishra)
• Protecting Trade Secrets in India, Journal of World Intellectual Property. Volume 18(6), 335 –346 (2015). (Co-Authored with Ms. Adrija Mishra) 
• Underwriting Agreements in India: Existing Regulations and Needed Reforms, International Company and Commercial Law Review, Sweet & Maxwell, I.C.C.L.R. (9), 295-301 (2015).
• Communities Right and Fair Benefit Sharing: Legal Instruments and Hurdles in Implementation, Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice, Oxford University Press 10 (1): 48-57 (2015).
• Crystallisation of a Floating Charge in India: The Scope and Need of Law Reform, International Company and Commercial Law Review, Sweet & Maxwell, I.C.C.L.R. (9), 323 (2014).

Book Reviews

• Review of Ysolde Gendreau (ed.), Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Moral Rights, for Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice, Oxford University Press. (in progress)
• Promises Made, Promises Kept Open Access as a Tool for Breaking Barriers to Research Publications ((Review of John Willinsky, Copyright’s Broken Promise: How to Restore the Law's Ability to Promote the Progress of Science, MIT Press, 2022)) Queen Mary Law Journal, Vol 4, pp. 92-94 (2023).
• A Legal Tripartite for Protecting TCEs: a step forward from the IP narrative (Review of ‘Legal Shape-shifting: On the protection of traditional cultural expressions and crossing boundaries between copyright, cultural heritage and human rights law’ by J.M. Breeman (Eleven Publishing)), Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice, Oxford University Press. 16 (10): 1157-1158 (2021). 
• Review of ‘Chokepoints: Global private regulation on the Internet’ by Natasha Tusikov (University of California Press, 2016), for International Criminal Justice Review, Vol. 29 (1), pp. 90-91, 2017.
• From System to Culture: Heterogeneity in Indian Society, Review of ‘Adjudication in Religious Family Laws’ by Gopika Solanki (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011) for NLUO Law Journal Vol. 1, Issue 1 · Mar 1, 2014.

ORCID reference: 0000-0001-8564-7986

Undergraduate

• LW3380 Intellectual Property Law
• LW3392 Land Law (advanced)

Postgraduate

•  LW7084 Contemporary Challenges in Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual Property Laws, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional Cultural Expressions, Indigenous Rights

Editor-in-Chief, Queen Mary Law Journal

Herchel Smith Award for Doctoral Research 

PGRF Award, Queen Mary University of London

• Presented paper on ‘Protecting Intangible Cultural Heritages of Adivasis’ at EIPIN Doctoral Seminar 2023 (01 Jun 2023)
• Presented paper on ‘Dropping the Brand Name for Public Good: Universal Healthcare Goal and Pharmaceutical Trademark Regulation in India’, 5th IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference (01-03 Mar 2023)
• Presented paper on ‘Surpassing the IP Horizon’, 2nd Session IPIRA Colloquium 2022 (05 Nov 2022)
• Presented paper on ‘Limitations of IP in protecting Indigenous Products and Practices’, 4th IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference (09-12 Feb 2022)
• Presented paper on ‘Limitations of IP in protecting Indigenous Products and Practices’, QMIPRI Research Associates Webinar Series (16 Dec 2021)
• Presented paper on ‘Securitization of Intellectual Property Assets’, 6th Session IPIRA Colloquium 2021 (06 Nov 2021).
• Conducted a workshop on ‘Management of Forest Products & Strategic Approach through IP Regulations’, during Training Program for Senior Indian Forest Officers, The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India (29 Jul 2021)
• Conducted a workshop on ‘IP Law: Business Models and Economic Analysis’, during the Faculty Development Program of ICFAI Law School, Hyderabad, India (16 Jul 2021)
• Presented paper on ‘Valuating the Non-Industrial Intellectual Property’, 3rd IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference (24-27 Mar 2021)
• Presented on 'Protection of TCEs in Information Age', QMIPRI Research Associates Webinar Series (25 Feb 2021).

B.A., LL.B. (Dual Hons. Political Science and Intellectual Property Laws), National Law University Odisha, India

LL.M. (Intellectual Property Rights), National Law University Jodhpur, India

Ph.D., Queen Mary University of London (pursuing)