The impact of intellectual property rights on international commerce has grown significantly in the contemporary period. It is more likely that someone will copy your idea if you live in a digital environment. Maintaining a robust IP legal framework is essential to the growth of any nation's economy. If you have an intangible asset that is still accessible to the public and easily duplicated by anybody, intellectual property rights might provide some peace of mind. Business failure due to intellectual property violations is an accepted fact of life in today's digital age. Currently in India, Rajeshwari Hariharan is one of the most prominent intellectual property rights advocates. She is an experienced litigator who has argued cases involving patents and trade secrets before the Supreme Court of India and numerous High Courts in India.

Also, Rajeshwari is the brains behind the brilliant law firm Rajeshwari & Associates, where she displays her 27 years of experience in the field of intellectual property law. Below is an excerpt of Rajeshwari's exclusive interaction with Women Entrepreneur magazine.

What are some important features of your expertise as a leader in IP law?

Our legal practice is focused only on intellectual property. I have worked in this industry for over 25 years and am familiar with patent prosecution and all other IP filings. If there is Intellectual Property (IP) involved in a business transaction, such as a merger or an acquisition, we have been assisting the parties involved. Over the last decade, we've been engaged in several high-profile cases that have made headlines and kept him on his toes. In addition, I've been a party to some other cases that are similarly significant. As a result, we are a well-rounded team that excels in both the technological and legal realms. This is what we bring to the table for our customers; we have the technical know-how and the expertise, and we can effectively communicate this to the courts. That's what sets us apart from other lawyers in the field, some of whom may struggle with the technical nuances involved.

What led you to establish Rajeshwari and Associates? Tell us more about the underlying idea behind the firm and some of its most unique features.

I began my professional career as an associate at a legal firm before making the switch to become a partner there. Later, in 2007, I felt I needed my own company and launched Rajeshwari and Associates. Since this is a specialized field, I reasoned that we may be able to do a better job of meeting the needs of our customers. Therefore, I figured this would be a place where we could help people, not only in India but elsewhere. In this manner, we launched the company, and the response from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive.

This has been a wonderful and lengthy journey. Looking back, there have been cases when the client did not have enough money, but the cause was still worth fighting for. And for this, we will always fight. Because up to this point we've been engaged in some extremely intriguing initiatives, you might say that this voyage has been fairly enjoyable.

What are your primary focus areas in terms of leading the firm?

We want to make sure we're always providing excellent service to our customers, therefore we're working to improve our knowledge and methods in that direction. Because of this, we take a more collaborative approach to our work with clients and share a commitment to mutual growth and improvement. In the same way that our customers appreciate being heard, our company is particularly receptive to innovative suggestions.

"We want to make sure we're always providing excellent service to our customers, therefore we're working to improve our knowledge and methods in that direction"

In your opinion what are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey?

There are several of them. In one instance, a company named Rice Tech was granted a patent for its basmati rice. There, I was able to provide a hand, and ultimately, we succeeded in having the patent revoked because it was invalid due to the existence of sufficient previous information. We were also successful in convincing the patent office that basmati rice should be immune to patenting.

We were also successful in having a patent that had been issued for the use of turmeric to treat wounds withdrawn. While some were aware of the necessity to safeguard intellectual property from the hands of the state and its citizens, the full scope of its significance was never fully appreciated. These were the seminal instances that changed the course of intellectual property law and got people thinking, leading to the passage of various pieces of legislation designed to safeguard intellectual property by the government.

However, with the revocation of the basmati patent, the government began to believe that it was necessary to permanently protect basmati as a trademark in India and across the rest of the globe. As a result, intellectual property in India is now widely acknowledged as a key industry, and this event is widely credited as a turning point for Rajeshwari and Associates.

Rajeshwari H, Managing Partner, Rajeshwari And Associates

Rajeshwari has a Master's in Biotechnology and a Bachelor of Law from prestigious universities. Then, in 1993, she was admitted to the Bar and began working as an attorney in Pune's lower courts and the High Courts in both Delhi and Bombay. Rajeshwari, armed with over two decades of experience, established Rajeshwari & Associates in New Delhi in 2009 as a comprehensive intellectual property rights law firm.