Asia IP

Gurgaon-based Remfry & Sagar has announced the following promotions to partner:

Cyril Abrol’s practice covers corporate and commercial law, technology, media and telecoms. In practice since 2002, he leads the foreign investment and corporate law practice of the firm and has expertise across industries including engineering, healthcare, pharmaceutical, apparel, manufacturing, software, automobile, mining and trading. He advises clients on doing business in India with a knack to provide tailor-made solutions to suit investor’s long-term India centric interests; advises on licensing, joint ventures, takeovers, corporate advisory, commercial transactions, arbitration, exchange control, competition law, advertising laws, and consumer protection laws.

Shukadev Khuraijam is a patent lawyer with close to 15 years of professional experience in advising clients on contentious and noncontentious issues. With dual degrees in science and law from the University of Delhi, Khuraijam is an expert in offering strategic advice on legal and techno-legal aspects in complex patent cases; his particular areas of focus are in pharmaceutical, biotech and chemical patents. He appears before many forums including various civil courts, the Indian Patent Office and the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and is noted for his involvement in several cases that have shaped Indian patent jurisprudence.

Swarup Kumar has been practicing intellectual property law since 2003. He represents and counsels clients from varied technological fields to help them identify, protect and leverage their intellectual property rights. He is an experienced strategist when it comes to developing and managing patent portfolios not only in India but overseas jurisdictions as well. He has substantive experience in handling both contentious as well as non-contentious patent matters. His practice includes rendering patentability opinions, drafting, filing and prosecuting patent applications, handling searches including freedom to operate searches, conducting oppositions, filing annuities, as well as advising on the transfer and licensing of rights. He has argued appeals before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and appeared in patent litigation matters before the Indian courts.

Remfry & Sagar has announced the following promotions to partner designate:

Amol Dixit began to practice law in 2002 when he started appearing before the High Court of Delhi and the Supreme Court of India in matters relating to general civil and commercial litigation including arbitrations. He joined the firm in 2007 and has become an IP litigation specialist, predominantly handling trademark and copyright disputes across a range of industries. He offers clients expert advice on brand protection measures in India and with his long experience in arbitration also works on both domestic and international commercial arbitrations.

Debashish Banerjee predominantly advises clients operating in the pharmaceutical, chemical, crop protection and life sciences domains. Besides considerable experience in prosecuting patent applications, he has handled pre-grant and post-grant oppositions before the Indian Patent Office as well as appeals and revocations before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB). He is also a seasoned patent litigator having appeared before the trial and appellate courts. His current profile includes writing briefs and motions, handling patent prosecution, advising clients on validity opinions, freedom to operate opinions, claim construction analysis, preparing expert witnesses for deposition and trial and coordinating patent infringement investigations.

Neha Srivastava joined the firm in 2006 and has over a decade of experience in drafting, filing and prosecution of international, foreign and national level patent applications; handling oppositions; appellate matters; conducting patent searches; and advising on issues of biodiversity, their practice and patentability. She handles patent applications relating to pharmaceutical, chemical and biological technologies including chemical processes, new chemical entities, pharmaceutical formulations, polymers and catalysts. She has particularly strong expertise in the field of biotechnology, including genetic engineering, antibody-based technologies, therapeutic and medical inventions.

Jitesh Kumar has over 13 years of post-qualification experience in the field of intellectual property rights that includes handling patent prosecution and opposition matters, providing opinions on patentability as well as carrying out patent searches and technology assessments. Adept at analyzing complex patent matters in a techno-legal framework, he has successfully prosecuted several hundred patent applications, a significant number of which faced objections under Section 3(d) of the Indian Patents Act. He has been involved in over two dozen pre-grant and post-grant patent oppositions and effectively argued complicated pharmaceutical matters facing multiple oppositions. He has also appeared and argued before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB).

Payal Kalra focuses her patent practice in various fields of technology including biotechnology, chemistry and pharmaceuticals. She has more than a decade’s experience in drafting, filing and prosecuting patent applications, handling oppositions and appeals, advising clients on portfolio management, conducting patentability searches and providing feasibility opinions.