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Established in 1856, De Penning & De Penning has long been at the forefront of India’s IP innovations. The prolific filer is responsible for over 10% of annual filings nationally, and has a success rate of 99%. Known for its integrity and out-of-the-box, creative solutions, the outfit boasts a star-studded roster of non-contentious clients, which includes household names such as Google, F Hoffman La Roche, Ericsson and Honda Motor. With over 75 IP professionals, 150 paralegals and five offices across India – in New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru – the firm is perfectly positioned to serve domestic and foreign clientele. With over 40 years of experience and a wide specialisation across the contentious/non-contentious spectrum, RP Bhattacharya is one of the outfit’s preeminent experts, whose legal opinions are well reasoned and well respected. He plays an active role in mentoring up-and-coming practitioners. Head of the mechanical and automotive patent division Anand Barnabas effortlessly drafts and prosecutes patents in complex technical fields. His hands-on experience in research and production technology allows him to quickly grasp the nature of an invention. Also a veteran of landmark prosecution matters – he was responsible for the grant of the first product patent in India – David Solomon leverages his three decades of experience and in-depth engineering knowledge to achieve stellar non-contentious results. On the contentious front, head the of IP litigation department Malavika Vikram handles the investigation and enforcement of matters. She is also proficient in pre-litigation negotiations.
Anand Barnabas is a senior patent attorney and has been with De Penning & De Penning for more than 19 years. Mr Barnabas’s background is in mechanical engineering. While studying for his master’s in design and mechanics, he worked as a research assistant at the Kate Gleason College of Engineering of the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, where he worked in the field of nanotribology – specifically in fatigue life prediction – and thermal and tribological effects of metallic nanostructures. Prior to joining De Penning & De Penning in 2004, he worked in the manufacturing sector and has hands-on experience in production technology.
Mr Barnabas is the practice head for the mechanical and automotive patent division at De Penning & De Penning. He has a rich experience in drafting and prosecuting patent applications, especially in the fields of mechanical engineering, automobile engineering, control systems, tyre manufacturing machinery, wind turbine technology, textile machinery, optical films, optical connectors, nanotechnology, material science, consumer products and other related fields of science. Mr Barnabas has prosecuted more than 4,000 patent applications and advises a wide range of clients – from individual inventors to Fortune 500 companies – representing them in numerous proceedings, including opposition and revocation proceedings, before the Indian Patent Office and the erstwhile Intellectual Property Appellate Board. He is also well versed in the prosecution processes of major foreign countries and has extensive experience in drafting and prosecuting applications for multinational companies in the United States, Europe and Japan. In addition, he has experience in assisting companies with freedom-to-operate analyses, patentability analyses, novelty searches and due diligence. He also directly supervises and mentors a vibrant team of patent attorneys in drafting, prosecution, opposition and revocation matters.
Mr Barnabas has also conducted numerous IP seminars and workshops. His audiences have been diverse – from university students in premium technical universities, to senior management in many leading companies in India and abroad.
De Penning & De Penning is one of India’s leading intellectual property firms. We have been involved in the protection and management of intellectual property assets in the region since our inception. The firm’s history is indelibly linked with the field of IP, having filed India’s first exclusive privilege application for a novel punkah pulling machine all the way back in 1856. De Penning & De Penning continues to be at the forefront today, guiding and supporting clients from all over the world with their intellectual property protection needs in India and around the region.
Innovation, integrity and ethics are at the heart of what De Penning & De Penning has stood for over the last 167 years. With the enormous economic growth India has witnessed in the last 25 years, and the consequent surge in IP protection required, the firm has led the way in providing client-centric solutions to a global portfolio of clients.
With over 75 IP professionals and 150 paralegals, technical specialists, IT specialists and administrative staff spread over five offices in Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, as well as strategic partnerships in regional jurisdictions, De Penning & De Penning is ideally placed to ensure the most comprehensive service available to all of its clients, both in India and from around the world. We also utilise the services of a wide range of specialist technology providers to assist in delivering a secure environment in all areas of our service.
De Penning & De Penning is the established leader in India for patent prosecution, with over 10% of the total annual filings nationally, and a grant success rate of 99%. Our specialists have expertise across all technical fields: including mechanical; automotive; electrical; electronics and telecommunication; computer technology and software; physics; metallurgy; general engineering; chemistry and chemical sciences; pharmaceuticals; biotechnology; plant variety protection; and life sciences, to name a few.
All attorneys and technical specialists are ably overseen by our practice heads, to ensure a uniformity of quality and service to all our clients across all of the fields we support:
- RP Bhattacharya: Practice Head – Designs & Chemical Patents;
- Solomon J David: Practice Head – Patent, Electronics, Telecom, Energy & Software;
- Malavika T Vikram: Practice Head – Trademark, Copyright & Litigation; and
- Anand Barnabas: Practice Head – Patent, Mechanical & Automotive.
As a result of India’s unprecedented economic growth and in line with changing trends in the field, De Penning & De Penning has embraced a corporate structure that allows our professionals and technical specialists to focus freely on the protection of our clients’ IP assets. This improved methodology, coupled with prudent financial control and strategic investments in IT and other areas, affords us the ability to offer fixed fee billing for the vast majority of clients’ needs, ensuring effective planning of IP protection budgets.
Our nationwide presence and in-depth specialist knowledge in all areas of IP protection are supported by our proprietary IP workflow management system; incorporating top-class security, disaster recovery and continuity protocols. All of these ensure that De Penning & De Penning can fully safeguard the valuable IP assets entrusted to us.
De Penning & De Penning holds the globally recognised ISO 27001 certificate, which is externally audited annually to ensure we continue to meet the highest international standards for security, confidentiality and continuity systems every year.