Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala

Dr. Kalyan C. Kankanala, CKO and Co-founder of Brain League IP Services, has experience in IP Consulting and is an expert trainer. During his illustrious career as an IP consultant, Kalyan worked closely with biotech and software companies on strategic IP analysis, IP Collaboration, Licenses and Audits. He was instrumental in developing a strong knowledge and training base for Brain League by developing IP content, devising training programs and running online courses. He has trained more than 5000 corporate employees in biotechnology, software and telecom sectors. As a visiting faculty at National Law School of India University and Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, Kalyan offers courses on Intellectual Property aspects of Biotechnology. He has also written and published a book on 'Genetic patent law and Strategy' which has proven to be a good guide for those in the field and an interesting read otherwise. He has an LL.M. in Intellectual Property, Commerce and Technology from Franklin Pierce Law Center, USA and Ph.D in Patent Law from National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

Mr. Arun K. Narasani

Arun K Narasani, CEO and Co-Founder, has profound knowledge and experience in IP Management and Patent Drafting. Apart from providing strategic guidance and direction to the company, Arun has been instrumental in building the patent team from scratch and setting up relevant processes for patent projects delivery and patent portfolio management at Brain League. Arun led the effort in establishing technology enabled processes that allows Brain League to provide well integrated services efficiently and effectively. He is the chief architect behind our intellectual property portfolio management platform named blOne that integrates portfolio management, project management and customer relationship management, and enables on demand IP services to Brain League's customers through across regions.
Arun began his career as a software engineer and has worked in the software industry to build numerous B2B web portals and enterprise class applications in the finance, insurance and health care domains. After working as a software engineer with various leading companies, Arun began his career in Intellectual Property as a patent agent. He worked with some of the top electronics, telecom and IT companies on various patent projects. Arun has been involved in drafting and prosecution work for about 150 Indian, US and PCT applications. Arun has a B.Tech from IIT, Madras and P.G. from IIM Bangalore. He also attended the advanced licensing institute at Franklin Pierce Law Center, New Hampshire.

Prof. Pavan K. Mamidi

Pavan K. Mamidi, Research Fellow, MIT, USA, is specialized in dynamics of innovation management and its application to Hi-tech industries. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he has been working as a permanent faculty member at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), where he applies the disciplines of law and economics to science, technology, and innovation policy and management. In addition to teaching and research, he has been providing consultancy services to projects related to intellectual property and innovation with leading companies. Currently, he is a visiting scholar at MIT Sloan School of Management and a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor. He has also lectured at Cambridge in England. His background in philosophy, mathematics and law lends him an interest in the integration of history of ideas in science and technology with legal and policy analysis, embodied in his research in Intellectual Property and Economics of Innovation.

Mr. Nishant Kewalramani

Mr. Nishant Kewalramani heads the IP Consulting and Strategy Division at Brain League. He holds a Masters degree in Intellectual Property Rights, Commerce & Technology from Franklin Pierce, USA. He is a B.Sc. LLB (Honors) graduate from National Law University, Jodhpur. He is a registered patent and trademark agent.

During his career he has worked on a variety of Intellectual Property issues ranging from filings to strategic management of Intellectual Property. He has immense experience in Intellectual Property Portfolio Management and therefore has dealt with IP filing in various countries including the likes of USA, India and European Union.

As the head of the Consulting and Strategy Division at Brain League he has been a part of various corporate training programs. He also holds advanced certifications in Electronic Commerce and Intellectual Property from World Intellectual Property Organization.

Mr. Vikram Pratap Singh Thakur

As a patent manager in the Biosciences division at Brain League, Vikram leads a team of seven experts having Doctorate and Masters degrees in various fields such as chemistry, pharmacology and biotechnology. Vikram provides consultation services on various aspects of IP to Health Care, Biotech and Pharma companies. He works with some of the leading corporate groups on various issues relating to patents.

Vikram has experience of providing Patent Searching and Drafting, Infringement and FTO Analysis, Landscape analysis and Patent expiry services in health care, biotech and pharma domains. He has also been working closely with several companies on launching of Generic Products in multiple jurisdictions.

Vikram also worked with several companies on various Open Source license analysis and integration strategies and has research interest in the integration of Open Source concepts to Biotech and Pharma industry. He served as the Editor of IP Convergence (an IP Newsletter) and is also a guest faculty at NALSAR, Hyderabad.

Vikram has a Masters in Intellectual Property Rights from National Law University, Jodhpur and degrees in Bioinformatics and Biotechnology. He is a registered patent and trade mark agent.

Mr. Nitin Nair

Nitin heads the electronics and telecommunications patent services team at Brain League. As a patent manager, he supervises projects related to the electrical, electronics, communications and software sectors. He works with some of the leading companies in electronics and telecommunication sectors on patent searching, drafting and prosecution projects. Nitin also helps clients make decisions on product launch and strategy by providing FTO analysis, infringement analysis and technology landscaping reports.

Nitin is a member of the quality control team at Brain League and plays an important role in defining quality processes and standards. Before starting his career in patents, Nitin worked with companies in the US on projects relating to Radio Frequency and Communications.

Nitin has completed his Bachelors in Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunication from Bombay University and subsequently, pursued his Masters in Electrical Engineering, specializing in Radio frequency Engineering from Syracuse University, USA.

Mr. Somshekar

"Som heads the prosecution team at Brain League. His team specializes in prosecuting patent applications before all major patent offices including USPTO, EPO, JPO, IPO and so on. He advises clients on prosecution related issues and strategies to be adapted to obtain broadest possible and varied scope of protection to the invention. His team of specialists coming from various technological backgrounds and having international patent experrtise also work with specification drafting team to ensure that the specification drafted facilitates effective prosecution at a later stage.

Som brings in around five years of prosecution and drafting experience. Prior to joining Brain League, Som worked in the US at a law firm specializing in patent law and was involved in drafting and prosecuting US patent applications.

Som holds a Master’s Degree in Intellectual Property from Franklin Pierce Law Center, USA, and a degree in mechanical engineering.

Ms. Vintee Mishra

Vintee heads the Strategic Alliance and Collaboration team at Brain League. She holds a masters degree in Intellectual Property Rights (LL.M.) from the National Law University, Jodhpur and is a double graduate in Law (LL.B.) and Management (B.Com (Honours) Management). She is also an Intermediate Clear Company Secretary and a Registered Trade Mark Agent.

Vintee has been associated with Brain League for the past three years and has worked with variety of clients across the industry domains on matters relating to all kinds of Intellectual Property.

She is tremendously experienced in delivering the consultancy services relating to Intellectual Property Licensing, Open Source Software License Analysis, making Intellectual Property Agreement related Strategies and Business Planning, Drafting and Reviewing of Intellectual Property Agreements, handling Intellectual Property Collaboration Consulting and Handholding, Intellectual Property Agreement Negotiations, helping companies in Intellectual Property Excavation and Management, conducting Intellectual Property Audits and Corporate Training Programs on Intellectual Property.

Vintee had been a Guest Faculty in various premier Law Schools including National Law School of India University, Bangalore and others and has a strong hold in areas such as Trademarks and Copyrights

Dr. Murali Patibandla

Dr. Murali Patibandla, Professor IIM, Bangalore, specializes in knowledge management and institutional economics. He has been helping Brain League with regards to training and consultation pertaining to technology and knowledge management. He is the consultant to confederation of Indian industry and the consultant to confederation of Danish Industry. He has been a faculty at Dept of International Economics and Management, Copenhagen and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is at present a professor at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Murali has pursued his doctorate in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University and has conducted his postdoctoral studies from University of California, Berkley. He has several publications in International journals and is also the author of a book “Evolution of Markets and Institutions: A Study of an Emerging Economy.

Dr. Damodaran

Dr. Damodaran, Professor, IIM, Bangalore, is currently focusing on economics of IP, Plant Varieties, Designs and other aspects of IP. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Department of Economics, University of Kerala. He was US-AEP Fellow with the University of California at Berkeley and Environmental Fellow with the US-EPA in Atlanta both during 1994. During the year 2000, he was Visiting Professor at the University of Manitoba in Canada having won the Shastri Indo-Canadian Fellowship. He was also a Visiting Fellow with the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Canada working on Trade and Environment Issues in the special context of the WTO-TRIPS and SPS agreements. During 2003, Damodaran was Visiting Fellow with the Centre for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany researching on forestry issues while an year later he worked as Visiting Research Scholar at the Institute of Developing Economies, Japan working on the economic and IPR dimensions of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology industries . In 2004 he was awarded the prestigious Homi Bhabha Fellowship, which he pursues at IIMB. He has published in reputed international and national journals including Journal of Developing Economies, World Development, and Journal of Environmental Management and the Economic and Political Weekly. and has refereed international discussion papers to his credit. His book “Towards an Agroecosystem Policy for India” was published by Tata McGraw Hill in 2001. In addition his papers have been published by the UNEP and UN-ESCAP.He has been consultant to the UN-ESCAP, UNEP, and UNCTAD and has also been associated with World Bank Projects in the fields of clean technologies and commodity futures. Currently he is member of the advisory expert groups set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to advise Government of India on the 'UN Convention on Desertification' and on 'precautionary principle approaches' to 'trade and environment'.Prior to joining IIMB Damodaran worked as Professor at the Indian Institute of Plantation Management, Bangalore for nearly eight years. He has also worked for the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India during 1981 -1996.