Brain League IP services - a legal start-up firm specializing in patent and intellectual property right (IPR) management arena- is seeking to develop a software tool which will help companies to plan and patent IPR-related work.

The software is likely to be developed by a subsidiary of the company, said Arun Narasani, Managing Partner of the firm. "Indian biotech firms are realizing the importance of IPRS. Although their thinking is in right direction, many firms notably small ones don't have finances to address issues relating to IPR Management. We plan to address this," said Kalyan Kankanala, partner of the firm. Narasani says that the software could be sold either as single integrated unit or in blocks, depending on individual client requirement. Typically areas covered would be process management, workflow management and documentation.

"Law firms build a checklist based on the client company's requirement and hence it is more customized," said a legal expert. Brain League, recognizing the need for more education in the sphere of IPR Management is involved in the development of an online course in this area. While most large biotech/pharma companies do have full-fledged departments with trained and skilled IPR Management personnel, Brain League is targeting small and medium-sized players in this space.