Three patents granted to Mangalore University faculty in past year

MANGALURU: The authorities at the four-decade-old Mangalore University will hope that the patents filed by three members of the varsity’s faculty is but the beginning of an academic tradition that will, in the future, see many more professors staking their intellectual property rights on their innovations. The varsity has, in the past year, encouraged its faculty to file patents to boost its standing in academic circles.
Mangalore University vice-chancellor Prof PS Yadapadithaya said, “We have initiated a scheme through the Research Consultancy Promotion Cell, which was constituted in 2014. To encourage the faculty to file patents, the varsity has decided to bear the cost of registration, and fee for the attorney of each professor who wishes to file a patent.”
The varsity’s first patent was awarded to KR Chandrashekar and Bhagya Nekrakalaya, for their invention related to an anti-cancer compound. ‘A Process for Extraction and Purification of Tetrandrine’, was the name of the paper they authored, and four years after filing for the patent, the duo was granted the same in 2021.
The vice-chancellor said that, while the earlier method had entailed the professors filing patents after publishing research papers, the system was changed two years ago, since the documents alone proved insufficient for registering patents. “The varsity administration changed some rules of the RCPC, and decided to bear all the expenses for filing patents. This has yielded desired results,” said Yadapadithaya.
The vice-chancellor did, however, concede that one could not expect many teachers to file patents unless the vacant faculty posts were filled. “To be able to file patents, we need a body of dedicated and hardworking teachers. We will soon fill all the vacant posts, and ensure more patents are filed in the near future,” said Yadapadithaya, adding that there were 96 positions in the faculty that were vacant, while 200 posts in the non-teaching section, were vacant.
“We have, more or less, completed the process of filling these vacancies. If all goes well, these posts will be filled by the end of 2022,” he said.
On the issue that has risen following a gaffe in the question paper that was given to the Kannada students of second semester BBA of the varsity, Yadapadithaya said, “A meeting has been convened on Thursday to discuss the issue, and we will take legal action against the teacher who set the paper.”