“Advisory firm that offers IP support solutions to Fortune 500 companies “-Mr Amit Aggarwal ,Co-Founder and Director of Effectual Services

IT Voice:-Share details about the inception of Effectual Services?

Mr. Amit Aggarwal:-We started back in 2010, with 2 people and in a small office in Sector 2, Noida. We now have offices across the globe, including the US, UK, Singapore, etc. We were working in the field of IPR and saw a gap in the services offered by the companies, thus decided to capitalize on the same and started Effectual Services.

IT Voice:-Your thoughts on the current lockdown in India has how it has affected your business?

Mr. Amit Aggarwal:-As per instructions from Government, we have shut down all our offices, and all our workforce has started working from home ensuring business continuity. We are pleased to share that none of our service lines have been impacted, and the only impact is on the physical office premises which are currently closed to all our employees and customers. The lockdown is not only implemented in India but at many other places in the world where our clients reside. At some places, there are no lockdowns, but our clients have decided to move to a work from home environment for the safety of their employees. While the work is flowing in, but the speed at which we normally receive work orders has definitely suffered – this might be due to the slow decision-making process which is a result of people working remotely. As our clients adapt to the current situation, we expect things to eventually improve.

IT Voice:-How Patent Licensing is Future Enabling Innovation for 5G Technology

Mr. Amit Aggarwal:-There is a lot of buzz currently with IoT making the household devices smarter and smarter, this is but a beginning as IoT will not remain limited to household devices, but will make everything smart – even in the industry. Just imagine a chemical reactor connecting to the internet to send the status data to a remote site, or a warehouse establishment reporting that inventory of a certain item has fallen below threshold levels. All of this will be possible with seamless connectivity, which will be provided by the 5G as the backbone. Consequently, every industry utilizing 5G would have to take a license from the companies holding the 5Gpatents. Meaning, that the licensing revenues from patent licensing in 5G space would be huge, which in turn, will fuel the R&D in the 5G space further pushing the boundaries of the innovation. It will be an ecosystem that will remain interdependent on each other for some time.  

IT Voice:-How has Technology Revolutionized Patent and Trademark Services in India?

Mr Amit Aggarwal:-With the adoption of the technology by the Indian patent office, we have seen many changes. Not very long back, the Indian patents data was not available online, and one had to buy the CDs from Indian patent office, making the access to the data very difficult and in a way defeating the very purpose of the patent system – i.e. making the invention public for the enhancement of science and technology. Thanks to the continuous efforts of the Indian Patent Office, we now have any online patent database for searching Indian patents. The second big change was the introduction of the eFiling system – for both the patents and the Trademarks, by the Indian Patent Office. One does not need to visit the Patent office in order to file a patent or a trademark now, making the process much more smooth and efficient.

IT Voice:-How has Artificial Intelligence Impacted Intellectual Property Rights in India?

Mr Amit Aggarwal:–AI has impacted many industries, and IPR is no exception, over the years we have witnessed the patent searching tools becoming smarter and smarter by the use of backend AI engines. Patent offices across the globe, including the Indian patent office, are interested in implementing the AI-assisted patent examination process. A lot of patents are now filed on AI as a technology. There are even debates on whether an advanced AI can be made an Inventor on a patent application if it devises a novel idea. We are yet to see the full potential of the technology, and only with time we will see the extent of the benefits, but it can be safely said that AI has the potential to revolutionize the IPR industry.

IT Voice:-What are your Future Plans?    

Mr Amit Aggarwal:-We are currently a 200+ strong company and we are looking forward to continuing the aggressive expansion of our team in the near future. On a longer horizon, we plan to diversify our product offerings to diversify the business.

IT Voice:-What were the key achievements of Effectual Services in Year 2019?

Mr Amit Aggarwal:-Over the years we have bagged many prestigious awards including Red Herring Asia award, Deloitte India Technology Fast 50 Award, Deloitte Asia Pacific Fast 500 Award.  In the year 2019, we were awarded as “Best Places to Work”, and also, both the Directors were listed in IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists 2019.