Volunteer Spotlight: Mohan Dewan

Dr. Mohan Dewan, R.K. Dewan, India

Dr. Mohan Dewan (R.K. Dewan & Co., India) is a respected trademark and patent lawyer who has been active on numerous INTA committees in recent years. A top contributor to the INTA Bulletin, he particularly stood out earlier this year when he found himself writing articles from his hospital bed while recovering from COVID-19.

No doubt, the pandemic has brought about many changes for everyone around the world, and Dr. Dewan himself had quite an experience. For a year and a half, he managed to keep himself safe. But sadly, he eventually contracted COVID-19. Today, many months after his recovery, he still cannot smell or taste properly.

What kept Dr. Dewan going (and sane!) while in the hospital recovering from the virus, he said, was writing INTA Bulletin articles on his cell phone. This allowed him to focus and keep busy for the 17 days he was in the hospital. He said that although his body was not well, his mind was clear, and he had a lot of time for his writing, which provided a source of hope, even as a patient in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

As a result, Dr. Dewan strongly advises anyone who falls ill to keep their mind active, suggesting, “If you keep your mind away from the suffering, you will be more easily able to overcome the sickness.”

Despite the challenges during the pandemic, Dr. Dewan believes work-life balance has changed for the better in some respects during this period. For him, before COVID-19, it took one hour each way to travel to and from work. Now, working from home, he gains two extra hours of productive work time. This situation extends to his entire team of 170 people, he said.

He reflected on how things have transformed from the client’s perspective during the pandemic:  the types of marks filed in India have changed, most notably from luxury to essential goods (more hand sanitizers!), and litigation has moved more and more to the e-commerce space.

Dr. Dewan’s practice is working on a challenging case for the Ministry of Health that is closely related to COVID-19—the N95 trademark (as in N95 masks). This is the most important trademark that his team is currently protecting in India.

An INTA volunteer for more than 10 years, Dr. Dewan has served on the Unreal Campaign Committee and the Emerging Issues Committee, as well as the Academic Committee, where he helped develop a mentoring program. He currently serves on the INTA Bulletins Committee and is a top INTA Bulletin contributor, authoring a remarkable number of Law & Practice updates covering Indian case law. Over-and-above his contributions during more than a decade of volunteering at INTA, Dr. Dewan notes that this time with Association has brought him many friends.

Dr. Dewan believes that one of the most important issues facing the global intellectual property (IP) community right now is the delays facing many IP offices around the world. In this respect, he commended the Indian IP Office, where examination proceedings have sped up. He pointed out that such delays also affect court hearings (in India and globally), even though activity has been maintained by means of “online hearings.”

In his view, technology issues are also worrisome and must be addressed more deeply. In particular, he cited concerns about unstable Internet connections in many areas, such as some parts of Africa and Asia, including India. He shared an example from his own experience where the Indian IP Office canceled four hearings in the same day because it was unable to connect to the Internet.

In general, Dr. Dewan said he appreciates INTA’s work in helping to bring IP offices together to “make progress happen.”

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest.

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