Mumbai: Indian companies need to aware of the infringement issues involved in the creation of IP in order to ensure that they do not lose in the long run. Over 80 percent of Indian IT companies do not have any kind of checks in place in order to ensure that they are not infringing on somebody else's IP. Therefore there is a need for Indian companies to carefully look at the infringement issues involved unless they wish to lose millions of dollars in lawsuits.

This was the clear warning signal sounded by Alok Aggarwal, founder and chairman, Evalueserve. Aggarwal was speaking at the session organised to discuss `"India Inside:IP Creation and high end value added services' at the India Leadership Forum at NASSCOM 2004.

According to Aggarwal, companies would have to take a careful look to ensure that the IP has not been borrowed even unwittingly especially since India has catapulted into the big league now. While IP insurance may not be exactly cheap, it could atleast give companies some kind of protection.

Ajay Chamania, vice president, Embedded Technology Solutions, Patni Computer Systems felt that the only way to ensure that there are no IP violations was to create an IP management role that is totally involved in all the processes. Patni has opted for this model to ensure that rights are protected.

Milind Gandhe, head market analysis and research, Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd believed it was important to distinguish between the non-essential and essential patents here. " At Sasken, we have created a cell that in charge of the company's IP policy and strategy," he said.