‘Build your own brand’ – PHD Chamber 

Ludhiana, March 1, 2022: Federation of Industrial & Commercial Organization (FICO) in association with PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry in association & Ministry of MSME organized an Interactive Session on Importance of Intellectual Property Rights for MSMEs: Beat your competition by Leveraging your IP Assets on 28th February at FICO Secretariat Ludhiana to educate MSMEs on the benefits of registering Intellectual Property and how to encash IPR for Competitive advantage.
 
Gurmeet Singh Kular, President, FICO & Member Managing Committee National Level PHD Chamber in his opening remarks underlined the importance of IP rights, and mentioned that if owners fail to register their IPs, then their competitors can take unfair benefit and exploit their ideas and brand value. While sharing his personal experience, he emphasized on brand building to have a competitive edge and the necessity to protect the brand.
 
CA Vishal Garg, Co-Convenor, Taxation Sub-Committee (Indirect Taxes) Punjab State Chapter, PHDCCI moderated the session. He emphasized that business fraternity need to understand the importance of filing IP to protect their business ideas. Well protected IP can help position the business as a leader in the marketplace and increase revenues.
 
CS Rattan Chanjotra, FCS, Managing Partner, Lal Ghai & Associates made comprehensive presentation on what is Brand, Branding and importance of Branding for business. He briefly explained types of Intellectual rights. Underlining the need for protecting innovation through IPRs, he highlighted drawbacks of not protecting their Intellectual Property.
 
Dr. Shweta Sen Thalwal, Founder, Integrum IP, Mohali made detailed presentation on Patents and Intellectual Property Management. She mentioned IP Strategy should be linked with business objectives. She advised that innovators should assess the vulnerability of their innovations and anticipate risks to appropriately manage their innovations.

Various issues and concerns related to Intellectual Property came up from the Industry Members during the session. The speakers addressed all the queries & suggested remedial measures. 
 
While concluding the session, CA Vishal Garg suggested enterprise owners to consider Intellectual Property related services as a pre-requisite for running the enterprise successfully.
 
More than 50 Industry members and Office Bearers of FICO attended and benefited from the session.