An Eloquent IPR Attorney from Hyderabad: WordictIP

A good and a thorough lawyer is not only a professional who has an eye to every side and angle of the case, evaluative skills, ability to absorb large information, have good communication skills but is also one who handles the legal problem with an intention to see that his client gets some remedy or relief. If he is able to see the flaw in the logic of the opponent and take advantage of it to get relief for his client then he has done his job. Similarly, the most heed consultancy WordictIP headed by an illustrious lawyer, Mr. Ashok Ram Kumar embarked in 1992 pre-eminent domain of Intellectual Property Law in Hyderabad.

Mr. Ashok enrolled with the then AP Bar in the year 1988, and immediately joined the office of Mr. R. Sashidharan, a Senior Lawyer who exclusively practiced in Central Excise, Customs, FEMA and Corporate Law at Chennai. He gained immense experience under Mr. R Sashidharan’s guidance. He has appeared before the Honourable High Court of Chennai and then CEGAT as well as before the other quasi-judicial authorities. The three-year tenure in Mr. Sashidhran’s office laid the solid foundation for Mr. Ashok to grow as a perfect future attorney.

The Substratum of WordictIP

In the year 1991, late November, Mr. Ashok came back to Hyderabad and started his independent practice in the Intellectual Property area. He went ahead and established one of the oldest boutique IP law firm in Andhra Pradesh –WordictIP.

This firm went on to become a flagship brand in AP and Telangana. Today, it is considered as a pioneer firm of doing work in the exclusive domain of IP. He filed his first Trademark application in the year 1992 and till date has filed more than 4000 trademarks, copyright, patent and design applications on behalf of diverse clients. His wife Mrs. Sheela Ram Kumar, an experienced IPR Attorney, heads the firm as on date.

“A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect.” – Sir Walter Scott

After having had a remarkable start in the field of Intellectual property law, he started working with Mr.V.V.Krishna Murthy a Senior Lawyer in the year 1994 and started assisting in areas like Banking, Corporate Law, Arbitration and Writ Jurisdiction. He was one of the first lawyers to represent before the DRT (Debts Recovery Tribunal) constituted in AP. The immense experience and expertise garnered at the office of Mr. Murthy helped Mr. Ashok Ram Kumar to build an intellectual profile for himself.

One of a kind attorney

Mr. Ashok started to concentrate on his independent practice in IP, which was by now becoming demanding. In the year 2003, he had his main focus on IP Law practice, be it filing, prosecution, enforcement, and valuation. The AP govt. sought his assistance in the Legal aspect of Information Technology, which makes him best in his market even today. Mr. Ashok Ram Kumar saw a prospective good practice in this area and started practice in Information Technology Law, which made him a man of acclaimed talents.

Therefore, catering to the growing demand for IP Enforcement litigation, he started a partnership firm IPMarkets in the year 2013 along with two other partners. Within a short span of 6 years of its existence, IPMarkets has filed more than 150 to 200 Civil Suits and other proceedings and today it’s a very well-known IP Litigation firm in the country.

The clientele of Litigation

Mr. Ashok is highly proficient in filing and prosecuting of IP applications, enforcement through litigation, valuation of IP, and Anti-counterfeiting, etc. Additionally, he also has experience in filing and prosecuting international applications with worldwide clients in the USA, ARIPO, EU, and Southeast Asia. Alongside such practice, he also does IP Audit and valuations for companies for their acquisitions and mergers as well as for their Annual Assessments.

His main client chain is from various sectors like Service and Goods Industry, Multinational Software Industry Companies, Pharmaceutical Industry, a few of the Fortune 500 Companies, State and Central Govt., Corporations, Engineering Institutes, and Universities.

Contribution to Community & Society

Teaching was a passion for Mr. Ashok and in order to follow his passion, a conspicuous footing was made when he opened INNOVPATH which is mainly involved in training, mentoring and conducting conferences for various entities around the country. As a passionate teacher Mr. Ashok contributes his might for the IP Awareness through various Public Sector Organizations, NGO, Chambers of Commerce, Confederation of Indian Industry, ESCI, National Institute of Fashion Technology, JNU, JNTU, National Institute of Technology, SardarVallabha Bhai Patel National Police Academy, Telangana State Police Academy, Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce, and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE), Engineering Colleges NGO’s etc.

He felt the need that there had to be a focused process of disseminating IP information and awareness for entrepreneurs and innovators. He believes that by doing so one can possibly achieve IPR milestones in the form of IP filings in the service industry, retail industry, product industry, etc.

He believes that knowledge was power and this could be achieved only by awareness of the Law and the legal system. He believes that seepage of information would enable the innovators, entrepreneurs, entities to better equip themselves and protect their intellectual property.

Membership with organizations:

AIPPI: He is a Member of the AIPPI. International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, the world’s leading international organization dedicated to the development and improvement of legal regimes for the protection of intellectual property.

INTA: The International Trademark Association (INTA) a global association of brand owners and professionals dedicated to supporting trademarks and related intellectual property. He is a committee member and had the occasion of being a Table Topic Moderator twice of this organization. Has attended around 4 INTA meetings.

TCEI: Telangana Chamber of event Industry. He is an Honorary Member of the Telangana Chamber of Event Industry, which is a Society formed for the welfare of the event managers and other event organizers in Telangana. In the TCEI Excellence awards in 2019 – WordictIP was adjudged as the best IP Firm.

Awards and Achievements during the Journey

JPO Programme in 2017: Mr. Kumar was selected for the Japanese Patent Office Training program in the year June 2017for the topic of IP litigation. The course which was for three weeks helped Mr. Ashok Ram Kumar gain greater insight into the IP perspective.

As part of the program, he visited various Corporate like Fuji Xerox, Honda, etc. He had the privilege of being selected as the leader of the course and was honored to give the farewell speech on the last day.

Accredited Resource Expert for Engineering Staff College of India: Through this Organization, he conducts various training sessions, conferences as well as workshops for institutes. In the year 2018, he conducted a conference titled EDUCATE TO INNOVATE where in WordictIP collaborated with ESCI.

In addition to IP Law matters, he also has immense experience in handling issues pertaining to Information Technology Law, Corporate IT Security Issues. He also appears for many of his colleagues and juniors as an Arguing Counsel. His alacrity of mind and Eloquence and excellent command on English along with oratory skills has helped him to tune himself as a prominent and an ideal and regarded as ablest IP Lawyer in Telangana state