Shamnad Basheer was an Indian legal scholar and founder of the blog SpicyIP. He was also the founder of IDIA, a trust which works on making legal education accessible for underprivileged students.
Relevant Themes
- The topic of the essay can be anything related to intellectual property rights – the more creative the better. SpicyIP encourages participants to take inspiration from Shamnad’s work, which has challenged the orthodoxy of conventional IP wisdom by looking at the subject through the lens of the global south and its development needs.
- Two values that guided Shamnad through the course of his academic writing, were the need for transparency and democratic participation, during the process of making the law and implementation.
- His commitment to transparency in the enforcement of India’s patent law led him to sue the Patent Office on two occasions in order to secure our right to information. He was also playful in his writing, never afraid to think and communicate unconventionally. He brought rigour and substance to his non-conforming ways and we encourage you to bring the same spirit into your entries.
Submission Guidelines
- Please submit the essays in MS Word format, with 1.5 line spacing. Please do not submit essays in PDF format.
- They are not prescribing any specific format for footnotes. As long as it is consistent, it should not be a problem.
- The word limit for submissions is 5,000 words (inclusive of footnotes).
- All submissions must be original and unpublished.
- Only single author submissions will be accepted for the essay competition. Submission cannot have two or more authors. Submissions with more than one author will not be considered.
Eligibility
- The competition will be open to students currently enrolled in any LL.B. program (or its equivalent –meaning students enrolled in J.D. programs can take part) across the world;
- those who have completed their first law degree in 2019 or later.
Rewards
- 1st Prize: Rs. 15,000/-
- 2nd Prize: Rs. 10,000/-
- 3rd Prize: Rs. 5,000/-
- Please submit a covering letter stating the law school where you are enrolled as a student, along with your essay.
- If you are a recent graduate, please mention the law school and year of graduation in the covering letter.
- Submit the above documents and your submission at [email protected]
Judges
- Prof. Shubha Ghosh: Professor of Law and Director of the Technology Commercialization Law Program and the Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute at Syracuse University College of Law in Syracuse, New York, United States.
- Prof. Srividhya Ragavan: Professor of Law at the Texas A&M School of Law and the Faculty Director of the School’s International Legal Studies Program.
Submission Deadline
July 14
