How I secured AIR 1 in IPTSE

6 min readSep 2, 2022

Success mantra from an IPTSE winner

We humans are incredibly creative. From artworks, books, music, designs and logos to technological inventions, all of them are the creations of our minds. These creations of the mind are called Intellectual property (IP).

You have ownership rights over your intellectual property, just like you own your house, your car and other physical property. However, intellectual property refers to intangible assets and Intellectual property rights (IPR) grant the creators an exclusive right over the use of their creation for a certain period of time. That means you can control what can be done with your creations and by whom! Just as trespassing onto someone’s land is a crime, copying or selling another person’s creations without permission is a crime!!

Sounds interesting? Then read on further!

What is IPTSE?

The IPTSE (Intellectual Property Talent Search Examination) is a competitive exam with the aim to increase awareness of Intellectual Property Rights among the youth. Launched in 2018, it is India’s first IP Olympiad which certifies students for their knowledge in different types of IP like copyright, patents, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs and trade secrets. It is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to get recognition from government bodies and corporates.

I was a participant in the 4th edition of the IPTSE and secured an All-India Rank 1 in the University students category. I have shared my experience and preparation resources for the IPTSE through this article, to motivate all the curious folks to take part in this unique initiative ✨

The official IPTSE website has all the information you’d need regarding eligibility, rules, curriculum, exam pattern, schedule and benefits. (yep, there are attractive prizes for the winners 😉) Do go through the FAQs section as well, it answers most of the common queries.

Image src: https://e-learning.iptse.com/

Why should you participate?

IPR is a course widely taught in Law schools. But let me tell you, the IP knowledge is equally useful for an Engineering student or for the students of other streams as well.

You don’t really need a legal background to study and understand intellectual property — all that is needed is a strong technical background, which an engineering student already has!

There’s a plethora of technical innovations happening at Engineering institutes and knowledge of IP is necessary to protect them. The Knowledge of IP can help us not only protect our valuable ideas and thus create intellectual property but also to leverage it through licensing opportunities.

IP has become the key element in developing and maintaining a company’s long-term revenue streams, increasing shareholders’ value and gaining a competitive advantage.

Motivation

IPTSE welcomes participants from a variety of technical and non-technical undergraduate streams, as well as school students from 9th- 12th grades. Moreover, Faculty/ Working professionals/Startups and SMEs are also eligible to apply!

A basic course in IPR, designed for engineers, was offered as an elective in my college. Being fascinated with the concept of patents, I opted for the course to learn more about it. Indeed, I learnt a lot, not only about patents but also about all the other types of IP. I came to know about IPTSE through my IPR professor who encouraged each and every one of us to participate and guided us throughout the entire process.

The process

One can register on the website individually, or bulk registrations can also be done through your institute.

A few days after registration, I got access to the study material on the website. It consisted of two e-books written by Dr. Sheetal Chopra:

Role of Prior Art in IP Protection
Careers and Monetization Using IP

They were very well written, in a lucid, articulate way that captured my interest from start to end 🤓 I’d recommend going through these books thoroughly as they illustrate the concepts with lots of real-life examples.

A mock test was held a few weeks before the final exam to give a better perspective of the type of questions in the final exam. It helped in assessing my level of preparation too.

Next, the final exam time slots were displayed and we were asked to select one of the slots according to our preference.

The final exam was conducted between 6th Jan- 10th Jan 2022. There were 60 multiple choice questions to be answered in 60 mins. The questions were a mix of simple fact-based and situation based. Most of the topics were covered in the IPTSE study material but a few questions were designed to test our extra knowledge of IP. Each question had an equal weightage of 1 mark and there was no negative marking.

But here’s a catch: The skipped questions could not be re-attempted later, which means you cannot go back to a previously visited question and change the selection.

Some tips from my side to score well:

Read the winner selection criteria published on the website carefully. For the 4th edition of IPTSE, the time taken to attempt all the questions was also taken into consideration. Along with that, the percentage of course material read was also used in determining the final ranks!
Attempt the mock test sincerely and note down the topics/ questions where you faced difficulty. Try to find out the correct answers and go through those topics again to boost your confidence.
During the final exam, stay calm and try to attempt all the questions well before the time limit.

Apart from the IPR college course material, these are the resources I primarily used for preparation:

Study material booklets provided on the IPTSE website
The blogs published on the IPTSE website
The Intellectual Property Rights playlist by Legal Regal on YouTube
The copyright handbook
Several other YouTube videos and online resources related to each topic
You may additionally watch the videos on IPTSE youtube channel

The result:

In the first week of March, I received an email from IPTSE congratulating me for securing a rank among the top 20 nationally with an invitation to the award ceremony held in April. However, the rank holders’ names and their final rankings were kept confidential. They were going to be revealed during the award ceremony at New Delhi.

My excitement knew no bounds when I got this opportunity to receive my award from top government officials! The event was graced by Hon’ble Chief Justice, Prathiba Maninder Singh, Judge Delhi High Court as the Chief guest and Prof. (Dr.) Unnat Pandit, Controller General of Patent Designs and Trademarks as Guest of Honour.

Due to some personal reasons, I could not attend the award ceremony in person. But I am really thankful to the IPTSE team for making the live stream of the event available so that I could experience it remotely! I was glued to my laptop screen for the entire duration of the event, enjoying the insightful talks by various leaders.

On hearing my name announced as the rank 1 holder, I was over the moon!! 😎 It is the most memorable moment and a huge honor for me! 😁