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03 June 2021
Remfry & Sagar has announced elevations at its offices around India, including six promotions to partner and seven new partners-designate. Those promoted to partner include:
Payal Kalra, who focuses her patent practice in various fields of technology including biotechnology, chemistry and pharmaceuticals. She has more than a decade’s experience in drafting, filing and prosecuting patent applications, handling oppositions and appeals, advising clients on portfolio management, conducting patentability searches and providing feasibility opinions. She is a registered patent agent and brings strong technical expertise to her practice from previous research trainings at prominent universities. She advises clients in numerous technology-focused industries including biologics, stem cell technology, gene therapy, nanotechnology, diagnostic, healthcare, bioinformatics, polymer, agriculture biotechnology, pharmaceutical formulations and drug delivery; and assists them in prosecuting patents domestically and in overseas jurisdictions. Kalra’s other responsibilities at the firm include managing the patent annuity department, assisting clients in restoring lapsed patents and appearing in restoration proceedings before the Indian Patent Office.
Jitesh Kumar, who has more than 14 years of post-qualification experience in the field of intellectual property rights that includes handling patent prosecution and opposition matters, providing opinions on patentability as well as carrying out patent searches and technology assessments. Adept at analyzing complex patent matters in a techno-legal framework, he has successfully prosecuted several hundred patent applications, a significant number of which faced objections under Section 3(d) of the Indian Patents Act. He has been involved in over two dozen pre-grant and post-grant patent oppositions and effectively argued complicated pharmaceutical matters facing multiple oppositions. He has also appeared and argued before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB). Kumar worked as a general science and chemistry teacher before pursuing a full-time degree in law.
Neeraj Raina, who joined the firm in 2006 and is a key member of its mechanical patent practice. He has more than a decade of industry experience, specializing in the technical fields of physics, mechanics and electronics, including optoelectronic and laser devices, optical fibres, medical devices and software, image processing, sensors, telecommunications, consumer electronics and security systems. He advises several multinational corporations as well as small and medium enterprises on drafting, preparation and prosecution of patent applications, and also provides opinions on patent validity and infringement. He is a registered patent agent and appears regularly before the Controllers of the Patent Office for official hearings.
Neha Srivastava, who joined the firm in 2006 and has over a decade of experience in drafting, filing and prosecution of international, foreign and national level patent applications; handling oppositions; appellate matters; conducting patent searches; and advising on issues of bio diversity, their practice and patentability, under Indian law. She handles patent applications relating to pharmaceutical, chemical and biological technologies including chemical processes, new chemical entities, pharmaceutical formulations, polymers and catalysts. She has particularly strong expertise in the field of biotechnology, including genetic engineering, antibody-based technologies, therapeutic and medical inventions. Srivastava read life sciences at the graduate level with a specialization in botany and subsequently obtained a master’s degree in biotechnology. She is also a registered patent agent. Prior to joining the Firm, she was involved in the research and development of transgenics at The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI) and also underwent industrial training sponsored by the Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) on behalf of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.
Those promoted to partner-designate include:
Swati Arora, who has been with the firm for more than a decade. Her practice is focused on patent prosecution. She has vast experience in conducting patent searches including freedom to operate searches, providing opinions on patentability, drafting patent specifications, handling the prosecution of patent applications in diverse fields of technology and handling contentious matters. Within the frame of patent prosecution, she deals mainly with patent applications in the pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology domains.
Nitin Kalra, who has more than eight years of experience in signal processing research and development as well as patent drafting, prosecution, conducting patent searches (novelty and invalidation) and technological landscaping. He currently handles prosecution for multinational companies in the domain of electrical, electronics and telecommunications given his especially strong expertise in prosecuting patents related to telecommunications, networking, signal processing and digital circuits and devices. He has represented the firm at domestic and international fora – and speaks often on a variety of patent issues. He understands the needs of businesses and works closely with innovators to formulate strategies for building and maintaining their IP portfolios.
Snehal Nigam, who has has been with the firm since 2006 and focuses her practice on trademark prosecution. She has significant expertise in clearance of new brands, advising clients on adoption, use and registration of trademarks and service marks and ensuring their protection and maintenance, in India and a 100 other jurisdictions worldwide. Her work involves the filing of marks, preparing replies to office actions, handling assignments and other changes in title and ensuring timely renewal of rights. In this connection, she has also appeared and argued successfully before the Trade Marks Office on numerous occasions. She also has extensive experience in filing and conducting trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings. She is an active contributor towards initiatives of the firm and has attended several IP conferences including the INTA Annual Meeting and FICPI forums. She has also participated in a two week Training Course for Practitioners Specializing in Trademarks held in Tokyo that was organized by the Japan Patent Office.
Rohit Rangi, who specializes in the prosecution of patent applications for electrical, electronic, telecommunications, automobile, electro-mechanical, ICT and medical technology inventions. He is a registered patent agent and has significant experience in providing patentability opinions, freedom-to-operate advice, validity and infringement opinions, and conducting patent oppositions. He has worked closely with clients ranging from individual inventors, start-up companies, research organizations, universities and multinational corporations, to help develop intellectual property strategies that are designed to align with commercial goals.
Amit Saini, who handles drafting, prosecution and opposition of patent applications primarily in the field of pharmaceuticals and chemistry. In this connection, he appears often before the Patent Office and the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB). His expertise also encompasses rendering opinions on patentability, freedom to operate searches and invalidation proceedings. He is enrolled with Bar Council of Delhi and is also a registered Patent Agent.
Rashmi Singh, who focuses on contentious trademark matters, advising clients across a wide range of industries on the protection, growth and sustainability of their brands. She has expertise in drafting oppositions and rectifications, collating and submitting evidence in such proceedings, and attending hearings and arguing matters before the Trade Marks Office and Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB). She also deals with trademark clearance searches, overcoming objections during the prosecution of trademark applications and advising clients on use requirements. In addition, she has substantial experience in drafting and negotiating trademark agreements. Singh also counsels clients on protecting trademarks in foreign jurisdictions, and on cross-border oppositions and cancellation proceedings. She has significant experience in enforcing intellectual property rights in neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Anamika Srivastava, whose association with the firm goes back to 2008. Her main area of focus is trademark prosecution, and her long experience at Remfry & Sagar has equipped her with the knowledge of and insight into wide ranging issues that can arise whilst protecting, registering and maintaining trademarks in India. She provides IP support and advice to varied domestic as well as international clients across a range of industries such as automobile, electronics, fashion, retail, cosmetics, entertainment and media, pharmaceutical, food and beverages, hotel, telecom, thus assisting them in the global management of their trademarks assets. In Srivastava capacity, she also attends hearings before the Trade Marks Office. To augment her skills, she has attended many training programmes and conferences including a two week Training Course for Practitioners Specializing in Trademarks held in Tokyo that was organized by the Japan Patent Office.
