The SpicyIP TV Podcast SS Edn: Ep 11 with Mr. Ashwani Balayan
Sonisha Srinivasan
In the 11th episode of the SpicyIP Podcast Summer School Edition, I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Ashwani Balayan, Partner at ALG India Law Offices LLP, leading the firm’s Patents, Designs, and IP Litigation practice. During his time with us at the summer school, he delivered a session on different approaches to claims in Patents and Design, which culminated into a hands-on-activity of drafting rough claims for a hair clip!
In this episode, we dive into discussions about his journey transitioning from engineering to law, how a technical background provides a practical edge in patent prosecution in the light of complex technologies, and the motivation behind knowledge sharing initiatives such as the ones ALG holds. He reflects on how these knowledge sharing initiatives serve as mechanisms to keep one up to date with developments, as well as bridge the gap between the largely academic nature of law schools and the practical demands of the profession by reverting to primary sources of law. Do not miss out on his guidance for students who aspire to build a career in IP litigation and prosecution. The discussion on the need to be a good “lawyer” first to be able to become a good “patent lawyer” serves as a reminder to strengthen one’s legal foundations before venturing into advanced discourse.
We are also glad to have had ALG India as our Knowledge Partner for the SpicyIP Summer School 2025 and appreciate their valuable support.
Scroll down and listen to the full podcast! (Earlier episodes from this series include: 01 with Mr. Murali Neelakantan, 02 with Mr. Sandeep Rathod, 03 with Mr. Adarsh Ramanujan, 04 with Ms. Chetali Rao, 05 with Mr. KM Gopakumar ,06 with Ms. Zara Kaushik, 07 with Ms. Kruttika Vijay, 08 with Mr. Nikhil Narendran, 09 with Dr. Kailash Nadh, and 10 with Ms. Sheja Ehtesham. You can also watch Let’s IPsa Loquitur: 01 an immersive discussion on personality rights, 02 discussion on Copyright, AI, tech sovereignty and open access, and Live sessions on the authority of CCI to hear anti-competitive patent complaints, and on higher education in IP).
SpicyIP TV: The Summer School Edition – Episode 11 Ashwani Balayan on Legal Education, and Career in Patent Prosecution and Litigation
In this episode (11), Sonisha Srinivasan speaks to Mr. Ashwani Balayan, Partner at ALG India Law Offices LLP (full bio below) about his journey from engineering to law, the importance of technical knowledge in patent prosecution, some guidance for students who wish to pursue IP litigation and prosecution, as well as ALG India’s Knowledge sharing initiatives.
About Ashwani Balayan: Ashwani Balayan, a Partner at ALG for over 15 years, leads the firm’s Patents, Designs, and IP Litigation practice, with a focus on advisory, prosecution, enforcement, and litigation relating to patents, trademarks, and designs in India. He holds a B.Tech (Biotechnology) and LL.M. (IPR) from G.G.S.Indraprastha University, New Delhi, and an LL.B. (IPR Hons.) from RGSOIPL, IIT Kharagpur. He is a qualified Patent Agent and Advocate enrolled with Bar Council of Delhi. His core expertise lies in drafting and enforcing patent claims – particularly in the pharmaceutical, biomedical, and bioinformatics sectors – handling pre-grant and post-grant oppositions, revocation proceedings, and infringement actions. He regularly advises on patentability, validity, and freedom-to- operate issues. Ashwani also has substantial experience in litigation, mediation, dispute resolution, including appeals, cancellation actions, and revocation proceedings before High Courts, the IP Offices, and arbitral and mediation panels. His practice further extends to strategic advisory on the protection and enforcement of industrial designs and trade secrets. Ashwani is actively involved in global IP discourse and holds leadership positions in several international IP organizations. He currently serves as Chair of the Designs Advocacy Subcommittee of INTA and Vice Chair of the Asia Pacific Committee of the IPO. He has authored publications for AIPPI, the INTA Bulletin, and IPO journals on topics including anti-suit injunctions and design law and has been invited to speak at various national and international conferences. He is recognized as a leading practitioner by IAM Patent 1000 as well as WTR 1000.
SS: Sir, with the background of science having moved from engineering into law, how has the journey helped you into the lawyer you are today and how has the background of science helped you in the work you do today?
AB: So I remember I did my engineering in 2006 and it was I did my B-tech in biotechnology and it was not like a clear choice at the end of my Engineering that I had to do law. He just happened so we had a subject in our last semester, which is called IP in biotechnology. So we had one of the Professor who introduced that special subject and that was the first introduction to IP which I had and we had a book which is I think by Kenneth Sibley, it was a very interesting book and I enjoyed reading that and was in the last semester I developed interest in IP. I, after my engineering I joined a company actually, it’s the Evelis which is also into IP and I enjoyed IP. I did the job for a month but I realized that it’s not enough to do just Engineering. I..this requires law. At the end of the day, it is a practice of law. So I had options from to do M-tech from IIT Kanpur and at the same time this new law law school was launched with Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law in IIT Kharagpur and this was first of its own kind because the prerequisite for doing law from that law school was that you have to have a science degree minimum of four years that means engineering or an MSC. So I thought like why not, this is fantastic. Not many people at that point of time were interested, even my parents had like their reservations but I thought like let’s do it and I think that was a great decision. I still enjoy my practice of law and that was time that I shifted from engineering to law and certainly the science degree helps you in the in the part of Patent Prosecution particularly because you’re dealing with the technical objections and from the examiners and knowing the technology, knowing the technical jargon and sometimes they are helpful but I believe that’s limited to a prosecution of Patent applications but law when you do your law degree it’s not a Patent law degree , it’s a general law degree so you can practice any law.
I’m not limited by any particular subject matter. I can practice Constitution Law or Criminal Law or any Civil law so I wanted to keep it open and although I do enjoy my Patents practice but I do not limit it to that I do a lot of litigation work, I do other subject matters in IP like doing Trademarks and Designs and little bit of Copyrights so it’s it’s important to have a clarity that at the end of the day it’s a law practice. Science helps you in a part of law practice, which is Patent prosecution prosecution but that’s something which I had slightly from beginning but that’s.. that’s I think does that help your question?
SS: So do you think students who do not have a background in law still have a very good scope in patent prosecution as well?
AB: Patent prosecution there is a statutory limitation that you have to be a patent agent. You need to write an exam to be a patent agent and to be able to prosecute and file and reply to the examination reports and appear before the before the examiners during the hearing, so this is a limitation under the Patents Act. I cleared my patent agent exam when I was in second year of my law school but that’s something which one needs to have and for that exam you need to have a science degree. So I understand
why that is the case because without a science degree. I’m not saying that it’s not possible to do patent prosecution but it’s not easy because most of the technologies nowadays are very complex and with someone who has not read science during their school like maybe 11th and 12th or during their graduation it may be a challenge again I will not comment on that it’s impossible but it may be a challenge to to read understand and then to respond to the office actions from the Patent office but at the end of the day as I said it’s a part as a law practice we have a lot of so it may be limited to the prosecution part but as time comes to the litigation we have a lot of litigators including Senior Counsels and Judges who may not have a science degree as of today but they are dealing with these matters day-in and day-out. So that’s something which helps you but it’s not a limitation
SS: What advice or guidance would you have for students who want to get into IP litigation and prosecution and yeah?
AB: So it’s been about 16 years I’ve been practicing and been a part of getting on board general attorneys over many years and one thing which I always notice is that someone who has science degree, and by general law particularly from like RGS school I take a lecture or maybe other places, they are patent attorneys, they want to become patent attorneys and in which they focus more in the patent and less on the attorney part that’s how I see it. You need to approach it different, you need to focus on the attorney part you need to be first become a good lawyer to be able to become a good patent lawyer. You can not approach it from that you are very greater science and then you become a good great patent lawyer. If you’re only good at science and you’re not focused on the law part of it then maybe it’s easier to do like just maybe patent drafting and searching. So there are lots of big matters where there’s not maybe not a big requirement of law. But if you want to become a patent lawyer, then become first a good lawyer and that requires focus on reading statutes laws and the bare act that’s most important thing for the lawyers to be easy with that. That’s something which I always advise to the younger practitioners to be easy with the law first and then they can decide to practice patents.
SS: Right. So we always see a gap for students who move from law schools into the profession. So ALG has this initiative of knowledge sharing which I was also speaking to Sheja ma’am about. It seems to be a very different initiative which would which is helping the students and benefiting them in a lot of ways. What do you what is your approach to an initiative like that and how did it come about and how has it been helping you with the professionals who are coming out in ALG ?
AB: So it serves to purpose like One is knowledge sharing which is generally good for younger attorneys to stay abreast with their developments and what’s going on. But it was also to bridge the gap because unfortunately the students which are graduating from the law schools and even from the best of the last schools national law schools. They are not ready for the professional career. I mean we see still a lot of gap because what’s taught in the law school is largely academic. I mean they sometimes focus more on reading articles or judgments. Again without going to the basics, the basics being the law and if then we ask them a question and when something is posed like client has a situation, then they go back okay it’s such and such article says such and such thing, but what about the law. So that’s something which is not being inculcated in the in the law school unfortunately and I wish that… I come from the same system so it’s not very different from what I see I wish that I had. I had a great three years in my law school. We were lucky, we were fortunate that we had most of our guest faculties coming in from different high courts and judges. So it was very different but that knowledge sharing is largely to inculcate this habit of going back to the basics. The primary source of law, the secondary source of law, and the tertiary source of law. So do not jump first go back to the primary source of law and then move on. So that’s something which we want to have ordinary practice so that it’s it’s it’s a part of the practice how we approach things very differently.
SS: Right, that’s so great to hear and also see law firms coming up with such initiatives which also very well aligned with SpicyIP’s ideas and also ALG being one of our biggest sponsors and knowledge partners. So thank you so much for that and it was a great conversation with you. Thank you so much.
AB: Thank you. It’s such a wonderful thing which SpicyIP is doing. I know SpicyIP since my law school days and as a fan of Shamnad, unfortunately, didn’t have to much time to spend with him after that but I’ve been following SpicyIP- one of the best content being generated in the IP field and now after so many years when I see such initiatives being taken up by SpicyIP just it was no-brainer that we wanted to be a part of it and I wish that this goes on for many, many years we continue this tradition . I’m gasped that like why didn’t anyone think of this before and why didn’t it start before but better later than never and I totally enjoyed being a part of this summer school program and I wish that I hope that we continue our association with SpicyIP and thank you for the invitation and I really enjoyed chatting with you.
SS: Thank you so much. It was great having you and SpicyIP is also very grateful for ALG and for everything that you’ve done. Thank you so much. Thank you.
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