Kristu Jayanti College of Law in collaboration with the Chair Consumer Law and Practice, NLSIU Bangalore, organized a one day workshop on "Consumer Protection Law - New Challenges".

The object of this workshop was:
a) To generate awareness and understanding of the new consumer protection law
b) To ensure that the participants becomes “informed consumers” by understanding and acknowledging the values, standards and ethics in consumerism.

The workshop was attended by participants comprising of faculty members, research scholars and students from various law colleges and universities.

Hon’ble Justice Anand Byrareddy, former Judge, High Court of Karnataka; founder, RNB Center for Arbitration & Mediation, Bangalore; inaugurated the workshop . Justice in his key note address said that the huge transformation in the trading sector, introduction of international global trade and the rise of e-commerce poses as a threat to exploit consumers and in this scenario the new consumer protection law came into existence. Justice also gave us a brief description of the important provision of the act. He highlighted the positive aspects as well as explained the loopholes present in the act. The workshop is divided into three sections:

The first session was on the broad theme “Constitution and New Legal Framework for Consumer Protection”. Shri. Mr. Y. G. Murlidharan, Managing Trustee of Consumer Rights Education and Awareness Trust, spoke on the topic “Consumer movement and functioning of consumer NGO’s”. Sir spoke about the basic role played by the consumer organization in respect to consumer rights and the different activities they take up to promote consumer awareness like product testing.

The second speaker, Dr. Suchitra Menon, Assistant Professor National Law School of India University, Bangalore, who spoke about “Constitutionality of Consumer Protection Right”. Madam explained that the essence of Constitution and Consumer protection Act is protection. Dr. Suchitra further explained about the constitutionality of consumer protection act through human rights. The second session was based on the theme of “Measures for effective enforcement of Consumer Protection Act 2019 and alternative dispute resolution.”

Dr. P. Ravi Shankar, consultant cum mediator NLSIU Bangalore, spoke on the topic “Mediation - an effective tool to redress consumer grievances”. Sir very clearly explained the meaning and the process of mediation for redressing consumer grievances. He also briefed us about the draft rules on consumer protection.

The second resource person for this session was Dr. Anita Patil, Senior Assistant Professor from M.S. Ramiah College of Law, Bangalore. Madam gave a detailed Comparison between Consumer Protection Act 1986 and 2019” and highlighted the positive aspects of new act which were missing in the old act.

The third session was on the theme, “Liability under consumer protection Act, 2019”. Mr. Parth Sharma, Assistant Professor, Christ Academy Institute of Law, Bangalore, was the first presenter who spoke on the topic “Liability under Consumer Protection Act, 2019 – with reference to E-Commerce entity”. He pointed out the lack of a clear definition on who is an E-Consumer. He further discussed the challenges which and E-Consumer has to face. Sir finally concluded saying that if the new act is properly implemented the consumer will be hugely benefitted.

Mr. Bhuvaneshwar Rai, Assistant Professor CHRIST (deemed to be University), was the second speaker who discussed about “Liability under Consumer Protection Act, 2019 – with reference to misleading advertisement”. Sir very clearly explained when an advertisement becomes misleading with simple and relatable examples. He also explained how these misleading advertisements infringe the consumers’ right to information.

This one day workshop has been very educative and effective in spreading awareness to our participants regarding the several aspects of the New Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and has made them an “informed consumer”.

Intellectual Property Laws- Practice and Procedure
Date: 31st October 2018
Time: 10.00 A.M. to 04.30 P.M.
Attended by: all the law students and the participants from other colleges
Number of beneficiaries: 300
Objectives: To educate the students regarding Intellectual Property Laws- Practice and Procedure

Workshop on Intellectual Property Laws-Practice and Procedure was organized by Kristu Jayanti College of Law in association with RK Dewan and Co on 31st October 2018. The programme was inaugurated by Hon. Justice Shylendra Kumar Retd. Judge High Court of Karnataka and the Current Chairman of fee fixation committee for private professional institutions. Sir spoke on how IP law has emerged to be the buzzword of the day and also how the European model of IP protection was changed to suit the Indian Scenario. Sir also discussed important case laws such as the Novartis case and Gorbachev’s case.

First session of the workshop was taken by Sri. Raghavendra Sanjeeva Rao, who delivered the talk on an overview of IP laws in India. The second session was addressed by Prof Dr Ishwar Bhat, Vice Chancellor Karnataka State Law University, Hubali who spoke on Copyrights and Protection Laws. The third session was taken over by Ms. Amritha Gurunathan; Executive of RK Dewan spoke about the Geographical Indications. The next session was taken over by Prof. Naresh Asuri, Patent Agent who briefed about the Registration of the Patents.

The valedictory ceremony which was taken over by Mr. Sanjeeth Hedge, Senior Executive, Banana IP, who addressed about Trademarks and its Importance and also spoke of the unique features of trademarks and its associations with the business .The certificates were distributed to all the participants and the programme came to an end with a successful completion of workshop on the Intellectual Property Laws-Practice and Procedure.

Learning Outcome:
The participants were imparted knowledge about the Intellectual Property Laws- Practice and Procedure.