Maturity Model for Intellectual Property Service Delivery in the Software Industry

Utsab Banerjee, Manager Legal, Cognizant Technology Solutions, India

Capability maturity model (CMMI) has been developed as an industry standard for software service delivery since almost 25 years. The model provides guidelines to build, improve and measure capabilities and enhance performance of an organization. CMMI model was created originally for U.S. department of defense and quickly proliferated to global software industry and is now percolating into other domains. Though almost all functions in a technology driven industry is guided by some form of maturity model, which industries adopt based on different scenarios. However, there are very few approaches available for in-house legal departments, specifically for intellectual property (IP) practice within an organization. Due to the lack of an established maturity model in the area of IP, companies and organization may struggle to develop the company IP model or may not have a reference to benchmark their IP model. Although, many companies and organizations and individuals have tried to develop different kind of models in the past, however, the focus of those models were on individual areas of IP and not necessarily an integrated approach which covers all areas of IP practice.

Utsab is an in-house manager in legal department of Cognizant technology solutions pvt. ltd. He is heading a team of 3 attorneys specialized in intellectual property. He has a a total work experience of 8 years in companies like Samsung, Tata Consultancy services and ARC document solutions. He specializes in patent, copyright and trademark for US, India and EP.

Cognizant is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, transforming clients’ business, operating and technology models for the digital era. Our unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build and run more innovative and efficient businesses. Headquartered in the U.S., Cognizant, a member of the NASDAQ-100, is ranked 205 on the Fortune 500 and is consistently listed among the most admired companies in the world.