 |
| Thomas George, Mambuzha, Chemberi, Kannur Mob: 09400913172 |
Decades ago, Chemberi Kunjettan demonstrated that even farmers can be researchers and acquire intellectual property rights for their products. He had patented his coconut tree-climbing device then.
Following the illustrious example of Kunjettan, few researcher-farmers have formed ‘Thanath’, the ‘Farm Scientists and Innovators’ Association’ near Chemberi, Kannur. And they have so far patented 20 of their innovative products.
One of these innovators and the General Secretary of the Association is Chemberi Mambuzha Thomas George. Many are the hats worn by this innovator. He was the bodybuilding champion and at interstate university championship. His cartooning ability secured him the award of Cartoon Academy. During his days of travel in the North India, he gained knowledge of medicinal property of plants from the ascetics there and uses it as a traditional healer.
When he chose farming as his livelihood, his apprenticeship to Kunjettan became an inspiration. He has 8 patents to his credit, including 5 on the coconut scrapper.
Though he has made many innovations, his wife, Shiny, likes his innovation of the coconut-scrapper. While traditional scrapper has only one row of teeth, his scrapper sports blades in addition to the teeth. With this device, scrapping a coconut is a breeze. He has made five innovations to its design and patented all of them. Still he feels he hasn’t exhausted all possibilities on the scrapper.
According to Thomas, an ordinary innovator is likely to be swindled of his intellectual property if he approaches some mechanic or official. The mechanic may stake his claim at the time of patent registration. And sharing innovative ideas with officials may result in the idea being claimed by them as their own. The solution to these problems is to register for patents, feels Thomas.
Courtesy: Joby Joseph Thottunkal (text), Karshakashree, May 2014
