Established in 2004, The George Washington University Law School’s India Project uses legal education to help build bridges between the United States and India, two of the world’s largest democracies that share the tradition of the common law. The Law School’s expertise in intellectual property (IP) law, coupled with the recent boom in India’s technology sector, has shaped the Project’s initial work. In this regard, the Project’s principal focus to date has been on the international and domestic dimensions of patent law.

In just two years, the India Project has sponsored four conferences in major Indian cities. Attracting legal scholars, judges, lawyers, business leaders, and government officials from around the world, the conferences have heightened awareness in India of the benefits of a strong IP law regime. The conferences have also led to a better understanding of the legal and other challenges India faces and of the enormous potential for collaborative work between Indian scholars and their foreign counterparts.