Summary: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is trying to collect patents for itself, using students

SOMEBODY from India sent us the following mail from IIIT. The company in question, TCS, is partly responsible for Microsoft's abuse in India.

A concerned recipient of this message has called it "TCS's attempt to own knowledge...

"Similar to Microsoft's innovation seeking project competitions. It will come under endowments and i think TCS might get a tax exemption too if it is considered as a charity work. While, they can obtain patents and sole licensing rights on the outcome of the research."

Here is the message in full:

---------- Forwarded message ---------- To: research@iiit.ac.in Cc: IIIT Faculty <faculty@iiit.ac.in>

Dear PhD students,

Here is an announcement for the TCS Research Fellowship. We received it quite recently. The deadline given is tomorrow. So please act fast.

This is open to PhD students who will be joining this coming year or who joined in the last 12 months from our side.

If you are interested in applying for it, please prepare all materials as given in the attached document and send them to me. I don't have any more details and can't answer any questions intelligently.

Act fast!

This mail contains a Microsoft Word attachment, which we put below as text. ⬆

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TCS Research Fellowship

Proposal:

We propose to establish TCS Research Fellowships, as a follow-up to the formal declaration of the same by Mr. N. Chandrasekaran, CEO / MD of TCS at Sangam 2009, the TCS Annual Academic Meet, to enhance the talent base in the country. TCS would sponsor an annual intake of 40 research students for a PhD programme in computer science, across India, for five years, starting 2010 – 2011 (making it 200 in the plan period).

The TCS Research Fellowship Details:

Period: For a maximum of four years or submission of thesis for PhD, whichever is earlier. TCS may accept extension of fellowship to fifth year, under exceptional conditions, under its discretion.

Stipend: Rs. 18, 000 per month for the first two years and Rs.20, 000 per month for the next two years (Stipend amount can be revised in later years, at the discretion of TCS, to maintain the prime position TCS Scheme, among the other schemes in the country).

Other Incentives:

1.Support for the TCS Research Scholar to participate in one International refereed Conference, held outside India, during the period of four years, where he has a paper to present, he being one of the authors of the paper. The support would cover travel, conference registration, accommodation and living allowance as per the norms of TCS. 2.Support for the guide of the TCS Research Scholar to participate in one International Refereed Conference, held outside India, during the period of four years, where the guide has a paper to present, TCS Research scholar being a coauthor, but not participating in the conference. The support would cover travel, conference registration, accommodation and living allowance as per the norms of TCS. 3.Support for the TCS Research Scholar to participate in two International / National refereed Conferences, held in India, during the period of four years, where he has a paper to present, he being one of the authors of the paper. The support would cover travel, conference registration, accommodation and living allowance as per the norms of TCS. 4.One time contingency grant of Rs. 1 Lakh to the institute for every student enrolled as TCS Research Scholar to meet any incidental expenses related to the project by the student, as approved by his research guide.

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5.Visit(s) & Interaction(s) of TCS Research Scholar to TCS Innovation Laboratories based on projects needs, as judged by TCS Innovation Laboratory concerned.

The Conditions:

1.Upper age limit – 28 years as on admission into fellowship 2.The student should have first class education career right from SSC. 3.The scheme is open in the following broad areas of study only. a.Computer Engineering b.Computer Science c.Information Systems d.Information Technology e.Software Engineering

4.The scheme is open for the students who have been found to be eligible for admission to PhD in an institute. The scheme is open only for fresh PhD student admissions and not for students who are already admitted. 5.Students have to be registered as full-time students in the institute/ college where the PhD registration is sought. 6.The fellowship can be terminated by TCS, with one month notice, based on performance review report and also for any violation of any operational rules applicable to all the research students of the institute. 7.TCS reserves the first right of refusal to be an exclusive licensee for a period of 2 years, for any patent filed by the academic institution resulting out of the research work. If TCS does not exercise the right, the institution can go ahead on its own. TCS reserves the exclusive right to market & sublicense to its customers the outcome of the research work carried out under this scheme. 8.CTO organization / TCS Innovation Laboratory will look for opportunities of collaborations with the TCS Research scholar / institute, even beyond the period of internship. 9.Applications will be submitted in the following format: a.Letter of application from the student b.Letter of support from the institute c.Research area write-up – should include a short review, broad problem statement, proposed scope and focus d.CV of the student – education, grades obtained, honors, publication list, work experience (if any) e.CV of the proposed guide 10.Applications will be received twice every year, deadline 15th July and 15th December and the results will be announced within one month. 11. The fellowship may be taken in addition to the PhD scholarship that the student receives from other sources, provided that there is no violation of rules.

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Selection of candidates:

The key elements for selection:

a. Candidate’s credentials b. Institute’s credentials for the selected field of study. c. TCS’ interest in the selected field of study. d. Academic Research Guide’s credentials

While the institute should select the students for this programme, TCS reserves the right to admit some or none of the students recommended by the institute. Further, TCS reserves the right to conduct an interview of a student(s), if it deems necessary for the selection for the scheme. In such cases, interviews will be conducted in one of the Innovation Labs of TCS and candidates should travel to the designated Lab for the interview. To-and-fro 2^nd A/c rail fare from the Institute to the place of interview will be paid to each candidate called for the interview.