Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law

Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law (RGSOIPL) is a Law school based at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. It was set up in collaboration with the George Washington University Law School, Washington DC and has the unique distinction of being the only law school within the IIT system. It is also the first law school in India imparting full-time Intellectual Property education along with other regular courses prescribed by the Bar Council of India.

Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law (RGSOIPL) is the first of its kind law school to impart legal education with IP specialization within the IIT System bringing synergy among science, technology, management and law. The School offers a Six-Semester, Three-Year Full-Time residential programme leading to the Degree of Bachelor of Laws (Hons) in Intellectual Property Law approved by the Bar Council of India. RGSOIPL is logistically situated contiguous to the technology and invention laboratories of IIT Kharagpur and is in close proximity with the Headquarters of the Indian Patent Office at Kolkata. The first batch graduated in May 2009. In addition to that, two batches of the erstwhile PGDIPL programme (discontinued since 2008) which was offered at Kolkata campus of IIT Kharagpur, have also graduated. The institute recently churned out its first Ph.D in IP Law.

The school is the brainchild of Mr. Vinod Gupta, CEO of InfoUSA and Life Fellow of IIT Kharagpur, who proposed its setting-up on 28 March 2005 and also promised a grant of one million US dollars to that end. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India accepted the proposal and announced a matching grant to RGSOIPL. The school commenced its academic activities from July 20, 2006. The school was formally inaugurated, three days after, by Honorable Mr. Justice V.S Sirpurkar (retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India and the then Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court), at the Kalidas auditorium in IIT Kharagpur on 23 July 2006.