R S Praveen Raj

R S Praveen Raj is an Indian social activist and intellectual property rights (IPR) expert. Born on 31 March 1979, he started his career as an Electrical & Electronics Engineer. Since November 2004, he has been working as Scientist and R & D Manager in CSIR's National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) in Thiruvananthapuram and is responsible for Intellectual Property (IP) Management, Technology Transfer and Human Resource Management at the Institute . Prior to joining Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), he worked as patent examiner in Indian Patent Office after a short stint in engineering job at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram.

Praveen Raj vehemently campaigns against misuse of intellectual property laws in religious affairs. In 2009, he filed a case in Kerala High Court against Attukal Temple in Thiruvananthapuram for trademarking deity picture and another case in Supreme court against Tirupati Temple for securing GI tag to Tirupati Laddu, temple offering. Raj is also ACTIVE in policy research and academic activities. He played a key role in devising IPR Policy of Kerala Government, which addresses the concerns on Traditional Knowledge protection. He was also associated in the process of making IPR compulsory in the curriculum of University/School Education in Kerala and setting up of educational institutions. He is also a proponent of right to information (RTI) in India.