Lava hopes to file 100 mobile app patents in three years

Indian mobile devices company Lava International hopes to file 100 patents for mobile applications in the field of education, entertainment and productivity over next 2 to 3 years.

"We have realised that just by selling handsets it is not possible to maintain growth momentum. Innovation in product is key to survival. Our wishlist is to make a century of patents in the next 2 to 3 years," Lava International Co-founder and Director SN Rai told PTI.

The company has plans to grow its revenue from around Rs. 1,000 crore at present to Rs. 1,400 crore in the next financial year, he added.

Elaborating on company's plan for patents, Rai said, Lava has earmarked around Rs. 50 crore investments during the ongoing financial year and it will focus on patenting algorithms and application concepts.

Algorithm is a step-by-step procedure for calculations used for data processing and automated reasoning among others.

"We have already filed two patents for algorithms but have not been granted yet. Lava recently launched music fusion application which can play music and video in any format. We want to have an IPR (Intellectual Property Right) for the algorithm of this application," Rai said. Rai said, the company is doubling up capacity at its research and development centres in India and China.

Without disclosing actual numbers, he said, "This will be both in terms of headcount, facility and application development."

Lava has also formed a consortium with publisher Tata McGraw Hill and tablet PC based digital learning firm iProf for developing educational content.

"This consortium will invest around Rs. 25 crore in the next 2 to 3 years for digitalisation of Indian content like fairy tales, mythological stories etc," he said.

The company also has plans to enter into enterprise segment by integrating softwares that are used for businesses and talks are at an initial stage, Rai added.

"In our solution, we will start mainly by focusing on secure communication like e-mail security. Simultaneously, we will start working on productivity software like ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and others," Rai said.

The company recently expanded its devices portfolio from mobile phones to tablets and claims selling around 25 thousand tablets per month.

"This is just to test the market. We are working on massive plans to revamp our tablet portfolio. At present, we are in the planning stage," he said.