GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION

INTELLECTUAL PROPETY RIGHTS

BY:
Amanjot Maingi
Bhamini Pohoja
Tanvi Arora
Yamini Paliwal
Introduction
A geographical indication is a sign used on goods that have a specific geographical
origin and possess qualities, reputation or characteristics that are essentially
attributable to that place of origin.
A GI includes the name of the place of origin of the goods.
An appellation of origin is a special kind of geographical indication. It generally
consists of a geographical name or a traditional designation used on products which
have a specific quality or characteristics that are essentially due to the geographical
environment in which they are produced. The concept of a geographical indication
encompasses appellations of origin.
Geographical indications are understood by consumers to denote the origin and the
quality of products. Many of them have acquired valuable reputations

Significance of Geographical indication
Registration:

Such identification enables the product to gain reputation and goodwill all over the
world, consequently resulting into premium prices in national and international
market.
Recognition of a particular commodity as a geographical indication also confers the
right to protection under the Geographical Indication Act, 1999, thereby preventing
an unauthorized use of the commodity registered as GI by any third party.
Geographical indication registration encourages community ownership and
therefore it helps in proper distribution of the economic benefits accrued from
commercialization of the commodity across a wider section of people in that
territory.

Geographical Indication: The Indian
Scenario

In India 'The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act,
1999' (GI Act) was enacted in compliance with India's obligations under TRIPS at
the WTO.
The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999
(Act 48 of 1999) came into force with effect from 15 September 2003.
This Act seeks to provide for the registration and better protection of Geographical
Indications relating to goods in India to fulfill three key objectives:
- Adequately protect the interest of producers of GI goods and add to the prosperity of
the producers of such goods,
- Protect consumers from deception
- Promote goods bearing GI in the export market.
The Indian GI Act defines Geographical Indications in relation to goods as an
indication which identifies such goods as agricultural goods, natural goods or
manufactured goods as originating, or manufactured in the territory of a country or
a region or a locality in that territory where a given quality, reputation or other
characteristics of such goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin and
in the case of manufactured goods where one of the activities of either the
production or of processing or preparation of the goods concerned takes place in
such territory, region or locality, as the case may be.
Goods include any agricultural, natural or manufactured goods or any goods of
handicraft or of the industry including food stuff.
Till date 165 goods have been registered under the Act and many more are in the
pipeline. Some of the well known GI goods are 'Darjeeling' (tea), Pochhanpalli Ikat,
Chanderi Handloom, 'Basmati' (rice), Alphonso' (mango), etc.


The salient features of the Act are mentioned under the following sixteen points:

Definitions and interpretation of several important terms like geographical indications
goods, producers, package, registered proprietor, authorised user etc.,
Provision for the establishment of a geographical Indications Registry;
Provision for the maintenance of a Register of geographical Indications in two parts-part
A and part B and use of computers, etc, for maintenance of such registers. While part A
will contain all registered geographical indicators ,part B will contain particulars of
registered authorised users;
Registration of geographical indications of goods in specified classes
Prohibition of registration of certain geographical indications
Provision for framing of rules by the central Government for filling of applications, its
content and matters relating to substantive examination of geographical indications
applications;


Compulsory advertisements of all accepted geographical indications applications
and for inviting objections;
Registration of authorised users of registered geographical indications and
providing infringement action either by a registered proprietor or authorised user;
Provision for the renewal, rectification and restoration of geographical indication
and authorised use
Provision for higher level of protection for notified goods
Prohibition of assignment etc. of a geographical indications as it is public property
Prohibition of registration of geographical indications as a trade mark;
Appeal against registrar decisions
Provisions relating to offences and penalties
Provisions detailing the effects of registration and the rights conferred by
registration;
Provision for reciprocity, power of registrar, maintenance of index, protection of
homonymous geographical indication, etc.
Registration Process For Gi Goods

For registration of a good as a GI good, the first and foremost requirement is the
existence of a credible association that can be said to represent the interest of the
producers of the good under consideration.

The Indian GI Act says that any association of persons, producers, organization or
authority established by or under the law is eligible to apply for GI registration. The
applicant must represent the interest of the producers.

Producers are defined as persons dealing with the following three categories of
goods:
1) Agricultural Goods include the production, processing, trading or dealing;
2) Natural Goods include exploiting, trading or dealing; and
3) Handicrafts or Industrial goods include making, manufacturing, trading or dealing

The second stage is the submission of application for registration under the GI Act,
1999. The due diligence exercise requires tremendous amount of time, energy,
money and technical expertise. The application has to include details of special
characteristics of the product to convincingly prove the uniqueness and establish
linkages between the product and its place of origin. The documentation process is
extremely rigorous and requires elaborate audio-visual documentation.



After the preparation of application is completed, applications can be filed and
submitted by a legal practitioner or a registered agent and submitted to the Registrar
of Geographical Indications, Chennai along with a prescribed fee. The application
must be in writing in triplicate in the prescribed format (available at ). The
application has to be signed by the applicant or his agent and accompanied by a
statement of case.

After the application is submitted, the examiner at the Registrar's office scans the
application and deficiencies have to be corrected by the applicant within one month

When an application of GI has been accepted, the Registrar registers the
geographical indication and the applicant is issued a certificate with the seal of the
Geographical Indications Registry.

A registered GI is valid for 10 years and can be renewed on payment of renewal
fee. Any person aggrieved by an order or decision can file an appeal to the
intellectual property appellate board (IPAB) within three months. GI is a public
property belonging to the producers and it cannot be transmitted, assigned or
mortgaged. The Appellate Board or the Registrar of GI has the power to remove the
GI or an authorized user from the register.

Category Wise Registered GI

CATEGORY NUMBER OF REGISTERED PRODUCTS
AGRICULTURE 45
HANDICRAFT 110
MANUFACTURED 7
FOOD STUFF 3
State/Region Wise Distribution Of
GIs In India

STATE/ REGION NO. OF REGISTERED PRODUCTS
WEST BENGAL 8
KARNATAKA 31
KERALA 20
ORISSA 9
ANDHRA PRADESH 19
JAMMU AND KASHMIR 6
MADHYA PRADESH 4
PONDICHERRY 2
MAHARASHTRA 7
GUJRAT 7
TAMIL NADU 19
RAJASTHAN 8
HIMACHAL PRADESH 4
PUNJAB 1
BIHAR 4
UTTAR PRADESH 5
CHHATTISGARH 4
GUJRAT 4
NAGALAND 1
GOA 1
ASSAM 1