Editorials

by Rajen Kumar

No Escaping Social Media

Running a magazine concentrating on issues of small and medium enterprises and managing with limited resources is a like living life on the edge. In this rush of meeting deadlines,...

Special Reports

Apr 2012

EMRC, Brussels Associates with SME WORLD as its New Media Partner

EMRC has promoted business partnerships with the developing world and has organised dozens of business forums in key decision-making cities, such as Amsterdam, Rome,...

Knowledge Kit

What is Geographical Indication

May 2010

A Geographical indication or GI is an indication identifying such goods as agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured goods as originating or manufactured in the territory, region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristics of such goods are essentially attributable to its geographical origin.”

Geographical Indication signifies to the name or sign, used in reference to the products which are corresponding to the particular geographical area or somewhat related to the origin like town, region or nation. Thus GI grants the rights to its holder which acts as the certification mark and shows that the specified product consists of the some qualities and is enjoying good reputation due to its origin from the specified geographical location. The Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement has defined the 'geographical indications rights' as the exclusionary rights.

Geographical indications are the part of the intellectual property law therefore like any other law the regulation and govern conditions of GI also varies from one country to another as high differences have been found out in the use of generic terms across the world. Such case is prominent for food and beverage which more commonly use the geographic terms. Geographical Indications are aimed towards identifying the source of the product and is considered as the valuable business tool.

Geographical Indication Act in India

In India the geographical indications regime is regulated by the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999 and the Geographical Indication of Goods (Regulation and Protection) Rules, 2002. However registering of the GI is not compulsory in the India as the owner of the unregistered GI can also enforce the actions with the help of passing off against the infringer but it is recommendable to register the GI as the registration certificate acts as the prima facie evidence in the court at the time of arising of any dispute and no additional evidence is required to proof the validity.

To register the Geographical Indication, any organization or association of people or the statutory authority can apply for the registration. They need to file the application which should consists of the statement that how the Geographical Indications are related to the quality and with other characteristic features which are the result of the geographical environment, encompasses of the natural qualities and human factors, unique methods of production, processing and preparation, which occurs within the said geographical area. It is required that the class of goods which have been chosen should be covered under the registration.

The initial registration of the Geographical Indication holds its validness for 10 years. The Indian act has given gracing period of 2 years for restoring back the registration of those geographical indications which have been canceled due to the failure of paying the renewal fees. At the time of the Geographical Indications infringement there are two types of remedies which have been clearly specified in the act- Civil remedies which cover the injunction damages, which in turns include the delivery of the infringed goods for the destructive purpose and forfeiting of the goods which bear upon the fake representation of the original Geographical Indication.

However the criminal remedies may include of the punishment to the offender minimum to 6 months which can extended maximum to 3 years with the minimum Rs.50,000 fine and maximum to Rs.2,00,000. If the same offense is repeated in the future again then the minimum sentence becomes of 1 year with minimum Rs.2,00,000 fine.

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