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IPRs & Branding for Indian Handicrafts: A Need of the Moment
Manisha Gupta
Sep 2010
Sep 2010
Handicrafts sector is extremely significant in Indian context. Whether it is contribution to exports, employment and income generation for a huge number of people, or its role in preserving the rich intangible cultural heritage, handicrafts are a vital component of our rural and national economy. The whole potential hasn’t been exploited so far. The export and tourist market for these products cannot be ignored. But, leave alone being able to make the most of this potential, Handicrafts industry is in dire straits and most of the artisans & craftspersons are not even able to make both ends meet. More so in the recent recession scenario resulting in massive fall in exports and loss of employment for communities involved.
Among the many problems, that of fakes or non-genuine “ethnic Indian products” flooding the markets is eating into its potential. There’s a huge array of such machine made fakes, being produced in places other than India but using the ethnic brand value of the original ‘Indian handmade’ products. The biggest threat comes from China. These duplicate products are machine made, with copied Indian designs, more attractive and priced much lower than the original ones. Their quality standard too is higher.
The main drawbacks of the traditional Indian handicrafts products being lack of any standardized quality, lack of innovation in terms of products, designs and utilitarian value as per the changing fashion trends, fluctuating customer tastes and acceptable universal norms. Also lack of awareness and training on various critical issues at the craftsperson’s level and their inability to extract premium prices for these products on the USP of being ‘Hand Crafted’ is worsening things. Absence of an organized structure, focused approach and coordinated effort for brand promotion of these products is resulting in lack of motivation on the part of the artisans themselves, as they too see no future in continuing this practice since they cannot sustain their families on their crafts.
This situation can be dangerous as this sector is very crucial for India not only in terms of exports or employment but also for conserving the country’s rich crafts traditions.
One approach to begin with could be the use of the Intellectual Property mechanism of “Geographical Indications” (GIs) to protect peculiar products from particular regions. GIs are a very appropriate legal tool protecting ‘regional products’ owing their characteristics & uniqueness to their origin. Moreover they offer the much needed “collective benefit” by protecting the community’s rights over their cultural expressions, thus providing the desired “common branding” to such products. GIs will benefit these handicrafts as they’ll prevent misuse & exploitation of the ‘regional brand name’. Whether it’s China or anyone else, they’ll not be able to free ride on the brand equity of the ethnic product. For instance now they won’t be able to use the tag of registered and protected GIs such as “Kutch embroidery” or “Pashmina Shawl” or “Banarasi Silk”.
But along with GI registration one may also look at protecting the overall brand “India” in international markets. Alongside the regional GI tag, one can have a ‘Handcrafted in India’ kind of a tag too. This will do two things. One, provide an authenticity label that the product is genuinely handcrafted and from the region mentioned and second, it is actually from India and not China or anywhere else. “Made in Switzerland” brand is an example. Apart from being fair to the producers of original handicrafts, their rightful rights and deserving commercial gains, it will also be fair on the unsuspecting consumers who most often are mislead into buying cheap duplicates.
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2 Comments >>
sasikumar
09 May 2012 (06:54:38)
We have patented technology for brand protection. This can be implemented easily on cartons / labels with 2 level security. We request, concern department / person to contact us for more details
sasikumar
09 May 2012 (06:58:27)
We have patented technology for brand protection. This can be implemented easily on cartons / labels with 2 level security. We request, concern department / person to contact us for more details at sasi@jtpl.net
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