Geographical Indication

Geographical Indication (GI) 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 for the indicator which identify the goods originated within the member nations territories, or area or region of that territory, where the reputation or other attributes of the goods is essentially related to the geographic origin of the place. 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.

The global trade has made it crucial of harmonizing the various approaches and methods which the governments use for registering the GIs in their respective territories. The first initiative was taken in the year 1883 as the Paris Convention on trademarks which was followed by the more elaborative provisions of the Lisbon Agreement in the year 1958 for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their Registration. In the year 1994 during the conclusion of the negotiations on the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights all WTO members were decided to lay down certain standards for the GIs protection in their respective countries. The Article 22 of the TRIPS Agreement emphasis on the obligations of the government for providing legal opportunities within their territories for safeguarding the GI use and curbing its misappropriate use.

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. Examples of some of the popular geographical indicators are- Basmati Rice, Kanjeepuram Sarees, Darjiling Tea. In the Indian act, geographical indication is used for identifying the goods from a particular geographical location and its origin. It encircles the agriculture goods, natural goods and is extended up to the manufacture goods also. In order to register the geographical indication, the goods should possess the unique characteristic, reputation with other qualities attributed to its geographical origin, for e.g, climate, quality of soil, processing methods etc. Normally the geographical indicators signify to the rights of community or a group therefore, an individual cannot register geographical indication on his/her name. The Indian Geographical Indication Act has established the Geographical Indication Registry, the statutory body, for completing the geographical indication registration. The body prepares the Register of Geographical Indications which is prepared in two parts- Part A and Part B. While Part A consists of the important attributes of the goods along with the name of the registered owner whereas Part B details down the various rules which are related to the geographical indicator authorized users registration.

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 applicant is needed to give the geographical map of the area in which the goods have been produced along with the descriptory methods of the geographical indicators appearance of the goods. The applicant can file the single application for varied classes of goods but separate fees is required to be paid for each class of goods. However for the registration of foreign indications, the submitted application should detail down the address of the services which are situated in the India. The submitted application may either be accepted fully or conditionally. If the application has been rejected or has been accepted partially then the registrar is required to record in writing the reasons of rejection or conditionally acceptance. After the application acceptance it will be publicized in the Geographical Indication Journal and within the 3 months of its publication, any person who oppose against the application and can request for the opposition proceedings. The registrar will sent the copy of the opposition to the applicant who in turns is required to counter the statement within 2 months of the receipt of the opposition copy. But if the applicant fails to comply with the specified time duration then the application would have been considered rejected. After the furnishing of the evidence by the applicant, the registrar will provide a chance to both parties for the oral hearing and after that the matter will be settled down through the quasi-judicial manner. In case of the foreign entities who are interested in lodging the opposition, are needed to submit the security for costs.

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.