Geographical Indications

1. Meaning

TRIPS Article 22(1) defines geographical indications as indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin. Section 2(1)(e) of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 follows this and covers agricultural goods, natural goods and manufactured goods, adding that a manufactured good qualifies if one of the activities of production, processing or preparation takes place in the territory. Goods include handicrafts and foodstuffs.

The link between product and place may come from natural factors (soil, climate: Darjeeling tea, Alphonso mango), human factors (skill passed down: Mysore silk, Channapatna toys, Kanchipuram silk) or both. Related terms are:

• indication of source (Paris Article 1(2), Madrid Agreement on False or Deceptive Indications of Source, 1891): any indication that a product comes from a place, such as “Made in India”, without any quality link;
• appellation of origin (Lisbon Agreement, 1958, Article 2): the geographical name of a country, region or locality used to designate a product whose quality or characteristics are due exclusively or essentially to the geographical environment, including natural and human factors. It is the strictest of the three.

2. GI and trade mark distinguished

The two overlap where a GI is registered as a collective or certification mark, the method used in the United States, which protects GIs mainly through trade mark law.

3. The international framework

• Paris Convention: indications of source and appellations of origin are objects of industrial property; false indications are to be seized on importation (Articles 9 and 10).
• Lisbon Agreement, 1958 and its Geneva Act, 2015, which extends registration to GIs and allows intergovernmental organisations such as the EU to join. India is a party to neither.
• TRIPS Article 22: members must provide legal means to prevent use that misleads the public as to origin, and use that is unfair competition under Paris Article 10bis; and must refuse or invalidate trade marks containing a misleading GI.
• TRIPS Article 23: additional protection for wines and spirits. Use of a GI for wines or spirits not from the place is prevented even where the true origin is indicated, or the GI is used in translation or with expressions such as “kind”, “type”, “style” or “imitation”. No proof of misleading is required.
• TRIPS Article 24: commitment to negotiate; exceptions for generic terms, long-standing prior use in good faith, and trade marks acquired in good faith.

4. The Indian GI Act, 1999

• Background: enacted to meet TRIPS and in response to the Basmati controversy; in force from 15 September 2003. The Geographical Indications Registry is at Chennai.
• Who may apply (section 11): any association of persons, producers, organisation or authority established by or under law representing the interests of the producers.
• Prohibited registration (section 9): GIs whose use would deceive or cause confusion, that are contrary to law, scandalous or obscene, that hurt religious susceptibilities, that are determined to be generic, or that are literally true as to territory but falsely represent that the goods originate in another territory (homonymous GIs).
• Authorised users (section 17): producers in the area may register as authorised users. Only the registered proprietor and authorised users may use the GI (section 21).
• Term and renewal: ten years, renewable (section 18).
• Infringement (section 22): use that indicates or suggests that goods originate in a place other than the true place in a manner that misleads, use that is unfair competition, and, for goods notified by the Central Government, use even with the true origin indicated or with “kind”, “style” or “imitation” (section 22(2)). India thus allows Article 23-level protection for notified goods by statute.
• Offences: falsifying a GI and selling goods bearing a false GI are punishable.

Darjeeling tea was the first GI registered in India (2004–05). Karnataka has among the largest numbers of registered GIs, including Mysore silk, Mysore sandalwood oil and sandal soap, Channapatna toys and dolls, Bidriware, Coorg orange, Udupi jasmine and Ilkal sarees.

5. Disputes

• Basmati: in 1997 the US Patent and Trademark Office granted RiceTec Inc. a patent covering rice lines and grains described as Basmati. India challenged it, and most of the claims were withdrawn or rejected, with the broad Basmati claims removed. The episode showed that India lacked a GI law, and Basmati was later registered as an Indian GI for rice grown in the specified areas of the Indo-Gangetic plain, after a contest with Madhya Pradesh over inclusion of its districts.
• Darjeeling: the Tea Board has fought registrations of “Darjeeling” marks abroad (in France, Japan and the US), and in India sued ITC over its “Darjeeling Lounge” at a Kolkata hotel; the Calcutta High Court (2011) dismissed the suit, holding that the GI protected goods, not a hotel lounge.
• Generic names: in Germany and Denmark v. Commission (CJEU, 2005), the Court upheld feta as a protected designation of origin for Greece, rejecting the argument that it had become generic. In Commission v. Germany (CJEU, 2008), “parmesan” was held to be an evocation of Parmigiano Reggiano.

6. Evaluation

GIs are seen as the IP right most suited to developing countries: they protect collective, traditional, rural production and cannot be bought by a single firm. The difficulties are enforcement abroad, the cost of quality control, the gap between registration and actual premiums for producers, and the risk that traders rather than artisans capture the benefit. The EU’s regulation on craft and industrial GIs (2023) extends protection to non-agricultural products such as Indian handicrafts sold in Europe, which India has pursued in trade negotiations.

How this is examined

Short note: definition, link with place, Indian examples, collective nature, ten-year term, Article 23 hierarchy. Essay: meaning and the three related terms; GI versus trade mark; Paris, Lisbon and TRIPS 22 to 24; the Indian Act; disputes (Basmati, Darjeeling, feta); and the extension debate.