The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection ) Act, 1999 :

Until recently, Geographical indications were not registrable in India and in the absence of statutory protection, Indian geographical indications had been misused by persons outside India to indicate goods not originating from the named locality in India. Patenting turmeric, neem and basmati are the instances which drew a lot of attention towards this aspect of the Intellectual property. Mention should be made that under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), there is no obligation for other countries to extend reciprocal protection unless a geographical indication is protected in the country of its origin. India did not have such a specific law governing geographical indications of goods which could adequately protect the interest of producers of such goods.

To cover up such situations it became necessary to have a comprehensive legislation for registration and for providing adequate protection to geographical indications and accordingly the Parliament has passed a legislation, namely, the Geographical indication of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. The legislation is administered through the Geographical Indication Registry under the overall charge of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks.

The salient features of this legislation are as under:

(a) Provision of definition of several important terms like “geographical indication”, “goods”, “producers”, “packages”, “registered proprietor”, “authorized user” etc.

(b) 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 Register. While Part A will contain all registered geographical indications, Part B will contain particulars of registered authorized users.

(c) Registration of geographical indications of goods in specified classes.

(d) Prohibition of registration of certain geographical indications.

(e) Provisions for framing of rules by Central Government for filing of application, its contents and matters relating to substantive examination of geographical indication applications.

(f) Compulsory advertisement of all accepted geographical indication applications and for inviting objections.

(g) Registration of authorized users of registered geographical indications and providing provisions for taking infringement action either by a registered proprietor or an authorized user.

(h) Provisions for higher level of protection for notified goods.

(i) Prohibition of assignment etc. of a geographical indication as it is public property.

(j) Prohibition of registration of geographical indication as a trademark.

(k) Appeal against Registrar’s decision would be to the Intellectual Property Board established under the Trade Mark legislation.

(l) Provision relating to offences and penalties.

(m) Provision detailing the effects of registration and the rights conferred by registration.

(n) Provision for reciprocity powers of the registrar, maintenance of Index, protection of homonymous geographical indications etc.