Globalisation has lead to a huge revolution in the business sector. There is an extreme competitive environment in the market place. There are numerous companies launching their products in the market every day. The Geographical indications (GI) are a newest addition to the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) is considered as the valuable assets in relation to different kind goods which help in depicting the quality of goods.  In the international platform the Paris Convention of 1883 gave rise to the Geographical Indications. Article 1(2) of this convention used the expression ‘appellation of origin’ and ‘indication of source’. The Madrid and Lisbon Agreements delineated the scope of the aforesaid expressions. The Lisbon Agreement of 1958 delineates Appellation of Origin as the geographical denomination of a country, region, or locality, which serves to designate a product originating therein, the quality or characteristics of which are due exclusively or essentially to the geographical environment, including natural and human factors.[1] It refers to a sign that indicates that a product originates in a particular geographic region only when the characteristic qualities of the product are due to the geographical environment, including natural and human factors. The word Indication of Source was defined in the Madrid  Agreement as “Goods bearing a false or deceptive indications by which one of the countries to which this agreement applies, or a place situated therein, directly or indirectly indicated as being the country or place of origin’’[2] . It refers to an indication of the origin of the goods from a country or place, such as “Made in India’’ or “Product of Japan’’. This agreement provides for the international registration of indication of source of goods. However the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, 1995 of World Trade Organisation (WTO) defined the term Geographic Indication 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.”[3]  Section 3 of the TRIPS agreement deals with the provisions relating the Geographical Indications. Article 22 of this agreement emphasises on providing standard level of protection to all products. It states that geographical indications have to be protected in order to avoid misleading the public and to prevent unfair competition. [4] Article 23 provides a higher or enhanced level of protection for geographical indications for wines and spirits: subject to a number of exceptions, they have to be protected even if misuse would not cause the public to be misled.[5] Article 24 deals with the exceptional circumstances under which the geographical indications do not have to be protected or the protection can be limited. Few of such exception are when the name has become generic (common) for example, “cheddar” now refers to a particular type of cheese not necessarily made in Cheddar, in the UK), and when a term has already been registered as a trademark.[6]

France was the first ever country to afford protection to geographical indication through the French appellation d’origine controlee (AOC) which is a legal instrument.[7] This legislation was based on the concept of the protection of origin that was born out of the crises that rocked the French   wine trade in early 20^th century. The cultural tradition of Champagne which originates in France has been successfully been protected under this legislation.

In a developing country like India there is a significant need to differentiation of goods and product proliferation.  India being a contracting member of the TRIPS Agreement enacted The Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act in the year 1999 with the following objectives (i) provide legal protection to the goods by safeguarding unauthorised usage of the product by other countries/manufacturers; (ii) promote economic prosperity of the manufacturer of the goods ; (iii) to assign a form of ‘’ collective monopoly right’’ to the manufacturer either within or outside the relevant territory; and (iv) to empower the registered proprietor to initiate legal action in case of infringement.   

The Geographical Indication Act defines the term “ geographical indication’’ in relation to goods , as ‘an indication which identifies such goods as agricultural goods , natural goods or manufactured goods as originating, or manufactured in the territory of country, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality , reputation or other characteristic of such goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin and in case where such goods are manufactured goods, one of the activities of either the production or of procession or preparation of the goods concerned takes place in such territory, region or locality, as the case may be’, [8]

Geographical indications are used to indicate that particular goods originate from a country, region or locality and have some unique characteristics, quality or reputation which is attributable to its place of origin. These unique characteristics, qualities or reputation may depend on the various factors, for e.g. natural factors such as soil, regional climate, raw materials, moisture, temperature etc; or the human factors such as concentration of similar business in the same region, method of preparation or manufacture of the product such as traditional production methods, specialization in the production or manufacture of certain products and maintaining the quality standards.

SOCIO ECONOMIC – RATIONALE:

India has a rich traditional culture and knowledge which dates back to history.  The stream of this knowledge is transcendent to almost all spheres of life; it may be the system of Ayurved or handcrafted products, plant varieties and biodiversity and so on. 

Undoubtedly India has a rich ancient traditional knowledge in the field of handicrafts and handloom manufacture. The traditional textile goods would establish themselves owing cultural preferences, royal patronage etc which over the period created a well established brand image and value for them.  Channapatna toys from Karnataka, Pochampalli ikkat from Andra Pradesh , Mysore silk from Karnataka and Kancheepuram silks from Tamil Nadu are few on the products which have acquired Geographical Indication Status and are well known products in the market. Non recognition of handlooms and handicrafts through Geographical Indications would cause a serious threat to the livelihood of thousands of artisans.  So in order to ensure there is no flow of fake products in the market within the country and aboard and curb infringement which deprives the procedures from retaining the existing market shares ,  to stop eroding of quality and reputation of product over a period of time the Geographical Indication play a major role. Further they help the manufactures to differentiate their products from others in the market and stamping them ‘’genuine’’ it is very much necessary to provide recognition by means of Geographical Indication. Geographical Indication protection help in enhancing the producer’s income, prevent misappropriation of products, prevent unauthorised use of GI, protect the traditional knowledge and encourage rural development.

The traditional knowledge about medicinal value of some herbs the culture (folklore) like folk dance, folk music, folk tales etc have firm roots to the societal structures of any domain that makes it necessary to protect these cultures and traditional knowledge. Not surprisingly, there are about 60,000 licensed practitioners of classical traditional health care system and over one million community-based traditional health workers in India[9]. Therefore it is important to protect their rights and interest over the indigenous knowledge. Traditional knowledge contributes towards invention of modern biotechnologies and the new advancements in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, chemical and other fields. These modern inventions and advancements are a source of incentives. Protection of folklore encourages cultural diversity, contributes to economic development, and helps to preserve cultural heritage. Hence Geographical Indication is regarded as an effective tool recognises the rights of the original traditional knowledge holder and prevents a third party from claiming right over it.

ROLE OF GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT:

The developing countries like India has a large number of rural population and the improvement  in their standard of living is also one of the basic factor which would let the such countries to march towards developed countries and  equally compete with them. As said earlier India has a treasure of traditional knowledge especially among the rural areas and tribes. Traditional products symbolize the local characteristic of a particular region through the harmonisation of natural resources and the cultural methods and they are perceived as nostalgic and interesting products. As a traditional product group, GIs highlight the geographical name of the product as an effective tool for attracting consumer’s attention into the local identity. This would lead to the enhancement of tourism activities in rural areas. Collois (2004) study has lead to the strong evidence to prove that effective implementation of GIs has a positive impact on the rural development through the quality indicators.  One such example is knowledge regarding Pochampally Ikat among the people of Pochampally which is a small village in the Nalgonda district of Andra Pradesh. This village is a major hub of handlooms and has received prominence for Ikat which is produced using silk and cotton fibres. Ikat is a traditional technique which results in a streaky effect, created by dying and tying of a length f yarn before weaving. Over the years,Pochampally is engaged in  manufacture of  tie and dye silk saris, mostly in geometric designs. There are other forms of Ikat in India particularly the ones practiced in Gujarat and Orissa. The Pochampally designs originated during the period of Nizam when Ikat technique was brought from Chirala, a place in Andhra Pradesh. The majority of the population in Pochampally village and the surrounding villages is involved in this business for a very long period and has gained recognition among the people. Hence effective implementation of GIs not only accelerate economic activities by  providing recognition to the products in the national and international market there  by  increasing the sales  but also it  create few external benefits such as rise  in economic activity of other sectors that have backward and forward linkages with the GI products. For instance increase in tourism activity due to recognized GI not only benefits to the manufacturer but also creates income and employment opportunities to other sectors such as hotel services for accommodation, gift shops and restaurants.

A strong GI regime contributes towards a sustainable economic activities and settlement in the rural areas and rise in standard of living in the rural areas. Providing a GI protection to a specific product by creating a positive externality to that sector as well as the sectors linked to it in terms of income and employment generation have a potential effect on prevention of migration from rural to urban areas. Further the local manufacturers of the GI protected products have a advantage to supply their goods to the last consumers directly. According to Morgan the local producers of the agricultural products gain higher profits than the other producers who sell their products to the large firms instead of the last consumer directly. Therefore GI protection not only contributes to the rural economic sustainability but also preserves the cultural heritage as well. 

GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS AND MARKETING:

Geographical Indications is a crucial area whose economic ramification has proved to be phenomenal in this era. There is a increased pace of competition in the national and international market which increased the range of variety of products. Hence it is very much necessary for the manufactures to differentiate their products and try value to their products to fight competition and establish themselves in the market.  So GI helps manufactures to differentiate their products among their similar kinds. Effective implementation of GI norms provides benefit to the local producers due to the established good will and the reputation of the products. The products bearing GI are known for their characteristics and are protected under the salient name of the original manufacturing region. Under the effective marketing strategies, a recognised GI leads a “price premium’’ by establishing the high reputation of the goods. Stigler’s study in 1961 points out the significance of advertisements and reputation on decreasing the search costs in order to avoid the asymmetric information problem. He states that advertisement is a key tool which provides product’s information to the consumers. Therefore, GIs can be used as  an effective tool which can be used in well marketing  strategies like trademarks The composition  of a well-known trademark requires a huge investments whereas, GI does not require such large investments as they already have an established and ongoing reputation.  They are already been well known for their unique characteristics and quality and therefore there is no need for an extra cost of marketing.   Hence GI directly provides benefits to the local small firms where their marketing investment is too low. The manufactures recognize the significance of GI for the provision of value added products and also the consumers also recognize the benefit of GI. 

ROLE OF GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION IN PROTECTING THE RIGHTS AND INTERESTS OF THE CONSUMERS:

GI registration is a kind of guarantee about the originality of the product and provides quality information about the products to the buyers. Hence it not only protects the rights and interests of manufactures but and helps them to gain commercial benefit but also protects the consumers from deception. These strategies help them to make wise choice about the safety, reliability and effectiveness of their purchases. It also ensures that the products are authentic and of the high-quality that consumers recognise and accept. IP protection fosters the confidence and ease of mind that consumers demand and markets rely on. Further, with a registered GI, the more price premium can be generated through the high willingness to pay of consumers. Darjeeling tea  whose history dates back to 1830’s  was the first Indian Product to acquire GI protection  in the year 2004 which is well known among the consumers in the national  and international market over a century  for its quality and flavour that it possesses due to the unique and complex combination of agro-climatic conditions. The quality, reputation, good will and characteristics of the tea is essentially attributable to its geographical origin and can’t be replicated anywhere else. Tea cultivation is the main economic activity in the region and the export rate is about 70%. Mysore silk manufactured in Karnataka is one of the most finest and pure forms of silk. It is an integral part of Karnataka’s culture and is  is known  for the extraordinary quality of fabric,  luster,  softness , richness of its natural colour , the distinctive drape  and purity of zari which made it precedent over all other silks . The silk weaving factory which is put up in Mysore is currently owned by KSIC which was established in the year 1912 by Maharaja of Mysore Province. Initially the silk fabrics were manufactured & supplied to meet the requirements of the royal family and ornamental fabrics to their armed forces .KSIC which owns the GI is the proud inheritor of this royal legacy  and it has preserved it for over seven decades and has been manufacturing 100% pure silk with pure gold zari.[10] This silk is not only popular among Indians but even the foreign tourists are attracted towards it. Aramula Kannadi from Kerala, Salem Fabric from Tamil Nadu, Solapur Chaddar from Maharashtra are few other products which have acquired GI registration in India are well known among the public for their unique features.

 EFFECTS OF NON REGISTRATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION:

As discussed earlier GI registration helps the producers of the products to gain recognition in the market which will increase their sales and income. Therefore non registration of GI will make a room to exploitation of their rights and interests as there is high chance of infringement by means of false application or unauthorised use of GI.

The ongoing Basmati Rice controversy is an excellent example to study the impact of non registration of GI. Basmati has its origin in India. It is very popular around the world as a long-grained aromatic rice. A large number farmers in Himalayan region are involved in cultivation of this crop for hundreds of years .But multinational company by name Ricetec Inc  based in Alvin , Texas in United States of America has acquired the patent for new “lines of grains’’ in the name of Basmati rice claiming that the new varieties have a better characteristics than the original Basmati rice and can be  successfully cultivated in the specific areas in North America. They had been using the trademarks ‘Texmati’, ‘Jasmati’, and ‘Kasmati’ for several years to sell its version of Basmati rice and gain popularity world world. This has drastically affected the interests of Indian framers who actually have acquired this traditional knowledge with regard to cultivation of this crop and have developed various varieties by employing the traditional methods and practice. They have failed to gain recognition in the international market. In order to protect the rights and interests of the Indian farmers and help them establish themselves on the international platform it is very much necessary to invalidate the patent granted to Ricetec and also provide a strong GI protection to it in India and aboard.

 CONCLUSION:

After the Geographical Indication Act in 1999 till date India has about granted GI registration protection to 320 items in various sectors like handlooms, handicrafts, agricultural products, manufactured goods and food stuff. However there are still number of manufacturers of different products fighting for get their GI registered but are unable to do so due to the lack of administrative channels that ought to implement GI norms effectively. Effective implementation of these norms helps to protect the equality, reputation and other unique characters of the products that are essentially attributable to their geographic origin. It helps to promote goods (natural or manmade) that originate in a particular origin and also mark their footprints in the international market.

Further enforcement of these norms through proper channels ensures that there is no room for infringement of rights of the producers, avoid unfair trade practices like unauthorised exploitation of the traditional knowledge or culture and protect the interests of manufacturers and consumers therefore contributing towards the economic growth of the country.