TRIPS AGREEMENT AND GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

TRIPS was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between 1989 and 1990 and is administered by the WTO. It is an international agreement between all the member nations of the WTO, which sets down minimum standards for the regulation of intellectual property rights by the national governments of the member nations. Geographical indications refer to “Marks indicating the geographical origin of goods are the earliest types of trademarks and were established to differentiate goods that possessed some unique quality reflecting environmental factors or processing methods or manufacturing skills”. In India we have various products which are protected by the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 No.48 of 1999, some of them are Darjeeling tea,OdishaPattachitra, Bangla Rasagola etc. This paper emphasizes on the implications of the GI act of 1999 on the Indian products and studies its importance in supporting the products at the national and international stages, its advantages and disadvantages.