Under the TRIPs agreement, other countries are not obligated to extend reciprocal protection if a geographical indication is not protected in its country of origin. Thus, the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999 was enacted in India.
The application for registration of Geographical indication may be made by any association or persons or producers or any oraganisations or authority established by or under any law representing the interest of the producers of the concerned goods to the Registrar of Geographical Indications in the form prescribed under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (the GI Act) read with the Geographical Indications (Registration and Protection) Rules, 2002 (the GI Rules).
Geographical indications are initially valid for ten years but may be renewed periodically in accordance with the Act.
When a geographical indication is registered in India, the right holder can initiate civil or criminal action to prevent others from using the geographical indication without permission.
The owner’s successor in title is entitled to use the registered geographical indication. Registered geographical indications cannot be transferred by assignment or license.
The plaintiff, in this case, is Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha and they seek to prevent the defendant, a spare parts supplier by the name M/S Prius Auto Industries Limited, from the usage of the trademarks- “Toyota”, “Innova”, and “Prius”. According to the finding of the court, two of the three trademarks mentioned, namely Toyota and […]
Intellectual property rights create a situation in which the inventor or the creator enjoys full ownership and rights to commercial exploitation of his creation while everyone else is excluded. The justification is that such a creation, if it has material value, must benefit the creator while preventing others who would otherwise commercially exploit the concept […]
WIPO defines copyright as the right of creators to ownership of their creations and to make use for commercial or other purposes. Copyright today covers literary creations, printed material, computer programs, data, audiovisual media, dance, paintings and drawings, photographs, sculpture, architecture, ad material, technical drawings and others that are the outcome of intellectual effort. From […]