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

What it does

The Act protects the name of a place when it identifies the goods that come from it. A geographical indication is an indication that identifies goods as agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured goods originating in a territory, or a region or locality in it, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the goods is essentially attributable to their geographical origin. For manufactured goods, one of the activities of production, processing or preparation must take place in the territory.

Protection is by registration. The Registrar of Geographical Indications, whose office is in Chennai, keeps a register in two parts. The first part records the geographical indication, and the second records the authorised users, who are the producers permitted to use it. A registered indication is protected for ten years and may be renewed.

The right is collective and tied to the place. It is not owned in the way a trade mark is owned, and the Act does not allow it to be assigned, transmitted or licensed in the ordinary way. An association of persons, producers or an organisation representing the interests of the producers applies for registration, and the authorised users who come after hold a right to use it.

Infringement includes using a mark that indicates or suggests that the goods originate in a geographical area other than their true place of origin in a way that misleads the public, and using it in a way that is unfair competition. The remedies are civil relief and criminal penalties.

Who it binds

Producers, traders and sellers of the goods concerned, and anyone who would use the name of a registered place on goods that do not come from it. A business that sells goods under a place name is bound whether or not the goods are registered, because the Act also deals with deceptive use, but only a registered indication gets the Act's full protection.

What has changed, and when

The Act received assent in 1999 and was brought into force on 15 September 2003 together with the rules made under it. It implements India's obligations on geographical indications under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Appeals that once lay to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board now lie to the High Court, following the abolition of that Board in 2021.

What turns on it in practice

The practice area on this site for intellectual property and licensing covers the protection, licensing and enforcement of trade marks, patents, copyright and trade secrets, and the Act is one of the statutes it works under. Three questions recur. The first is whether the name can be registered at all, which turns on evidence that the quality or reputation of the goods is due to the place, and on a defined area and a defined method of production. The second is who may become an authorised user and on what conditions, because the register controls who may use the name. The third is whether a competitor's use of a place name is a misleading indication or a descriptive or generic use that the Act does not prevent.

For a producer group, the inspection and quality structure behind the application is the work. For a brand using a place name as part of a mark, the question is whether a registered indication sits in the way, and a search of the register is part of clearing the mark.