Book Review: Delphine Marie-Vivien, The Protection of Geographical Indications in India: A New Perspective on the French and European Experience
| Author | Nitya Nanda |
| DOI | 10.1177/0015732518770261 |
| Published date | 01 August 2018 |
| Date | 01 August 2018 |
Foreign Trade Review
53(3) 204–208
©2018 Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0015732518770261
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ftr
Delphine Marie-Vivien, The Protection of Geographical Indications in India:
A New Perspective on the French and European Experience, New Delhi:
SAGE Publications, 2015, `1,195, xxv + 288 pp., ISBN 9789351502739.
Darjeeling tea, Banarasi saree, Bikaneri namkeen, Mysore silk and Lucknow chikan
are just some of the products that are linked to a particular geography with reputa-
tion that went beyond their place of production. There are hundreds of other
products with geographical linkages that have commanded reputation for centuries
and within and outside India. Yet India refrained from giving legal recognition to
the products that India had with some geographical linkage, till the time it was
forced to do so by outside forces.
During Uruguay Round of trade negations, India was vehemently opposed to
inclusion of intellectual property rights (IPRs) as a subject that was being considered
for inclusion into the global framework for trade rules and institutions. As
geographical indication (GI) was included among the IPRs that were being
negotiated, India, in principle, was also opposed to the inclusion of GI in the trade
framework, yet it never articulated any specific objection to GI as such. Today,
India has about 300 odd registered GIs. India is also at the forefront of broadening
the scope of GI at the WTO so that many of its GIs get global protection, while it
continues to oppose expanding the scope of other IPR like patents. Given this
context, the book is an important addition to understand the various dimensions of
GI protection in India.
Spread over 10 chapters, the book discusses different aspects of GI in India.
The first chapter describes the global developments in the light of globalization
that led to the adoption of GI law in India. While the IPR framework of the WTO
as enshrined in the TRIPs Agreement played a direct role as India was legally
bound to protect the GIs of foreign countries, it also described other related
developments that pushed India towards adoption of a comprehensive GI
legislation. While TRIPs mandate stronger protection of GI only in the case of
wines and spirits, even weaker protection that it grants for other products could be
of some help. In this context, India found that some of its products that have
global reputation were subject to usurpation in foreign countries. India found that
the quantity of Darjeeling tea traded in the global market was about four times the
total production of tea in Darjeeling. Obviously, some countries were passing off
their tea as Darjeeling tea. Another case...
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