Geographical indications serve to recognize the essential role geographic and climatic factors and/or human know-how can play in the end quality of a product. Discuss.

Geographical Indications (GIs) serve to recognize the essential role geographic and climatic factors and/or human know-how can play in the end quality of a product. Like trademarks or commercial names GIs are also Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), which are used to identify products and to develop their reputation and goodwill in the market. The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), prescribes minimum standards of protection of GIs and additional protection for wines and spirits. Articles 22 to 24 of Part II Section III of the TRIPS prescribe minimum standards of protection to the geographical indications that WTO members must provide. Moreover, TRIPS leaves it up to the Member countries to determine the appropriate method of implementing the provisions of the Agreement (including the provisions on GIs) within their own legal framework (Article 1.1). Notably, under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), countries are under no obligation to extend protection to a particular geographical indication unless that geographical indication is protected in the country of its origin. India did not have such a specific law governing geographical indications of goods which could adequately protect the interest of producers of such goods. This resulted in controversial cases like turmeric, neem and basmati. In the case of turmeric, in March 1995, a US Patent was granted to two NRIs at the University of Mississippi Medical Centre Jackson, for turmeric to be used as wound healing agent. This patent was challenged by CSIR at the USPTO on the ground of "Prior Art" claiming that turmeric has been used for thousand years for healing wounds and rashes and hence this was not a new invention. Even CSIR presented an ancient Sanskrit text and a paper published in 1953 in the Journal of the Indian Medical Association as documentary evidence. Upholding the objections, the US patent office cancelled the Patent. Agricultural products typically have qualities that derive from their place of production and are influenced by specific local, geographical factors such as climate and soil. It is therefore not surprising that a majority of GIs throughout the world are applied to agricultural products, foodstuffs, wine and spirit drinks. However, the use of GIs is not limited to agricultural products. A GI may also highlight specific qualities of a product that are due to human factors found in the product's place of origin, such as specific manufacturing skills and traditions. That is the case, for instance, for handicrafts, which are generally handmade using local natural resources and usually embedded in the traditions of local communities. For want of adequate legal protection, the legitimate right holders of various GIs of Indian origin, for instance, have long since been adversely affected by such unscrupulous business practices. Innumerable companies and traders have been found to be free-riding on the goodwill and reputation associated with various renowned geographical names of Indian origin, for years. For instance, tea produced in countries like Kenya, Sri Lanka, have often been passed off around the world as 'Darjeeling tea', which originally denotes the fine aromatic produce of the high-altitude areas of North-Bengal, from where it received the name.