The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 — back to Table of Contents
Section 2. Definitions and interpretation
This section sets out the key defined terms used throughout the Act. A geographical indication identifies goods — agricultural, natural, or manufactured — as originating in a country, region, or locality where a given quality, reputation, or other characteristic is essentially attributable to that geographical origin; for manufactured goods, at least production, processing, or preparation must occur in that place. A name need not literally be a place name to qualify, so long as it relates to a specific geographical area.
Other important definitions include authorised user (a producer registered under section 17 to use the geographical indication), deceptively similar (an indication resembling another so nearly as to be likely to deceive or confuse), producer (covering those who grow, exploit, make, manufacture, trade, or deal in the goods concerned), registered proprietor (the association, organisation, or authority entered on the register as owner of the indication), and Registrar (the Registrar of Geographical Indications under section 3).
Terms used but not defined here take the meaning assigned to them under the Trade Marks Act, 1999. The section also clarifies that references to “use” of a geographical indication mean visual representation of it in relation to goods, and that references to the Registrar or the Registry include officers and offices discharging their functions.
