Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004 |
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Marketing
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IPR Agri-Biz & Commodities - Silk Mysore Silks to protect its IPR; seeks geographical indication Our Bureau
Bangalore , Aug. 17 THE name `Mysore Silk' may be on its way to becoming just as special as Champagne, Bordeaux or Scotch. And just as well guarded as any of them. Copycats beware. The Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation has applied to get its elegant, superfine heritage silk branded as a geographical indication (GI). The State-owned company on Tuesday had a two-hour-long discussion and made a presentation before a consultative committee on GIs. The Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks, Dr S.N. Maity, who is the national authority to register the GIs, was here. The process may take 3-4 months including any objections. If KSIC succeeds in getting the Mysore territory stamp for its silks, the silk would be the second Indian silk to go for a GI after Chanderi silk. Eight products famous by the regions of their origin have got GIs, Dr Maity told Business Line. Among them are Darjeeling tea, Pochampalli saree, fabrics from Salem and Solapur and the unique Aranmula kannadi (alloy mirror) from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Confirming the meeting, the KSIC Managing Director, Mr P. Vijayan, said genuine Mysore silks used a superior 26-28 dinear count and pure silk as benchmark as well as quality zari that the look-alikes fall short of. Though the company has a trademark and weaves numbers into its sarees, these have not curbed the innumerable fakes. A GI would give the KSIC silk an edge and recognise quality makes from the Mysore region. This is also a time when the Rs 32-crore KSIC has just started to make some profit and trying to get out of the BIFR net. According to Dr Maity, who was here for a CII-sponsored meet on intellectual property protection, a GI is a powerful IPR tool that a huge number of Indian products can ask for, from Kolhapuri slippers and Kanjeevaram sarees to Goan Feni and Alphonso mangoes. The national TRIPS compliant law, the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999, became effective in September 2003. However, the awareness of this, he said, is low. Going by the challenges that the Punjabi Basmati rice has faced, the South should make a go for it, especially for spices, he said. After all, Europe has hundreds of GIs, the French wines and spirits topping them, and it costs Rs 5,000 for a ten-year renewable protection. The patents offices generated revenues of Rs 40 crore during 2003-04 and the income is set to grow to Rs 70 crore for the current year, according to Dr Maity.
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