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Implement Gl law soon to protect indigenous products

Analysts say at CPD discussion

Star Business Report
The government should immediately frame rules to implement a law, which got passage last year, to protect the patent rights of traditional products such as jamdani sari, hilsa fish and nakshi kantha, analysts said yesterday.
The geographical indicative (CI) products cannot be registered under the law in absence of the rules, they said.
CI is a name or sign used on certain products to certify that they possess certain qualities because they are made as per traditional methods or enjoy a certain reputation due to their geographical origin.
As a result, the country is losing the patent rights of some traditional products, such as jamdani sari and nakshi kantha, especially to India, they said.
The government passed the Geographical Indicative Products (Registration and Protection) Act in November last year.
Goods protected by the law will enable the real producers to get higher prices due to their supreme quality, said Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue.
De spoke at a seminar on 'protecting geographical indication products in the context of Bangladesh and way forward', co-organised by CPD and the National Crafts Council of
Bangladesh at Cirdap auditorium in the city.
In 2009, India registered the Bangladeshi jamdani as Uppada jamdani saris due to an absence of the law in the country; said Iftekhar Iqbal, an associate professor at the history department of Dhaka University.
Iqbal, who conducted a study on jamdanis, said the ecological context of the production of cotton and finished jamdani products are unique in the Dhaka region.
The jamdani is a part of the national
culture and heritage of Bangladesh and such a long-term cultural and historic continuity of jamdanis is unmatched elsewhere in the world, he said.
"Hence, India's registration of the Uppada jamdani under its GI law is illegal and a violation of existing regulation of TRIPS [Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights]," Iqbal said.
The study is a result of a qualitative and quantitative research between September and December 2013.
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A number of primary and secondary sources, including official publications, creative literature, and research works from pre-modern and modern times, have been consulted.
Bangladesh is lagging behind in protecting its traditional products, as India passed the Gl law around 14 years ago, said Shukla Sarwat Siraj, an advocate of the Supreme Court.
Bhattacharya of the CPD said the study, guided by an advisoty group of experts, will help the country prove exclusive ownership of the jamdani internationally and regain Bangladesh's claim to India.
Compared to 1,600 jamdani weavers in the year 2000, their number rose to around 15,000 in 2013, according to the study.
It is estimated that about 2,000 jamdani
saris are produced a week in the Dhaka region, at a price range of Tk 5,000 to Tk 150,000.
The total export of jamdani saris, including to India, jumped from $4.84 million in fiscal 2008-09 to $10.41 million in 2010-11, itsaid.
As per the law, the industries ministry will open a geographical indication wing under the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, with the chief of the wing being the registrar of geographical indications for goods.
To register a product, the association or co-operative of the product will have to apply; no individual can register a product.
The government took the initiative to formulate the GI Act in 2009, with the first draft of the law placed on the industries ministry website in January 2012.