Protecting a product's origin under the GI Act, 1999

Section 2(1)(e) defines a geographical indication, in relation to goods, as an indication that identifies goods as agricultural, natural or manufactured goods originating in the territory of a country, or a region or locality in it, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the goods is essentially attributable to that origin. For manufactured goods, one of the activities of production, processing or preparation must take place in the territory, region or locality. A name that is not the name of a country, region or locality still qualifies if it relates to a specific geographical area and is used on goods originating there. Section 2(1)(f) defines goods to include handicraft and industrial goods and food stuff, and section 2(1)(g) says an indication includes a name, a geographical or figurative representation, or a combination of them.

Section 9 lists what shall not be registered. The list covers an indication whose use would be likely to deceive or cause confusion, one contrary to any law, one with scandalous or obscene matter, and one likely to hurt the religious susceptibilities of any class of citizens of India. It also covers an indication otherwise disentitled to protection in a court, a generic name that is not or has ceased to be protected in its country of origin or has fallen into disuse there, and an indication that is literally true as to territory but falsely represents that the goods originate elsewhere. Explanation 1 defines a generic name as the name of goods that has lost its original meaning and become the common name of such goods. Explanation 2 requires the Registrar to weigh all factors, including the position in the region of origin and the area of consumption.

The Delhi High Court applied section 9 to a live dispute in Embassy of Peru v. Union of India, LPA 577/2025, decided on 18 March 2026. A Division Bench held that neither Peru nor Chile could register PISCO as a standalone indication for its spirit, because both countries make a beverage the public knows by that name and either registration would confuse consumers, which section 9(a) forbids. It rejected the section 9(g) objection, since that clause needs a positive representation that the goods come from elsewhere, and Peru's use of PISCO for its own spirit made none. The same Division Bench held that although PISCO could not be registered as a standalone indication, section 11(6) let the Registrar accept the application subject to the geographical qualifier PERUVIAN being prefixed to it. A producer group whose product name is shared with another country's drink should therefore expect refusal of the bare name and consider an application that accepts a qualifier. Check whether an appeal to the Supreme Court is pending before relying on it.

Section 8 ties every registration to particular goods and a definite area. The Registrar classifies goods under the International classification, and any question about the class of goods or the definite area is decided by the Registrar, whose decision is final (section 8(4)). Section 10 allows a homonymous indication to be registered if the Registrar is satisfied, after weighing how the indications will be told apart and the equitable treatment of the producers concerned, that consumers will not be confused or misled. Section 26(2) leaves the Act inapplicable to an indication identical with a term customary in common language as the common name of the goods in any part of India on or before 1 January 1995.

Section 11(1) lets any association of persons or producers, or any organisation or authority established by or under any law representing the interest of the producers of the goods, apply in writing to the Registrar in the prescribed form and manner with the prescribed fee. Section 2(1)(k) gives producer a wide meaning. For agricultural goods it covers the person who produces, processes or packages them. For natural goods it covers the person who exploits them. For handicraft or industrial goods it covers the person who makes or manufactures them, and in each case it includes a person who trades or deals in that production. The body entered in the register as proprietor is the registered proprietor under section 2(1)(n). In Asociacion de Productores de Pisco A.G. v. Union of India, W.P.(C)-IPD 17/2021, decided on 7 July 2025, a single judge of the Delhi High Court held that the Embassy of Peru, as an authority established under Peruvian law to represent Peruvian producers, could apply under section 11, because the section does not confine applicants to bodies within India. The Division Bench that later heard the appeal in LPA 577/2025 noted that the objection to the Embassy's locus was not seriously pressed before it.

The contents are listed in section 11(2). The first item is a statement of how the indication designates goods as originating from the territory, region or locality, with a specific quality, reputation or other characteristic due exclusively or essentially to the geographical environment, including its inherent natural and human factors, and with production, processing or preparation taking place there. The application must also give the class of goods, the geographical map of the territory, the particulars of how the indication appears (words, figurative elements or both), and a statement of the particulars of the producers proposed to be registered at the outset. Section 11(3) allows one application for different classes of goods, with the fee payable for each class. The Division Bench in Embassy of Peru v. Union of India (LPA 577/2025, 18 March 2026) added that the Act does not rank prior user or greater goodwill, which are Trade Marks Act questions, so an applicant must show that the section 2(1)(e) elements are met and that no section 9 bar applies.

Section 11(4) fixes the filing office as the Geographical Indications Registry office within whose territorial limits the territory, region or locality is situated. Where it lies outside India, the application goes to the office within whose limits the Indian address for service falls. The register itself has two Parts. Part A holds the registered indications and Part B holds the authorised users (section 7). The fee and the form are prescribed, and the Act does not state them.

Section 17(1) allows any person claiming to be the producer of goods for which an indication has been registered under section 16 to apply in writing to be registered as an authorised user. The application carries the statement and documents prescribed, and the fee, so that the Registrar can decide whether the applicant is a producer (section 17(2)). Section 17(3) applies the same chapter machinery to that application: filing and examination, refusal and acceptance, withdrawal of acceptance, advertisement, opposition, correction and registration. Producers named in the original application under section 11(2)(e) are registered with the indication, because section 16(1) registers the authorised users, if any, mentioned in the application.

The authorised user's registration runs for ten years or until the registration of the indication expires, whichever is earlier (section 18(2)). Under section 21(1)(b), the authorised user has the exclusive right to use the indication in relation to the registered goods, subject to any condition or limitation on the register (section 21(2)). Section 21(3) adds that where several authorised users hold identical or nearly resembling indications, registration alone gives none of them exclusive rights against the others. A producer who is not on Part B has none of these rights, so the producer list should be as complete as the facts allow before the application is filed.

Section 24 bars any assignment, transmission, licensing, pledge, mortgage or similar agreement over a right in a registered indication. The only exception is that on the death of an authorised user the right devolves on the successor in title. A producer group therefore cannot license the name to a trading company or offer it as security to a lender. Section 68 requires every authorised user to be made a party to proceedings under Chapter VI or under section 31, and an authorised user so joined pays no costs unless an appearance is entered and part is taken in the proceeding.

The Registrar examines the application under section 11(5) and may refuse it, or accept it absolutely or subject to amendments, modifications, conditions or limitations (section 11(6)). A refusal or conditional acceptance must be recorded in writing with the grounds and the materials relied on (section 11(7)). Under section 12, after acceptance and before registration the Registrar may withdraw the acceptance, after hearing the applicant if the applicant so desires, where the application was accepted in error or the indication should not be registered or should be registered on different conditions. Section 15 lets the Registrar permit correction or amendment at any time, and where a single application is divided into two or more, the date of the first application is deemed the date of each. The same Division Bench held that the words "amendments, modification, conditions or limitations" in section 11(6) are wide enough for the Registrar to accept an application only if the indication carries a prefix. That is how PERUVIAN PISCO came to be registered, and the court read section 16(1) together with section 11(6). It did not treat that as a homonymous registration under section 10, because section 10 applies only on an application that asks for it and no PISCO indication was then registered.

The accepted application is advertised in the prescribed manner (section 13). Any person may give written notice of opposition within three months from the date of advertisement or readvertisement, and the Registrar may allow a further period not exceeding one month in the aggregate on application and the prescribed fee (section 14(1)). The applicant must send a counter-statement within two months from receiving the notice, and if none is sent the application is deemed abandoned (section 14(2)). Evidence and a hearing follow, and the Registrar may take into account a ground of objection whether or not the opponent relied on it (section 14(5)). A party who neither resides nor carries on business in India can be required to give security for costs (section 14(6)).

Section 16(1) provides that the Registrar registers the indication when the application has not been opposed and the time for opposition has expired, or when the opposition has been decided in the applicant's favour, unless the Central Government otherwise directs. Registration takes effect as of the date of the application, subject to section 84. A certificate issues to the applicant and the authorised users (section 16(2)). If registration is not completed within twelve months from the date of the application because of the applicant's default, the Registrar may, after notice, treat the application as abandoned (section 16(3)). A person aggrieved by an order of the Registrar can appeal to the High Court within three months from communication of the order, extendable for sufficient cause (section 31).

Registration is for ten years and is renewable (section 18(1)). The Registrar renews on application by the registered proprietor or an authorised user, within the prescribed period and on the prescribed fee, for ten years from the expiry of the last registration (section 18(3)). The Registrar sends a notice before expiry, and may remove the entry if the conditions are not met, but may not do so if an application, the prescribed fee and a surcharge are paid within six months from expiry (section 18(4)). After removal for non-payment, the Registrar shall restore the entry, on an application in the prescribed form with the prescribed fee made after six months and within one year from expiry, if satisfied that it is just to do so, and may impose conditions or limitations (section 18(5)). Under section 19, a removed indication is treated for one year as still on the register against applications for another indication, unless the Registrar or the High Court finds no bona fide trade use in the two years before removal or no likelihood of confusion.

Section 27 is the route to cancel or vary a registration or correct the register. A person aggrieved may apply to the High Court or the Registrar to cancel or vary the registration of an indication or an authorised user for contravention of, or failure to observe, a condition entered on the register (section 27(1)). The same persons may seek the making, removal or variation of an entry that is absent, made without sufficient cause, wrongly remaining or defective (section 27(2)). The Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 substituted the High Court for the Appellate Board in this section from 4 April 2021. Sections 33 and 36, which dealt with the procedure of the Appellate Board and the Registrar's costs before it, were omitted by the same Act.

When invalidity is raised in an infringement suit, section 58(1) sends the question to the High Court on a rectification application, not to the Registrar. Section 57 stays the suit if rectification proceedings are already pending. If none is pending and the plea is prima facie tenable, the court frames an issue and adjourns for three months so that the party can apply to the High Court. If no application is made, the plea is deemed abandoned. The stay does not stop the court from granting an injunction or other interlocutory order (section 57(5)).

Section 20(1) bars any proceeding to prevent, or to recover damages for, the infringement of an unregistered geographical indication. Section 20(2) saves rights of action for passing off goods as the goods of another, and section 23(2) says the registration provisions do not affect the right of action for an unregistered indication. Section 66(1)(c) allows a passing off suit on a geographical indication that is identical with or deceptively similar to the plaintiff's, whether registered or unregistered. A producer group relying on reputation alone must therefore plead and prove passing off, with evidence of goodwill among buyers in India.

Where the indication is registered, section 22(1) says it is infringed by a person who is not an authorised user and who uses it in the designation or presentation of goods in a way that suggests another origin and misleads people about the true origin, or uses it in a way that amounts to unfair competition including passing off. Using another indication that is literally true as to territory but falsely suggests origin in the registered area also infringes. For goods notified by the Central Government under section 22(2), section 22(3) goes further: using another indication on such goods, even with the true origin, in translation, or with words such as kind, style or imitation, infringes. Section 22(4) excludes further dealing, including processing or packaging, in goods lawfully acquired from an authorised user, unless the condition of the goods is impaired after they are put on the market. The certificate is prima facie evidence of validity (section 23(1)).

The Act also governs the overlap with trade marks. Section 25 directs the Registrar of Trade Marks to refuse or invalidate a trade mark that contains or consists of a geographical indication for goods not from the indicated place, where use would mislead people about origin, or a notified indication. Section 26(1) preserves marks applied for, registered or acquired through use in good faith before the Act commenced or before the date of filing of the indication. Section 26(3) protects a person's own name unless used in a way that confuses or misleads. Section 26(4) bars action over the use or registration of a trade mark after five years from the date the registered proprietor or authorised user came to know of the use or registration that infringes the indication, or from the date the trade mark was registered and published under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 if that is earlier, provided the geographical indication was not used or registered in bad faith.

Section 66(1) provides that no suit for infringement of a registered indication, relating to a right in it, or for passing off may be instituted in a court inferior to a district court. For the first two kinds of suit, section 66(2) extends the district court having jurisdiction to the one within whose limits the person suing resides, carries on business or personally works for gain, and the Explanation says person includes the registered proprietor and the authorised user. Section 67(1) lists the reliefs: an injunction, and at the plaintiff's option damages or an account of profits, with delivery-up of infringing labels and indications. Section 67(2) allows an ex parte injunction and interlocutory orders for discovery of documents, preservation of evidence, and restraint on dealing with assets. Section 67(3) denies relief by way of damages (other than nominal damages) on account of profits, in the words of the section, to a defendant who was unaware the indication was on the register and stopped forthwith on learning of it.

The offences begin with section 38, which defines falsifying and falsely applying an indication, and places on the accused the burden of proving the assent of the proprietor. Section 39 punishes falsification, false application, the making or possession of dies and blocks, a false indication of country, place, name or address required under section 71, and tampering with an indication of origin, with imprisonment of not less than six months and up to three years and a fine of not less than fifty thousand rupees and up to two lakh rupees, unless the accused proves absence of intent to defraud; the court may impose less for adequate and special reasons recorded in the judgment. Section 40 applies the same range to selling or possessing for sale goods bearing a false indication, subject to defences of reasonable precautions, disclosure of the source on demand, or innocent action. Section 41 raises the floor on a second conviction to one year and a fine of one lakh rupees, subject to the same power to go lower for special reasons. Under section 45 no act is an offence under sections 39 to 41 if it relates to a registered indication and is permitted under the Act or under any other law in force. Section 46 lets the court direct forfeiture of the goods. Section 52 bars prosecution after three years from the offence or two years from its discovery, whichever expires first.

Section 42 deals with false claims of registration, such as calling an unregistered indication registered, or claiming exclusive rights the register does not give. As amended by the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023 from 1 August 2024, the contravention attracts a penalty of one-half per cent. of total sales, turnover or gross receipts as shown in audited accounts, or five lakh rupees, whichever is less. Section 37A lets the Registrar authorise an officer as adjudicating officer to hold an inquiry and impose penalties under the Act, and section 37B gives an appeal within sixty days to an officer one rank higher. Failure to comply with an adjudication or appeal order within ninety days carries a fine of one lakh rupees or imprisonment up to one year, or both.