Sabah Tea, Sarawak Pepper and Bario Rice, alongside one another with Borneo Virgin Coconut Oil, Sabah Seaweed, Tenom Coffee and Buah Limau Bali Sungai Gedung, stand as the sole 7 registered Geographical Indications in Malaysia (as of 2009).
Geographical Indications (GI’s) are a single of the least recognised Mental Assets Legal rights in Malaysia. Possibly that is the motive guiding the compact quantity of shielded GI’s.
In Malaysia, GI’s are governed by the Geographical Indications Act 2000. According to the Act, GI signifies an “sign which identifies any goods as originating in a place or territory, or a region or locality in that region or territory, wherever a supplied good quality, track record or other characteristic of the goods is basically attributable to their geographical origin”. The Act will allow the producer(s) of the goods from the geographical area, a competent authority or a trade corporation/association to use for a GI registration.
Examples of famous GI’s from Europe are Champagne for glowing wine, Mozzarella cheese, Feta cheese, Tuscan olive oil, and Parma ham. GI’s that Malaysians may perhaps be more familiar with could be Basmati rice, Ceylon tea, Assam tea, Darjeeling tea, Persian carpets, Thai silk and Kanjeepuram sarees.
There are a couple challenges that may perhaps crop up from registering and establishing a GI. For occasion, achieving a consensus on the suitable region/spot and the excellent prerequisites of the items does not come simply (1 may possibly refer to the recent difficulty about the remarkably prized Puer tea among the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangdong) unlike emblems which are commonly held by one particular person or entity. A GI is commonly owned by a amount of men and women. The good news is, these complications can be resolved with a round of meetings amongst the producers of the merchandise or by making a board which will make a decision issues pertaining to the GI. In Malaysia, an example of a board that registered and displays a GI would be the Pepper Promoting Board, a federal statutory overall body, which registered the GI “Sarawak Pepper” for pepper and pepper merchandise originating from Sarawak (a point out in East Malaysia).
GI’s must be discovered and protected simply because not only do they deliver the ability for producers to industry their goods greater and therefore increase their cash flow, but GI’s also really encourage a significant regular of quality of output and boost tourism in the related region.
People these days are starting to be more and a lot more discerning of the goods they get and are keen to pay out more for quality. GI’s present that ensure of high quality. In that sense, GI’s are identical to well-recognized emblems as they denote fantastic excellent of the items on which the GI or trademark is applied.
Sadly, the assurance of quality supplied by a GI encourages 3rd get-togethers who are not producers from the region to ride on the goodwill of the GI and to label their goods as originating from the exact location as the GI. For that reason the GI’s benefit will be diluted and consumers will be deceived. Initiatives really should thus be produced by producers to shield their registered GI’s. Strict legal action ought to be taken in opposition to third parties who have no ideal to use the GI’s. It has to be observed even so, that whilst registered GI’s inherently present a certain safety to the producers, GI is very similar to mental qualities this sort of as logos and patents in that the security is countrywide or regional, not world-wide. GI has to be sought in other countries (in which there is a registration system) if a single would like powerful legal safety there for their GI. Or else, action against improper users will be by way of the tort of passing off (if readily available in a unique state).