CS Professional · Intellectual Property Rights - Law and Practice · Geographical Indications
The name of a cheese originally made in a particular foreign locality is now used worldwide as the common name for that type of cheese, and the name is no longer protected in its country of origin. An Indian applicant seeks to register it as a GI. How should the Registrar treat the application?
The Registrar should refuse it. Under the Act, a name that has become generic, having lost its original meaning and become the common name of the goods, and which is not or no longer protected in its country of origin, cannot be registered as a geographical indication.
- ARegister it, since the name originally relates to a place
- BRefuse it, because a generic name that has lost its original meaning and is not or no longer protected in its country of origin cannot be registeredCorrect
- CRegister it only with a disclaimer for the locality
- DRegister it if no Indian producer opposes
Explanation
Section 9(f) bars registration of GIs determined to be generic names that are not or have ceased to be protected in the country of origin, or have fallen into disuse there. Explanation 1 defines generic as a place-related name that has lost its original meaning and become the common name of the goods. Origin in a place alone does not save it.
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