GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION

MAHABALESHWAR STRAWBERRY, SANGANERI HAND BLOCK PRINTED TEXTILES AND BALARAMAPURAM SAREES GET GI

The strawberry grown in Mahabaleshwar-Panchagani belt of Western Maharashtra region and known as Mahabaleshwar strawberry has received GI status. The All India Strawberry Grower's Association had applied for the GI at Chennai based Geographical Indication Registry.

A GI tag guarantees quality and distinctiveness which is attributable to the origin of a product to a defined geographical locality, region or country. The juicy fruit is exported to over 153 countries in the world.

The 500 year old Sanganeri hand block printed textiles, characterized by delicate floral motifs in multiple colours, has also received the GI tag.

DFID-supported UNCTAD's India project through its partners - Indian Merchants' Chamber Mumbai, Rajasthan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (RCCI) and Rural Non-Farm Development Agency (RUDA) of Government of Rajasthan assisted the artisan community in Sanganer in seeking the GI certificate.

The Balaramapuram Sarees of Kerela has become the first handloom product to receive GI from this southern state of India. This is the 35th textile product in the country to receive the tag. The application was filed by the Director, Handlooms and Textiles, Government of Kerala. Balaramapuram in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala is one of the most historically important places for weaving of fine cotton sarees and fabrics in India. The weaving activities in this region were encouraged by the Maharaja of Travancore, Maharaja Balarama Varma.

The Balaramapuram handloom sarees are famous for their exquisite hand-woven designs and are made out of the finest cotton yarn with intricate and unique designs of zari or dyed yarn.

GIs are publicly owned by the artisans/ producers of the concerned product and the GI tag can commercially benefit thousands of artisans, traders and exporters of these products. This GI tag will help the producers to control infringement of their products legally and promote the economic prosperity of the producers.

GENERAL IPR

INDIA TO OPPOSE ACTA- THE NEW PIRACY LAW

India is trying hard to create a united front against an anti-counterfeiting agreement being negotiated by some developed countries, which could threaten exports of genuine off-patent drugs, information technology and other products from emerging markets.

The anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) proposed between the EU, the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Switzerland seeks to expand the scope of protection and sets higher standards for enforcement of IPRs beyond the provisions of the TRIPS agreement. Apart from affecting the exports from emerging markets, the agreement may give member countries power to seize and destroy exports while in transit to third countries.

The strict norms being proposed at the ACTA would extend to import, export, in-transit and other circumstances when goods are under customs regulation. This will add to the problem of wrongful seizures being currently faced by Indian generic drug exporters to Latin America and Africa at European airports.

India would hold talks with like-minded countries like Brazil, China, Egypt etc and would jointly oppose the ACTA proposal.

COPYRIGHT

JAMES CAMERON ACCUSED OF PLAGIARISM

Filmmaker James Cameron of the blockbuster movie 'Avatar' fame is facing a lawsuit after being accused of stealing the idea of a California woman for the film. Writer Kelly Van claimed that Cameron based the movie on her online book 'Sheila the Warrior: The Damned'.

Ms. Van alleges that both the director and the movie studio 20th Century Fox plagiarised her plot and character details.

She also claims the outfits and powers/rituals of the Na'vi characters, and the settings and scenes are based completely on her work.

'Avatar' was copyrighted on April 1 of 2007 and Van's creation dates back to 2000, and it was published on the internet in 2003.

Others named in the copyright infringement lawsuit along with James Cameron are News Corp. subsidiary Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Dune Entertainment Inc., Ingenious Film Partners and Future Service Inc.

TRADEMARK

PAKISTAN FIRM FOR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT

A Las Vegas gaming company Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. has sued an Internet firm in Pakistan. According to the gaming compay, the pakistani firm is infringing on trademarks with a website promoting an Indiana casino.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas against Pakistan company Eskay SEO and an individual associated with the website. The website, www.belterracasino.info links to an online casino, which in turn has a section promoting Harrah's Entertainment Inc.'s Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

Pinnacle claims that the Belterra website infringes on its trademarks for the Belterra Casino Resort & Spa. Pinnacle also complained the Belterra website wrongly suggests that it is sponsored by Pinnacle.

The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring the domain name belterracasino.info to be transferred to Pinnacle and alleges counts of cybersquatting, trademark infringement, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices.

PATENT

FUJI FILMS PATENT Kotala Himbutu

The Japanese Fuji Films Company has been granted a patent for a valuable medicinal compound in Salacia (Kotala Himbutu) plant, which is in use in the traditional ayurveda medicine in Sri Lanka.

Salacia Reticulada is the variety that contains this particular medicinal value and is found only in Sri Lanka. This indigenous medicine from this plant is used to treat Venereal Diseases, skin ailments, rheumatism and diabetes. The patent cites that this plant can be used to treat allergic symptoms due to sensitivity pollen, skin ailment and bronchial asthma. According to the patent issued on April 1, 2010, "any food or pharmaceutical product that has immunopotentiator or anti allergy agent that is made out of an extract or pulverized product of any plant belonging to the Salacia" is belonging to them.

Though Fuji Films has failed to identify the active compounds in the plant, Sri Lanka is denied of the rights of this particular medicinal compound and its products, because of this patent which is valid in 184 countries. The same company has procured 8 patents related to the genus salacia.

With the Fauna and Flora Amendment Act in 2009, all species of the genus salacia are protected and any kind of exportation of any part or any product containing any salacia material is an offense.