Abstract

The growing trend of GI tags around the world has ignited a debate on the utility of such kind of IP protection. Geographical indication protection is provided to a product to establish that the product is linked to a particular location only. The protection granted to products based on the region of their produce may vary from country to country. Some countries have a high standard exclusive protection while others may have a flexible framework. This research focuses on the GI protection that is provided to the sweets and other popular recipes. The protection granted to a sweet or a recipe poses some underlying questions as to the viability of such protection and till what extent it can be enforced. A popular recipe need not be associated with a particular area, granted the proper method and ingredients, such a recipe could easily me imitated in any region. So the point of preponderance here is what will be the status of such recipes made outside the region which has been granted GI. This paper assesses the role of international instruments in protecting the tag of origin of a product. It discusses the Paris Convention on Industrial Property (1883) along with the Lisbon Agreement on the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration (1958). This project aims to bring out the drawbacks that the grant of GI tags to popular recipes using the current legal regime. In conclusion, the objective of this study is to suggest better alternatives to grant of GI protection granted to common recipes by analyzing the other indication of origin methods applied in Europe and China.

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