| Reliance Industries Ltd has filed a geographical indicators (GIs) application for its Krishna-Godavari gas and for its Jamnagar petrol, diesel and LPG. |
| While a trademark is used to distinguish a good or a service of one enterprise from another's, GIs are used to identify goods having special characteristic and originating from a definite geographical territory. |
| The application of the company, filed late last year, is being examined by the office of the controller-general of patents, designs and trademarks, which is the registrar of GIs. |
| Officials in the department of industrial policy and promotion, the nodal authority for patents and trademarks, confirmed that the company had filed an application. |
| If the company is granted GI, it will make Reliance Industries the authorised user of the products. A GI, which is valid for 10 years, will also allow the company to take legal action for any infringement. |
| An infringement can be in the form of any unauthorised use indicating or suggesting that such goods originate in a geographical area other than their actual place of origin or when the use of another GI results in unfair competition, such as passing it off as a registered GI. |
| Government officials, however, pointed out that while a GI is a public property belonging to producers of concerned goods, it cannot be made a subject matter of assignments, transmission, licensing or mortgages. |
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