Pochampally ikkat gets IP protection

Champagne from the Champagne district of France, scotch whisky from Scotland and now Pochampally ikkat from Pochampally.

More than a year after it first applied, Pochampally ikkat, the famous handloom designs, have now been granted intellectual property (IP) rights under the Geographical Indications (GI) category, two days back.

This right will now shield the textile from unfair competition and counterfeits. A GI can also be a non-geographical name like Basmati rice.

Pochampally is a small town in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh. It has about 5,000 weavers who weave the handloom with traditional designs called ikkat.

It is the first textile to get geographical branding. Other textiles like Chanderi from Madhya Pradesh and Kanchivaram silk have also applied for the GI right and a decision is still awaited on them.

GI is an indication that connects the name of a place or a territory to the product, besides assigning characteristics to the product that are essentially attributable to that specific region.

It is a type of intellectual property right (IPR) and came into force in India in 1999 through the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act. Copyrights, trademarks, industrial designs, patents, layout designs of integrated circuits and protection of undisclosed information are other types of IPRs.

Producers spend time and money in developing products that are unique to their territory. They should, therefore be protected from misappropriation and unfair competition.

Besides, consumers should also be protected from the misuse of the GI associated with the product. Although registration of a GI is not compulsory, it provides legal protection to a product to facilitate action against infringement. The registration of a GI is valid for a period of 10 years and it can be renewed thereafter.

"We were told about this right conferment around two days back and we are waiting for an official letter from the authorities in this regard,"K Subodh Kumar, counsellor ( technology), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said.

"We had filed for protection of Pochampally ikkat under the GI category a year back and are glad that the right has finally been conferred,"he added.

"This right will not only benefit the consumers of Pochampally ikkat but also the weavers as they will now be protected from unfair competition. This apart, since the products made out of Pochampally ikkat will now include the trademark, consumers will not be misled into buying counterfeit products,"Kumar said.

CII, through its Andhra Pradesh Technology Development and Promotion Centre (APTDC), that it set up under the joint participation of the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) is now planning to work on nationwide sensitisation of GIs.

It is taking up this initiative so that products like Kalamkari art, Kolhapuri chappal, Nagpur orange and Darjeeling tea also get protection through GIs.