India regains Darjeeling tea trademark

The Tea Board has wrested back the trademark for Darjeeling tea from a private Russian entity "� Oooagrolider "� which had registered the trademark in its name in what is of one of the world's largest markets for tea.

The price paid is not high - just $3,000 - but is a symbolic victory for the board. Exports of Darjeeling tea are expected to go up by at least two per cent over the next five years.

There is a larger battle yet to be won - that of getting Russia to recognise "Darjeeling" in Darjeeling tea as a geographical indicator. This will happen once Russia enacts a Geographical Indicator Act, as required under the WTO norms.

"The deal has just been struck with Ooagrolider. With this settlement, there are no trademarks for Darjeeling tea with any one else anywhere in the world," said Anindita Ray, deputy director - tea promotion, Tea Board. The board had last October acquired another set of trademarks for different categories of goods.

"Since there will be no inferior standard of tea packaged as Darjeeling tea, the move will significantly boost tea exports in the next 3-5 years by two per cent.

In the short run, though it is unlikely to have any effect," a senior government official said.Indian tea exports for February 2006 stood at 10,684 thousand kgs.

The Indian and Russian governments had been negotiating the matter for some time now. Talks gathered momentum only after Russia agreed to India's demand for repealing the trademark in Russia as part of its World Trade Organisation commitments.

The process for Russia's inclusion in WTO has started.A geographical indicator is used to identify goods having special features originating from a definite geographical area. A trademark is a sign used to distinguish goods or services of different companies.