Govt. presents Bill to amend Intellectual Property Act 

• Move aimed at introducing ‘geographical indications registration system’
• Amendments to 2003 Act proposed to protect and promote local exports
• Bill provides for registration and administration of geographical indications

 

The Government yesterday presented a Bill to Parliament to amend the Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003 to introduce a ‘geographical indications registration system’ to provide for the registration and administration of geographical indications and connected matters.

The amendment to the Bill was proposed by the Minister of Trade as it is essential to promoting local exports and ensuring they are not duplicated elsewhere.

“There are a number of local products that can be promoted as geographically unique. Such products face big competition from counterfeit imitations in the local as well as foreign markets. It has been identified that it is appropriate to register such products in Sri Lanka as geographical indicators,” Cabinet Spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella said recently after Cabinet approval for the Bill was obtained.

“Geographical indication means an indication which identifies any goods as originating in the territory of a country, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin,” according to the prosed Bill.

The Bill provides a comprehensive and definitive legal framework for the registration of geographical indications in Sri Lanka.