A Study of the Performance of the Geographical Indication Initiative of the Kannur Home Textile Industry

Abstract

Geographical Indications (GIs) are signs identifying goods as originating from a particular place and having certain qualities and reputation that are intrinsic to its place of origin. In comparison to more traditional protection tools such as trademarks, patents, and copyright, GIs have only lately emerged in the panorama of intellectual property rights (IPRs) as a powerful protection mechanism. The main function of a GI tool is the correction of market failure of a product that may be the result of information asymmetry or the risk of it becoming a public good in the absence a legal cover provided by the GI status. (Belletti et. al 2011). With GI, a consumer can be confident that a GI labelled product will meet his or her expectations for quality, and that the product comes from the location stated on the labelling, with quality and origin intrinsically linked. newline