Speakers at a roundtable on Tuesday urged the government to finalise the ‘Geographical Indication Law’ immediately to safeguard the patent rights of the country’s centuries-old Jamdani saree and other traditional products.
They said that neighboruing India has already occupied patents of some heritage products of Bangladesh, including Jamdani, Nokshi Kantha (a kind needle work on fabric) and Fazli Mango. India registered the traditional products through Geographical Indication (GI) Law. GI is a sign to certify a product’s niche qualities and its origin in a specific geographical region.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and the National Crafts Council of Bangladesh (NCCB) jointly arranged the roundtable on “Protecting Geographic Indication Products in the Context of Bangladesh and Way Forward” at city’s CIRDAP auditorium.
CPD’s fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya moderated the roundtable while Associate Professor of the Department of History of Dhaka University Dr Iftekhar Iqbal presented a research paper on “Protection of Jamdani as a Geographical Indication in Bangladesh”. Chairperson of Ain o Salish Kendra Dr Hamida Hossain, lawyer of Supreme Court Barrister Sukla Sarwat Siraj, NCCB president Chandra Shekhar Saha and founder of Bangla Craft Maleka Khan also spoke at the function.
Dr Iftekhar in his paper said that India registered Jamdani as ‘Uppada Jamdani’ saree in Andhra Pradesh in 2009. “The origin of Jamdani is Dhaka. So Jamdani has to be a unique name which geographical location must be Dhaka. India’s registration of Uppada Jamdani under its GI law is illegal and violation of existing TRIPS regulation,” he said. The TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) agreement was formulated by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said Bangladesh government should intervene now through
formulating the GI law. The patent right of Jamdani saree will be hijacked if the country can’t finalise the law immediately.
Sukla Sarwat Siraj said that alongside with ‘Uppada Jamdani’, India also registered Nokshi Katha as the product of West Bengal and Fazali Mango as the product of Malda district of West Bengal. For this reason, the traditional products of the Bangladesh are being recognised as a creation of India under its GI law taking advantage of the the absence of such a law in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has to contest India’s GI registration through formulating law, she said.
Dr Hamida Hossain said that Jamdani is one the finest muslin textiles of Bengal, produced in Dhaka for centuries. We all know that the origin of Nokshi Kantha is also Bangladesh. Now it is time to assert the Jamdani and other traditional products as our own products, she said.
Maleka Khan said that there is adequate official evidence to prove Jamdani is the product of Bangladesh. It is high time to enact the GI law, otherwise the country would lose not only the Jamdani, but also other traditional products, which bear the heritage of the country, she said.
Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu was scheduled to address the programme as the chief. As he he could not attend, his written statement was read out. In the statement, the minister said, as the signatory country of TRIPS, the government enacted Trade Mark Law in 2009 keeping similarity with international law. The government is now working to formulate the GI law.
