The Conundrum of Protecting Basmati Rice as a Geographical Indication: A Recount of Legal Proceedings

Abstract

This paper endeavours to offer a holistic account of the adventurous journey of protecting Basmati Rice as an intellectual property under the Geographical Indications (GI) regime between India and Pakistan. What started out as dyads teaming up and succeeding in protecting Basmati Rice against as western company quickly turned into a bone of contention between both India and Pakistan for various reasons. While prudence had India protecting Basmati Rice in its homeland through a designated government department, it was met with opposition not just from Pakistan but also from internal entities. However, India did succeed in extending a GI protection to Basmati Rice despite all of the oppositions. Stepping forward from its success at home turf, India, filed for protecting Basmati Rice before the European Commission (EC) as well. However, the same was yet again met with an opposition by, not one, but two separate countries transforming what until now was a dyadic issue into a triadic issue. Further, one of the two countries accelerated its endeavour to extend GI protection to Basmati Rice both at the domestic level and also before the EC. Taking into consideration all of these proceedings, this paper attempts to recount years of legal proceedings both past and current.