The government should formulate the relevant rules and regulations of the Geographical Indication Act 2013 in order to protect the patent rights of traditional products, speakers at a discussion meeting on Tuesday said. The discussion on protecting Jamdani as a Geograpic Indication of Bangladesh was jointly organised by Centre for Policy Dialogue and Bangladesh Jatiya Karushilpa Parishad at CIRDAP auditorium in the capital.
‘We need the rules and regulations as soon as possible. According to the international practice if we want to claim that some other countries have enlisted our product by their name, we need to enlist that product in our own country,’ CPD distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya said.
He said Jamdani, a unique Bangladeshi handloom product, is an asset of the country which bears Bengali tradition and heritage.
‘After we enlist Jamdani in our own country, we would see what kind of legal measures can be taken to retrieve its patent,’ he said.
He also said that some of the Bangladeshi products were patented by other countries and to retrieve those, Jamdani would be the starting point.
Dhaka University history teacher Iftekhar Iqbal in his presentation said that India’s patent on Jamdani in the name of Uppara Jamdani is illegal as it is purely a creation from Bangladesh.
The Dhaka belt was historically the Jamdani zone which extends from Sonargaon to Dhamrai and Narsingdi, he said.
He said the quality of water of the region, basically of the river Shitalakhya, is a major component that ensures the quality control of Jamdani.
The cleansing of cotton thread in the water of Shitalakhya brings a glaze in the finished product, he said.
He also said the local ecology inspired most of the Jamdani designs.
‘Jamdani cannot be tarmed as Dhakai Jamndani like Uppara Jamdnai as Jamdani is a unique name which only indicates one geographic location which is Dhaka,’ he said.
Lawyer Sukla Sarwat Siraj said that the newly introduced GI law in Bangladesh has loopholes as it focuses only on punishment.
‘But the law failed to address the country’s interest in international bargaining platform,’ she said.
Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute senior fellow Mohammad Abu Yusuf said that it was crucial to determine who would get the patent right.
‘We need to determine who will get the patent rights of Jamdani. There are parties like the government or the traders or the association to demand the patent rights,’ he said.
CPD Trustee Khushi Kabir said that the government was wasting time formulating the regulations.
‘This is a common practice but this time we need to do it fast. We should not consider whether or not we will be able to retrieve the patent right of Jamdani but we must try as it is the right thing to do,’ she said.
GI is a name or sign used on certain products to certify that they possess certain qualities because they are made as per traditional methods or enjoy a certain reputation due to its geographical origin.
-With New Age input
