Tirupati laddu GI case – Rectification hearing on July 16

After much delay hearing in the rectification plea against geographical indication granted to “Tirupati Laddu” has been fixed on July 16.  The petition has been pending with the Registrar of Geographical Indication, Chennai for more than a year.

Mr Praveen Raj, an IP enthusiast and former examiner of patent and designs at India Patent office had moved the rectification plea to revoke the G.I. secured by Tirumal Tirupati Devasthanam(TTD) over the famous Tirupati laddu in 2009. TTD, the Trust which administers the famous Sri Venakateshwara temple in Andhra Pradesh, obtained GI for their sacred prasadam under the GI Act to prevent others from making and marketing laddus under the same name. This was the first time anywhere in world a religious shrine has obtained GI over its offering. The decision have been criticised heavily on multiple ground from several corners.

The rectification petition filed claims that the grant of GI for laddus is violative of section 11(1) of the Geographical indication of Goods Act since GI’s are supposed to be collective community rights and not of a single beneficiary like TTD. The claims also consider it as violative of section 9 as the use of such a mark is likely to deceive consumers and also is susceptible to hurt religious feeling of communities in India. The petitioner also opposes grant of  “good” status to a temple offering as allowing monopoly on goods produced by private entities would defeat the purpose of GI protection.

It would be interesting to look into the rectification proceedings  and how Registrar’s offices address these issues which lies in the core of GI protection.