Hyderabad: Applicants for the Geographical Indicator tag are worried after the application for Hyderabadi biryani was abandoned for lack of proper prosecution and evidence. Nine products from TS and AP are pending with the GI registry in Chennai. The application for a GI tag for Banganapalle mangoes is awaiting clearance since 2011. According to the registry, applications for GI tags for Adilabad Dokra, Etikoppaka toys, Durgi stone carvings, Allagadda stone carvings, Warangal durries, Udayagiri wooden cutlery, GCC Araku Valley coffee, Pocham-pally Ikat are in various stages of processing.
The AP Horticulture Development Agency has engaged advocates with expertise in intellectual property laws to press the claims. GMS Law Associates has told the GI registry that all data sought for the GI tag for Bangana-palle mangoes had been provided. The application has been advertised, and objections sought. For Adilabad Dokra, a bell metal craft from Jainoor mandal, an examination report was issued in 2015. Since then there has been no development. The application was filed by the erstwhile AP Handicrafts Development Corporation and the TS government is yet to take up the issue after bifurcation.
There has been no movement of the application since 2015 for Etikoppaka toys, a traditional wooden craft from Visakhapatnam, after an examination report was issued. The application status of Durgi stone carvings, Allagadda stone carvings and Warangal durries hasn’t changed for the past two years. GI applications for Araku Valley coffee and Udayagiri wooden cutlery was sought only last year.
Asked about the status of the GI tag for Banganapalle mangoes, Mr Chinnaraja G, Naidu, assistant registrar of trademarks and GI, said, “We have already advertised and it will be registered very soon.” He said the GI registry was a quasi-judicial authority and it was the duty of the applicant to provide the documents that are sought. “Not only the Etikoppaka toys case, in many cases which are pending for a long period, the applicants are not providing supporting documents as evidence,” he said.
