Speakers, including lawyers, rights activists and researchers on Friday demanded that the government take immediate move to protect Geographical Indications products in Bangladesh and urged to create a public document of GI products.
They also urged the government to modify existing GI related laws through public hearings to protect the intellectual rights of the country鈥檚 GI products, including livestock and cultural elements.
The issues were raised at a discussion titled 鈥楶rotection of Intellectual Property: Perspective, Challenge and Proposal鈥� organised by Intellectual Property Rights Platform at Bishwa Sahitya Kendra in the Dhaka city.
Presenting the keynote paper, researcher Pavel Partha said, 鈥業mmediate steps must be taken to resolve interstate and bilateral arguments over GI products.鈥�
鈥業f we want to achieve the United Nations sponsored Sustainable Development Goals, we must ensure the protection of intellectual property rights,鈥� he added.聽聽
According to Pavel, Bangladesh has listed 21 GI products, including Rajshahi Silk, Bogura鈥檚 curd, Cumilla鈥檚 sweet, Fazlee mango of Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj and hilsa fish as GI till April 24, 2024.
Months after the India鈥檚 claim of GI status of Bangladesh鈥檚 Tangail Sari, Bangladesh also on April 25 gave status of Tangail sari as GI product following the application of the district鈥檚 deputy commissioner on February 6, said Pavel.
Former registrar of the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks Md Abdur Rouf said that both India and Bangladesh had given GI status of Tangail sari but it would be finalised through the declaration of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
鈥楤angladesh has neither protested officially nor moved legally about the issue,鈥� he added.
Dhaka University law professor Asif Nazrul questioned why the Bangladesh government did not give any objection to the India鈥檚 claim of Tangail sari鈥檚 GI status.
鈥業f your intellectual property rights are protected, many foreign investors will show interest to invest in the country,鈥� he added.
Asif said that the officials of the DPDT and Bangladesh Copyright Office did not have adequate technical expertise.
Speaking about the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), DPDT former registrar Rouf said that Bangladesh would not be able to use the patents of medicine for producing medicines without providing royalty for patents by 2026, or it may be extended by 2029.
鈥楩or the reason, people of Bangladesh will have to buy Tk聽10 medicine at Tk聽300. Alongside the protection of GI products, Bangladesh should focus on more innovation to tackle crisis in the coming days,鈥� he added.
Chairing the discussion, Intellectual Property Rights Platform convener Abu Sayeed Khan said that small and third world countries would lag behind in the days to come, if they could not protect status of their GI products.
Geneticist Abed Chaudhury, Association for Land Reform and Development executive director Shamsul Huda, among others, addressed the event.