A Lecture by Dr. Gargi Chakrabarti, Associate Professor, National Law University, Jodhpur, Advisor- Ministry of Communications, Govt of India; Mr Rodney D. Ryder, Senior Advocate, Lawyer and Author; Partner with Scriboard- A commercial Law Firm was delivered on 'Role of Intellectual Property in Protecting the Textile Industry and it's products'.
Dr. Gargi Chakrabarti said that textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fiber. India's textiles sector is one of the oldest industries in the country's economy, dating back to several centuries. The Industry is extremely varied with hand-spun and hand-woven textiles sectors at one end of the spectrum while the capital- intensive sophisticated mills sector on the other end. India's textile industry contributed seven percent of the industry output( in value terms) in FY19. It contributed two percent to the GDP of India and employed more than 45 million people in FY-19. The sector contributed 15 per cent to India's export earnings in FY-19. Textiles Industry has around 4.5 crore employed worker including 35.22 lakh hand loom workers across the country. The Textile sector has witnessed a spurt in investment during the last five years. Textiles goods many a times originated from one place and travel lot around the world and one geographic place works with dedication to create their own form. For example: Batik originated in Egypt traveled through Africa and Asia ( China,Japan, India etc) and lastly Indonesia and Malaysia with the local resources working on the Batik creating their own version. Same situation we have experienced in Ikat, Bhadhni (tie and dye) textile goods. In the subcontinent there are many common factors in the culture and heritage among all the countries that reflect on the textiles and other goods, which may create some issues regarding GI protection. Homonyms geographical indications should coexist, but such co-existence may be subject to certain conditions.
Mr Rodney D. Ryder said protection under industrial design for textiles is among the range of IP tools, Industrial designs-also simply referred to as designs- appears to be most directly relevant to protect the creative features developed by the textile industry. It offers protection of three dimensional drawing or prototype, particularly in capital intensive segments like non-woven and technical textiles.