August 3, 2018

CALL FOR PAPERS: NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS (GI) AND PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION – ISSUES AND CHALLENGES : DAMODARAM SANJIVYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, VISAKHAPATNAM

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CALL FOR PAPERS: NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS (GI) AND PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION – ISSUES AND CHALLENGES : DAMODARAM SANJIVYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, VISAKHAPATNAM

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are legal rights established over creative or inventive ideas. IPRs are broadly divided into copyrights, trademarks, designs, patents, geographical indications (GI), plant variety protection and semi-conductor layout design protection. These IPRs generally allow the right holders to exclude the unauthorized commercial use of their creations/inventions by third persons. The rationale for the establishment of a legal framework on IPRs is that it ensures rewards and incentives to creative and inventive ideas.

Several of the IPRs mentioned above are relevant to the agricultural sector in that they can be used to protect goods or services produced in that sector. These are mainly patents, plant breeders’ rights and geographical indications. Geographical Indication (GI) as the name implies, is an indication, in the form of name or sign, used on the goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to the place of origin. In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place. In addition, the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should be essentially due to the place of origin. Since the qualities depend on the geographical place of production, there is a clear link between the product and its original place of production. A geographical indication right enables those who have the right to use the indication to prevent its use by a third party whose product does not conform to the applicable standards.

After GI, another significant IPR that is plant variety protection law, because the importance of farmers cannot be undermined in any country in general, and in developing countries in special, as they need special protection due to their dependence on farming for their survival.

In developing countries like India, farming is not yet an industrial activity, neither the farm produces just commodities. The farmers always had several problems connected with their profession. But, they had lot of freedoms such as the control over the seeds as to how to use them, to exchange them with other farmers, to save and re-use them. In all the phases of the Indian history where farmers had to face torture in the hands of the ruling class also, the tax collectors’ eyes were on the farm produce and not on the seeds. This was because the seeds were not of any economic value. With the advent of the new intellectual property right (IPR) called the plant breeders rights (PBR); there emerged new problems for the farmers, and thus the need for new solutions. In fact, with the emergence of this new IPR, the farmers were compelled to defend themselves in order to continue their freedoms as before. So, there were attempts in the international level which had its impact in the national levels as well.

This symposium aims to discuss and deliberate various aspects aimed at protection, promotion of Geographical Indicators and the potential areas of threat to farmers’ sovereignty (in their profession), due to the advent of plant breeders rights will be discussed.

Target Group/Eligibility:

We invite papers from the members of corporate community, government officials, academicians, advocates, NGOs, researcher scholars and the students

Themes of the Symposium:

Building Brands through Geographical Indications : Legal and Regulatory aspects
GI and Rural Development
Multilateral Register (MR) for GI
GI as a tool for Protection of Traditional Knowledge (TK) : Meeting Points and Conflicts
GI and Consumer Protection
GI based on Appellation of origin/ Indication of Source Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (PPVFRA) and Farmers’ Rights and Plant Breeders’ Rights- Areas of Conflict and need for balance.
Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)- The background of Plant Breeders Rights (PBR)
International Convention for the Protection of Plant Varieties (UPOV) 1991- The nature and scope of Plant Breeders Rights (PBR)
Access to the Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) and Traditional Knowledge (TK) of the farmers- the rights recognized by Convention on Bio-diversity (CBD)
Farmers’ Right to use and re-use the Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) of plant breeders
Problems in the context of Biotechnology

The above themes are illustrative and not exhaustive. The participants are free to submit a paper on any issue related to Seminar theme

Submission Guidelines:

The word limit for abstract is 300-500 words in Times New Roman, 12 font size, 1.5 spacing.
The abstract must be accompanied with biographical details of author(s) along with the title of the paper (Name, Designation, Institutional affiliation, contact no. and email address).
The abstract must be submitted on or before 18th August, 2018.
The selection of abstracts would be intimated on 20th August 2018.
The registration for the symposium shall be done after the selection of abstract.
The full paper should be of 3000-5000 words (exclusive of footnotes) and needs to be submitted on or before 2^nd September, 2018.
The body of the submission must be in Times New Roman, 12 font size and 1.5 spacing.
The footnotes must be in Times New Roman, 10 font size and single spacing.
The margin of 1 inch on all sides must be maintained throughout the paper.
The OSCOLA (4th edn.) style of citation must be strictly followed.
All submissions should be sent in .doc/.docx format only.
Any non-compliance with the prescribed guidelines would lead to prima facie rejection.
Co-authorship up to two authors is allowed.
No part of the paper should have been published earlier nor should it be under consideration for publication.
All the submissions should be sent through
Selected few papers will be published in a book with an ISBN number