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Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
LLM · Group 3 Law of Intellectual Property and Information Technology
2025-26 Examination
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Mumbai
First published on munotes.in on 14 September 2026.
Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.
Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
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The University does not publish an official answer key for this paper. The answers in this volume are model answers, written to show how a full-mark answer is built. They are a study aid, not an authority on what an examiner marked.
The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by the University of Mumbai at the 2025-26 examination.
The law in these answers is stated as at September 2026, and four changes date most textbooks on this subject. The Intellectual Property Appellate Board was abolished with effect from 4 April 2021, so appeals under the Geographical Indications Act now lie to the High Court, while the Layout-Design Appellate Board was never constituted and its sections, like the provision naming that Board as a stand-in, were never brought into force, so that Act has no appellate body at all. Since 1 August 2024 falsely representing a geographical indication as registered has been a penalty imposed by an officer of the Registry rather than an offence. India acceded to the Locarno Agreement with effect from 7 September 2019. And the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 commences in stages, its main duties applying from 13 May 2027.
The questions below are the paper as the University of Mumbai set it at the 2025-26 examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2025-26 examination, reproduced as the University of Mumbai set them, in the order it set them. Nothing has been reworded, added or left out. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 7 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Answer
For full marks, cover: two parts. WHAT GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS ARE: the TRIPS and Indian definitions broken into their elements, the kinds of goods, how they differ from indications of source and trade marks, with Indian examples. THEIR ROLE IN THE GLOBAL MARKET: take the roles one at a time, as a guarantee to buyers across borders, a way for producing regions to keep the value of their reputation, a subject of trade negotiation and reciprocity, a marketing asset for exporters, a source of conflict with trade marks, a battle over definitions, and a guard against names becoming generic abroad, with a critical note, each with a case or an instrument (Golden Bottling, Khoday, Tea Board v. ITC, the KOLHAPURI CHAPPAL petition, BASMATI).
The TRIPS definition. Article 22.1 of the TRIPS Agreement defines geographical indications as indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.
The Indian definition. Section 2(1)(e) of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 follows TRIPS and adds that where the goods are manufactured, one of the activities of production, processing or preparation must take place in the territory. Its Explanation extends the term to a name that is not itself a place name but relates to a specific area and is used for goods from it.
Three elements. First, an INDICATION: under section 2(1)(g), any name, geographical or figurative representation, or combination, conveying or suggesting geographical origin. Second, GOODS: under section 2(1)(f), agricultural, natural or manufactured goods, handicrafts, goods of industry and foodstuff. Third, a LINK: a quality, reputation or other characteristic essentially attributable to the place, whether through its soil and climate, as with tea or rice, or through human skill passed down there, as with footwear or textiles.
Indian and foreign examples. DARJEELING for tea, BASMATI for rice and KOLHAPURI CHAPPAL for leather footwear are registered in India. SCOTCH for whisky is a foreign indication that Indian courts have protected: in The Scotch Whisky Association v. Golden Bottling Ltd., 2006 (32) PTC 656 (Delhi), the Delhi High Court held SCOTCH to be a geographical indication within Article 22.1, proved by the United Kingdom's Scotch Whisky Act 1988 and Scotch Whisky Order 1990.
Who counts as a producer. Section 2(1)(k) defines a producer by the kind of goods: for agricultural goods, one who produces, processes or packages them; for natural goods, one who exploits them; for handicrafts and industrial goods, one who makes or manufactures them; and in every case a person who trades or deals in that production. The circle of people who share in a geographical indication is therefore wide, running from the grower or artisan to the merchant who sells the goods abroad.
What a geographical indication is not. It is more than an indication of source, such as "Made in India", which states origin but promises no quality linked to it. And it is not a trade mark, which distinguishes the goods of one enterprise and can be sold; a geographical indication identifies goods from a place, belongs in effect to all its genuine producers, and under section 24 can never be assigned or licensed.
Role one: a guarantee that travels across borders. A buyer in another country cannot inspect a tea garden or a weaver's workshop. A protected geographical indication tells him where the goods were made and implies the qualities of that place, reducing the risk of buying at a distance. False use destroys that value, which is why Article 22.2 of TRIPS obliges Members to prevent misleading use and acts of unfair competition within Article 10bis of the Paris Convention. In The Scotch Whisky Association v. Pravara Sahakar Shakar Karkhana Ltd., AIR 1992 Bom 294, Indian whisky dressed with a Scottish drummer and "Blended with Scotch" was restrained because buyers would think it Scotch.
Role two: keeping value with the producing region. In a global market, the reputation of a regional product can be captured by whoever sells under its name. A registered indication reserves the name for producers of the defined area, and the Act keeps it there: only a body representing the producers may hold it (section 11(1)), the exclusive right to use belongs to registered producers (section 21(1)(b)), and the right can never be sold to an outside company (section 24).
The KOLHAPURI CHAPPAL episode. In June 2025 PRADA showed toe ring sandals at its Spring Summer men's show in Milan, reportedly priced above a lakh of rupees a pair, and petitioners in the Bombay High Court said they imitated, without acknowledgment, KOLHAPURI CHAPPAL, an indication registered as No. 169 in the names of the Maharashtra and Karnataka leather development corporations. In Prof. Adv. Ganesh S. Hingmire v. PRADA Group, PIL No. 72 of 2025 (Bombay High Court, 16 July 2025), a public interest petition seeking relief against PRADA was dismissed, the Division Bench holding that the registered proprietors, able to sue, must enforce the right in a suit. The episode shows both the global value of a regional name and the need for its holders to act.
Role three: a subject of trade negotiation and reciprocity. Geographical indications are protected internationally through obligations between states. TRIPS gives all goods protection against misleading use (Article 22) and gives wines and spirits a stronger protection even where the true origin is stated or words such as "kind" or "style" are added (Article 23), with Members committed to negotiations to increase protection for individual indications (Article 24.1). India's Act allows the Central Government to notify goods for protection of that stronger kind (section 22(2) and (3)), and uses convention countries and reciprocity (sections 84 and 85) to secure for Indian producers abroad the treatment India gives foreign ones.
Two international systems. Appellations of origin, the stricter category, are registered internationally under the Lisbon Agreement of 31 October 1958, and the Geneva Act of 20 May 2015 extended that system to geographical indications. India is not a party to either, so its names are protected abroad through TRIPS obligations and the law of each importing country.
Role four: a marketing asset for exporters. Statutory bodies hold India's best-known indications. The Tea Board, the statutory body under the Tea Act, 1953, holds DARJEELING and also holds certification trade marks certifying tea as coming wholly from the eighty-seven gardens of the district; the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority applied for BASMATI. Registration, a defined specification and certification let exporters sell a verified story of origin rather than a commodity.
Role five: a source of conflict with trade marks. Global trade in branded goods brings indications into conflict with marks that use place names. TRIPS Article 24.5 protects good-faith marks adopted earlier, and section 26 of the Indian Act follows it. In Khoday Distilleries Ltd. v. The Scotch Whisky Association, (2008) 10 SCC 723, the Scotch Whisky Association sought to remove the Indian whisky mark PETER SCOT, which it had known of since 1974, only in 1986; the Supreme Court set aside the orders removing the mark, holding that buyers of Scotch are discerning and that the long delay counted against the Association.
The limits of the right in commerce. In Tea Board, India v. ITC Ltd. (Calcutta High Court, 4 February 2019), the Tea Board failed against ITC's "Darjeeling Lounge": the Act protects goods, not hotel services; ITC's use since 1 January 2003 pre-dated the Act; and the Board sued more than five years after learning of it. A geographical indication is a strong right over goods, not a general control over every commercial use of a place name.
Role six: a battle over definitions. Because an indication's value depends on who may use it, producers fight over boundaries and standards. The BASMATI application, filed on 26 November 2008, was opposed by the State of Madhya Pradesh seeking inclusion of thirteen districts; the registration issued on 15 February 2016 after the Intellectual Property Appellate Board accepted the Authority's areas, and in 2020 the Madras High Court directed the objectors to the remedy of cancellation or variation under section 27. Exporters and buyers need that definition to be settled before the name can do its work.
Role seven: a guard against the name becoming generic abroad. A name used freely in foreign markets can become the ordinary word for a kind of product there, and Article 24.6 of TRIPS lets a Member refuse protection to a name that is customary in its territory as the common name of the goods. The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement answers that danger for its members by providing that registered appellations of origin and geographical indications cannot be considered to have become generic (Article 12), and by protecting them against imitation even with the true origin stated or with words such as "style", "type" or "imitation" (Article 11(2)). Outside that system, a producer group must defend its name market by market.
| Role | How it works | Illustration |
|---|---|---|
| Guarantee to distant buyers | origin and quality signalled by a protected name | Pravara Sahakar |
| Value kept with producers | collective ownership, no assignment (sections 11, 21, 24) | KOLHAPURI CHAPPAL and PRADA |
| Trade negotiation | TRIPS Articles 22 to 24; reciprocity (sections 84, 85) | stronger protection for wines and spirits |
| Export marketing | statutory proprietors, certification | DARJEELING, BASMATI |
| Role | How it works | Illustration |
|---|---|---|
| Conflict with marks | good-faith marks and delay (section 26) | Khoday; Tea Board v. ITC |
| Definitions | territory and standards (section 8, rule 32) | BASMATI |
A critical note. Geographical indications are not an unqualified good for global trade. They can operate as barriers where names long used elsewhere are claimed back; section 26(2) of the Indian Act itself exempts names that had become customary common names in India by 1 January 1995. Registration and enforcement abroad are costly for small producer groups. And the two-tier structure of TRIPS gives wines and spirits a protection that tea, rice and handicrafts do not receive unless national law extends it.
Conclusion. Geographical indications are indications that identify goods as originating in a territory where a quality, reputation or other characteristic is essentially attributable to that origin (TRIPS Article 22.1; section 2(1)(e)), covering agricultural, natural and manufactured goods and handicrafts, collectively owned and never assignable, as DARJEELING, BASMATI, KOLHAPURI CHAPPAL and SCOTCH (Golden Bottling) show. In the global market they guarantee origin to distant buyers (Pravara Sahakar), keep the value of a region's reputation with its producers (the PRADA episode), are secured through TRIPS and reciprocity, serve as export marketing assets, collide with trade marks and generic use (Khoday, Tea Board v. ITC), and depend on settled definitions of area and standard (BASMATI). Their value is real but depends on registration, definition and active enforcement by those who hold them.
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