From now on, mango produced only within the Konkan region of Maharashtra will be called Hapus (also known as Alp- honso mango), which is conside- red a superior variety of the fruit, with great demand worldwide. The districts included at Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Raigad. The decision was taken by the Geographical Indications (GI) registrar in Mumbai, while hearing a petition filed by mango traders and agricultural research institutes from Konkan on Thursday.
A GI tag gives a regional identity to a product. It is a name that corresponds to products from a particular region. Only producers in that particular area can use the GI tagged name for their produce. It is done under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act. Other popular products that have been GI tagged in India earlier include Darjeeling tea, Chanderi sarees, Coorg oranges.
The registry of GI, Mumbai, rejected individual applications filed by four producers of Alphonso mangoes in Konkan to patent their produce as Hapus. The petitioners included Dapoli university, Kokan Hapus Udpadak Sangh, Ratnagiri Hapus Udpadak Sangh, and Devgargh Hapus Udpadak Sangh.
After hearing the applications, the Controller General of Patents, Design and Trade Marks, Om Prakash Gupta then suggested instead of GI tagging separate names, all mangoes from Konkan will get the Hapus tag. It will be formally given after applicants submit a fresh application.
Gupta, who is also registrar of GI, on Thursday said, “The word Hapus cannot be GI tagged under separate names. It then becomes generic and loses its purpose of patent. I suggested the petitioners at the hearing to GI tag Hapus from the geographical western coast of Maharashtra, that will be Konkan Maharashtra. They have filed their applications again with this correction.”
{{/usCountry}}Gupta, who is also registrar of GI, on Thursday said, “The word Hapus cannot be GI tagged under separate names. It then becomes generic and loses its purpose of patent. I suggested the petitioners at the hearing to GI tag Hapus from the geographical western coast of Maharashtra, that will be Konkan Maharashtra. They have filed their applications again with this correction.”
{{/usCountry}}Gupta also suggested that if any region within Konkan wants to give their produce an exclusive name, they can pe-fix or suffix the names of their region to the tag — for example, Devgad Hapus, Ratnagiri Hapus, Kokan Hapus. The mangoes from Devgad are popular in Mumbai.