The potential of geographical indications and Its legal protection

Doctoral Program in Law, Graduate School, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

^* Corresponding Author: faradila.yulistari@usu.ac.id

Abstract

The legal protection of Geographical Indication (GI) is given to Indonesian typical products to prevent them from being registered as overseas brands, as previously happened in the case of Toraja Arabica coffee registered by a Japanese company and the Gayo coffee by a Dutch company. With the foreign trademark registration, the products harvested from the land of Indonesia can no longer be recognized as belonging to Indonesia because they can hardly be claimed to have come from Indonesia. Therefore, it is the foreign party that will enjoy the benefits of the famous Indonesian products. Geographical indication certainly requires a legal protection. This is important so that the natural rights owned by the original holder can be guaranteed and a sense of security can be realized. A product yielded from the nature and human creativity that has distinctive features, cannot be found elsewhere, and has a reputation that can increase the competitive power of the original region should get more attention from the government, especially the local government. The legal protection of Geographical Indication does not only provide economic benefits to the right holder, but also to the geographical environment of the product origin.