The connection of legal protection of geographical indications and state’s economic growth
Keywords:
Intellectual property, Geographical indications, appellation of origin, IP rights enforcement, compliance with international agreements, TRIPS Agreement.Abstract
This article analyzes the position of geographical indications (hereafter – GI) in intellectual property law and in
legal sciences at large, along with the necessity of their legal protection as a contentious object of intellectual property
rights in broader context. It includes the debate over whether GI protection is justifiably provided by existing international
agreements, mainly TRIPS agreement and comparative analyses are conducted between GI and other IP objects in
order to explain why they need protection. The focus is put on overall legal status of this object in national IP systems
of Central Asian countries and problematic issues to adopt TRIPS agreement’s rules on GI upon acceding the WTO,
specifically the second part of the article reviews current state of national legislations of countries, compares their norms
and enforcement procedures, national approaches taken by CA states and current perspectives according to their foreign
policy priorities.
