Paper Title
How Effective are GIS in Protecting Artisanal Traditional Knowledge & Ensuring the Equitable Distribution of Benefits in India?

Abstract
Marks indicating origin such as GIs are generally regarded as tools with great potential for inducing rural development and local autonomy, preservation of traditional/ artisanal knowledge that might otherwise be lost, eliminating biopiracy and even ensuring sustainable use of resources and ensuring biodiversity. By adopting a collective stand for all the stakeholders, IPR and GI rules of developing countries hope to ensure that these purported benefits are within reach of each GI product‟s maker. How well the stakeholders actually enjoy their new legal status endowed by GI and how securely their traditional knowledge is protected within the cloak of GI regimen are matters to be studied in depth by the authorities on a case to case basis. Such exercises will be instrumental in shaping the IPR and GI legal framework of a country. By citing a few examples from India, the researcher attempts to study if the GI system in India has in fact been successful at protecting and advancing the interest of different knowledge bearers. Keywords - Geographical Indications, Traditional Knowledge, Biopiracy