Study On International Protection Of Geographical Indications

The international community revolves around the debate on the protection ofintellectual property rights of geographic indications which has become one of thefocus issues in WTO multilateral trade negotiations and an important topic in legalresearch. Whether from the analysis on the history of geographical indications or onthe current legislative investigation, Whether from the perspective on Trips or on acountry or an area, the research on the international protection of geographicalindications not only has theoretic meaning but also realistic one.This paper is divided into five chapters by structure and content.The first chapter mainly discusses the basic problems of geographical indicationsin order to lay a foundation of writing. As to the content structure and logical clues, thethesis briefly analyzes the origin and evolution of the protection of geographicalindications and then defined the definition as well as the ownership and protectionrequirements. It should be said that the related questions on geographic indications isnot just a legal problem, but also an economic problem and cultural issues. This parthas made comparative analysis on the related concepts of geographic indications suchas original marks, supply of goods marks, appellation of origin, geographicalindications and so on. We should point out that the geographical indication is a specialtype of intellectual property and its legal attribute is embodied in the following threeaspects: firstly, the geographical indications has the right of private property; Secondly,the geographical indications is a new type of intellectual property; Thirdly, thegeographical indications is a kind of collective property rights. The specific quality,reputation or other characteristic and commodities sources of geographical originshould be taken into consideration. At the same time, they have some kind of contactwith each other.The second chapter mainly discusses the evolution of the standard by abreakthrough point on standard analysis. On the analysis of the real need of theinternational protection of geographical indications, the thesis talks about thedevelopment of the protection from domestic law to bilateral treaty, from regional agreement to multilateral treaty. On the other hand, it demonstrates the preliminaryformation of the standard of international protection on geographical indications andexplores the development and trend meanwhile. The protection mode of speciallegislation, anti-unfair competition law, trademark law is different. Whether from onecountry perspective or from the perspective of international trade, continuouslystrengthening the international cooperation and negotiation is an inevitable trend inaddition to perfecting and strengthening the domestic legislation of geographicindications. Only in this way can we probably break the domestic legislation in onecountry and this is also the necessary requirements of the system setting on geographicindications. From TRIPS negotiations to after-era of Trips, the questions on theinternational protection of geographical indications present a different representation.The international protection of geographical indications has gradually developedafter-era of Trips and the provisions in TPP agreement has also gone further, all of thatmean that the international protection standard of geographical indications hasimproved.The third chapter of deeply analyzes the expanding phenomenon and debate onthe range. First of all, the origin of debate and the performance on the internationalprotection of geographical indications were summarized. Secondly, probes into thereasons of debate such as economic, political and cultural reasons. And then it provesthe enlargement of trend and disputes. Finally is the protection sufficiency, the scopeof protection of justification and feasibility of the international protection ofgeographical indications rationally. TRIPS agreement established a lowest standard onthe protection of geographical indications, but it is only a kind of general protection.Different countries have different views on whether the extra protection can beenlarged by the establishment of Trips. The United States and the European Unionfrom developed countries are both sides of the argument. From the currentdevelopment of international society, the focus of the dispute is whether we shouldgive extended protection to geographic indications.The fourth chapter investigates some questions such as the minimum standards,enlargement and conflicts and coordination of the international protection ofgeographical indications and discusses the existing problems and how to solve it. Thispaper discusses the specific applications on the international protection of geographicalindications and analyses the balance of interests and probes into the extension on the international protection of geographical indications. We suggest that article23inTRIPS should apply to all the products and make necessary amendments of theexceptions to article24. Members should fulfill the obligations specified by TRIPSagreement in the application of protection standard first. Since you have joined in theagreement, you should abide all rules according to the treaty. And you must seek legalways to solve contradictions and disputes when obstacles appear during yourperformance. You should still follow the rules of the original system before achieving anew geographical indications protection rules. In order to achieve the interestcoordination, we must consider the basic position of all members in the internationaltrade of geographic indications.The fifth chapter analyzes the selection to the protection of geographicalindications. Through the investigation on the legislation and law enforcement situation,we put forward countermeasures and improvement suggestions of our own country.Although China is rich in resources of geographic indications, but the protection ofmanagement is chaotic, the protection consciousness is insufficient and the protectionon legal level is dispersed and low, which makes us can not meet the need of theinternational protection. In construction and legislation cohesion, we must insist on thecombination between protection mode and localization of law. The protection standardlocation of geographical indications should conform to the special situation in Chinaand consider the international protection standard at the same time. The double tracklegislation protection system is the combination between trademark law and speciallegislation, which can be used as a choice in legislation system in the future. In theprocess of law enforcement, we should coordinate various administrative departments,strengthen the power of law enforcement, simplify the procedure of law enforcementand pay attention to actual effect. For the geographic indications negotiations, we mustadhere to the principle of sovereignty, participate in international cooperation andnegotiation actively.