Study On The Legal Protection System Of Geographical Indications

Due to the tendency of the economic globalization, protections of geographical indications become a highlight within the field of the intellectual property protection and the international trading. The present article relates to the geographical indications protection issues in our country. The geographical indications are a relatively new concept for our country, and the lawmaking and related practice are in the early step of finding and starting up. As geographical indications relate to rights of multiple parties and gigantic profits in protecting famous domestic products and international trading, most of the countries are urging to protect geographical indications in their countries and to seek international protection. In "The Agreement On Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Right" signed by the GATT (which is the former body of the WTO), the geographical indications are listed as an intellectual property right which is parallel with the trademark, the patent and the copyright, and all members of the WTO should protect it practically. As a member of the WTO, the People's Republic of China must fulfill her obligation to protect the geographical indications. In our country, numerous local famous products have been gestated due to her broad territory, her unique natural geographical conditions and her luxuriant cultural tradition. Though our geographical indications protection was started up later when compared with other countries, however, upon efforts made by the research circles and the relating departments of the government, the academic study, the lawmaking and the legal practice concerning the geographical indications protection in our country are making effect.The comparison and empirical analysis is used in this thesis to give a systematical introduction of geographical indications protection in international treaties, the related laws/regulations of China, and the practices of other developed countries, especially in France and USA, which represent the two systems of protection of geographical indications in the world, i.e. a system of protection of geographical indications by adopting specifically made system of registration of the geographical indications, and a system of protection of geographical indications by adopting certification trademark and collective trademark. The urgency of the geographical indications protection in our country is specifically analyzed by providing examples, and the present problems are concerned straightly. The status in our country of the geographical indications protection by trademark law system and by original producing area protection is analyzed objectively, and the advantages and the disadvantages of the co-existence of the two systems are analyzed. The author provides his envisages and suggestions for improving our legal protection of geographical indications by incorporating practical experiences.