Defect And Improvement Of The Chinese Geographical Indication Protection Systems

Geographical indication is an important intellectual property as well as patent, copyright, trademark. It points out the characteristic or reputation of specific good from specific region or country. At the same time, it protects the interests of producers and consumers. Agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights(TRIPS) regulates the definition and protection level. According to Article 22 of TRIPS, Geographical indications are, for the purposes of this Agreement, indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.China had entered into WTO in 2001, and signed all the legal agreements including TRIPS. To implement the duties imposed by TRIPS on geographical indications, china had established two separate system. One is special administrative regulation protection system established by General Administration Of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Of PRC, one is trademark protection system established by the Trademark Law. But conflicts between the two separate systems and defects in both the two systems cause some problems, such as uncertain rights entity and reducibility of protection level. This thesis try to find a practical solution toward above-mentioned problems by analyzing the cause of conflicts and defects.