Study Of Conflicts Between Geographical Indications And Trademarks Of Geographical Names

Geographical indication is an important Intelligent Property Right which has drawn extensive attention of the International Community. In China, efforts on the protection of geographical indication start late and pertinent law is imperfect, which causes many conflicts between geographical indications and trademarks of geographical names, seriously influencing the legal rights and interests of related people.This thesis tries to find the causation of the conflicts between the geographical indications and trademarks of geographical names and the way to resolve it. The author also gives advice about how to perfect the Trademark Law, presuming that the conflicts above can be resolved entirely.Using case analytical method, the author summarizes two central modalities of the conflicts between geographical indications and trademarks of geographical names through two different case: one is the conflict between geographical indications protected as ordinary trademarks of geographical names and system of protection of geographical indications products, which is the conflict between different legal rights, another is the conflict between geographical indications protected as collective marks or certification marks and system of protection of geographical indications products, which is the conflict caused by different protected mode. The causation of these conflicts is complicated. First, there are almost no limits about using geographical names as trademarks before 1993, which led to the appearance of registration of ordinary geographical names constituted by geographical indications. Because different people have different rights towards the same object, the conflict was unavoidable. Second, although geographical names were limited to register for trademarks in our Trademark Law now, there are still many exceptions which may lead to conflicts in the future. Third, there are two government departments which give protection to geographical indications, but they don't cooperate with each other,so many conflicts appear between them. It is the primary causation compared with other causation above. Because the causation of the conflicts is different, we should take different measures to resolve them. According to the experiences of the foreign countries, the author suggests that we should change the system of protection of geographical indications now and choose Trademark Law to protect it.