Geographical Indications And Trademarks Rights Conflict

Geographical indication is one of the intelligent property rights expressly prescribed and protected by TRIPS agreement. As the result of the Uruguay Round, TRIPS agreement will be the greatest achievement of the international protection on geographical indication. Both trademark and geographical indication are indications which consist of characters, symbols and figures as part of the mark of the goods indicating the geographical source. They can at the same time reflect the quality, reputation and other feature of the goods. They both have great economic value in international trade and are the important object of international intelligent property protection. Due to historical, geographical, human or other factors, certain geographical area can be related to certain reputation by the audiences, which forms a economic value. The name of or indication can be related to certain geographical area may form a geographical indication if they meet the constitutive requirements, and may form a trade mark when used by producer and meet the requirement of significance. Due to the exclusivity of both rights, a conflict will rise when they existing at the same object.From the prospective of TRIPS agreement, this article discussed the relationship between geographical indication and trade mark, analyzed the type, cause and form of the conflict, then proposed the general principal for deal with the conflict. At the same time, this article comparative researched the resolution method in EU laws which has a typical significance, the model laws suggested by international intellectual property organization and the minimum standard proposed by TRIPS agreement, combined the current situation and disadvantages of the conflict resolution system in our geographical indication protection system and proposed the counter strategy.The first part has a overview of general principles of rules and origin, focusing on the term of geographical indication concept in TRIPS agreement. Then it further explores the relationship between geographical indication and trademark. It analyzes the right conflict between geographical indication and trademark, firstly analyzes the nature and type of the conflict, discusses the cause of conflict.The second part discusses the resolution of the conflict, investigates the laws regarding conflict between geographical indication and trademark. It firstly focuses on general principles and their application order based on previous research, then looks into the laws and history of conflict resolution in EU and analyzes the case of conflict, goes further to the model laws proposed by international organizations. From the perspective of EU geographical indication case, this part examines the minimum standard provided by TRIPS agreement..The third part mainly concludes the current status of the conflict resolution rules in China. Describing the positive and negative effects of the rules of origin, this part intends to express the best legal structure for resolving the conflict between the geographical indication and the trademark.