Research On The International Intellectual Property Protection To The Traditional Culture Mark

Traditional cultures are created by ethnical groups in the long historicaldeveloping process. They are material, spiritual and institutional cultures thatrepresent the understanding of nature and human of the specific ethnical group. Thecultural and economical value of the traditional culture has been testified by theoriesand practices. The traditional cultural marks are extensions of the traditional culture inthe modern society, which can be used to indicate the relationship between a specificproduct and service with the traditional culture. With the rapid process ofglobalization, the traditional culture and its extensions are playing more decisive rolesin maintain and safeguarding the cultural diversity in the world. This thesis mainlydiscusses the protection of traditional cultural marks as international intellectualproperty rights.The research focuses of this thesis are as follows: Firstly, this thesis analyzes therelevant clauses concerning the protection of traditional cultural marks in the existingmultilateral, regional and bilateral laws. The deficiencies are figured out in order topropose targeted solutions. Secondly, since the protection for traditional culturalmarks are insufficient, China should take proactive measures as a country rich intraditional cultural resources. The author provides constructive suggestion in regard ofthe protective measures.Besides the introduction part and the conclusion, there are four other partsin this thesis:The first part is a brief introduction to the international protection of traditionalcultural marks as intellectual property rights. Firstly, the author gives a definition forthe research object: traditional cultural marks. Then the reasons for the protection oftraditional cultural marks are stated from the perspective of economy andhumanitarian. The obstacles for the protection of traditional cultural marks as IPR areexplained.The second part introduces the current situation for the IPR protection oftraditional cultural marks, which mainly focuses on the analysis of the historicalprocess of TRIPS. The relevant clauses concerning the traditional cultural marks arefigured out, such as the regulations on trademarks, regulations on the geographicalicons, and the regulations for the exclusion of generic terms. In conclusion, TRIPS fails to provide sufficient protection for the traditional cultural marks. Therefore, thisthesis provides suggestions to the improvement of the TRIPS framework from threeaspects: the strengthening of protection of geographical icons, the expansion ofexclusion of generic terms, and the enhancement of the flexibility clauses in TRIPS.Part three is the status quo of other international agreements besides TRIPS,which mainly include the multilateral, regional, and bilateral agreements concerningthe protection of traditional cultural marks. Besides, this thesis also discloses theorigin and literature reviews for the traditional cultural marks, which is intended toimprove the protective measures for traditional cultural marks beyond the frameworkof TRIPS.The fourth part is the lessons China should draw from the research on theprotection of traditional cultural marks as international IPR. The followingsuggestions are provided to our country, which is a country with abundant culturalresources: In the multilateral level, cooperation should be strengthened in terms of theinternational IPR protection laws. Special attention should be given to the applicationof the flexibility clauses of TRIPS. In the bilateral and regional level, we should givefull play to the regional and bilateral laws, which will enhance the target for theprotection of traditional cultural marks. In the domestic level, a sound legal systemshould be established for the protection of traditional cultural marks. The legislationof the relevant laws should be accelerated and the existing laws for the protection ofIPR should be improved.