The Regulation Of The Misuse Of Geographic Indications By Trade Mark Law

In TRIPS,geographic idications is a certain product from the territory of a member country,or some place and area,and its quality.With the strengthen of globalization and commercial communications between different countries and regions,geographic idications,as an important intangible property from seven intellectual properties ruled by TRIPS,has gained increasing trade worth.China 's Trademark Law Article 10,paragraph 2 provides: “The geographical names of the administrative divisions above the county level or the foreign place names known by the public shall not be used as trademarks.But,excpt for the place names that have other meanings or as part of a collective mark or certification mark.Trademarks which is already registered for the use of geographical names continue to be valid.”Besides,Trademark Law Article 16,paragraph 1 provides:“Trademark contains a geographical indication on the commodity which does not originate from the area marked by the mark and misleads the public,it shall not be registered and prohibited to use;Trademark registered in good faith continues to be effective.”This provision aboved is not consistent with international practice.The law restricts geographical names to administrative levels,which means to prohibit foreign geographical names above the county level or known by the public from using as trademarks.Such an approach would be detrimental to the protection of geographical indications containing names below the county level,and be against to the principles of China's trademark as well.In our country,the provisions of the trademark registration of geographical indications,either in legislation or in the design of the system,are different from the developed countries.Due to the disputescasused by geographical indications and registered trademark rights,the healthy development of socialist market economy is seriously affected in china.The first part of this article first through the case analysis,combined with the relevant laws and regulations of the specific provisions of China's "Trademark Law" on the improper use of geographical indications of the existence of the trademark disputes and issues,the "Trademark Law" will improper use of geographical indications as a trademark refused The relative reason for the registration is unreasonable.The second part elaborates the relevant theories of geographical indications and the reasons of trademark refusal,analyzes the basic attributes and characteristics of geographical indications,and points out the distinguishing standard of trademark refusal reason and deduces the improper use of geographical indications as the absolute reason for rejection of trademark.The third part is mainly the conclusion and the solution to the problems existing in the existing law,that is,the improper use of geographical indications is the public interest rather than personal interests,should not be used as a trademark reason for refusal,but should be regulated as an absolute reason.