Analysis On The Causes Of The Conflict And Countermeasures Between Geographical Indications And Trademarks Of Geographical Names In China

Since the?Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ? clearly defined the protection of geographical indications,the protection of geographical indications has increasingly become one of the hot issues in the international intellectual property field.As a party to the?Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights?,our country has also launched a geographical indication protection work,but from the macro perspective,geographical indications related legislation in our country started later than other countries and regions,theoretical research is not deep enough,existing legislation loopholes.From a microscopic point of view,both geographical indications and trademarks of geographical names contain the same geographical names.Therefore,after the geographical indications that were later eligible for registration were approved for registration,there was a conflict with the previously registered trademarks of geographical names.The holders of trademarks of geographical names and holders of geographical indications in order to safeguard their own interests,and firmly defend their rights,will lead to conflicts.Through analyzing the typical cases of the conflict between the geographical indications and the trademarks of geographical names in our country,this paper explores the causes of the conflicts and puts forward some countermeasures to solve them.This paper is divided into there parts: In the first part,the author chooses a typical case--Qin zhou Yellow Millet,briefly introduces the case,through the study of the Court's judgement to sum up the controversy focus of the case,in the process of analyzing the controversy focus,In the process of analyzing the focus of the dispute,the concept of geographical indications and trademarks of geographical names appeared in the case was introduced.The concept of geographical indications was explicitly proposed in the?Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights?for the first time,Our country has defined the concepts of geographical indications,geographical indication products and geographical indications ofagricultural products in the ?Trademark Law??Provisions on the Protection of Geographical Indications Products?and?Measures for the Administration of Geographical Indications of Agricultural Products ?.The concept of trademarks of geographical names is formed spontaneously in our country,which has a great similarity with geographical indications in some aspects.This part intends to use the case-division method to explore the conflict between geographical indications and trademarks of geographical names in China.The second part,based on the case of the first part,explores the causes of conflicts between geographical indications and trademarks of geographical names in our country.There are four reasons : the object of protection is overlapping,historical problems,the existing law is imperfect and the administrative system is confused.The third part is the focus and foothold of this paper,through the foreshadowing of the first two sections,on the basis of reference to the foreign advanced legislative experience,the author combined with the situation of our country to solve the conflict between geographical indications and trademarks of geographical names put forward the following countermeasures: adhering to the principle of "balancing rights,taking into account interests",revising some provisions of the current? Trademark Law ?,formulating a special ? Protection of Geographical Indications ? and combining with the current State Council's institutional reform plan put forward the author's idea of reforming the geographical Indication management institution.