Research On The Protection Of Traditional Knowledge By Geographical Indications

In the era of knowledge-based economy,traditional knowledge,as an important symbol of cultural soft power in a country,has great social value and rich spiritual connotation,and has been recognized by more and more countries.Although some traditional knowledge can be protected under the current intellectual property right system,a large number of traditional knowledge is excluded from the legal protection because of the restriction of subject and object.As a new type of intellectual property rights listed in TRIPS agreement,geographical indications can fit well with traditional knowledge in many aspects,playing an important role in the protection of traditional knowledge and becoming one of the effective protection methods,which need to be paid attention to.Under the background of the current international discussion on the protection of traditional knowledge and geographical indications,this paper takes the protection of traditional knowledge by geographical indications as the research theme,and combines with the protection and practice of Chinese and foreign legislation,exploring the use of geographical indications to provide protection to traditional knowledge in order to make up for the shortcomings of existing intellectual property rights.And putting forward some suggestions in view of the specific protection situation of our country to strengthen the protection of traditional knowledge and promote the further development of related issues.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the article is divided into four parts,the main content is as follows.The first part is an overview of traditional knowledge.On the basis of reviewing and analyzing the definition of traditional knowledge given by relevant international organizations and scholars,summarize the common characteristics and covering categories of traditional knowledge,and Try to make a new definition of traditional knowledge.In addition,this paper introduces the biopagiarism and the crisis of inheritance faced by the protection of traditional knowledge to point out the urgency of its protection.The second part introduces the protection of traditional knowledge by the international community.This paper mainly selects some representative international organizations and countries,introducing their exploration around the protection of traditional knowledge and analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of their protection for traditional knowledge to provide reference for our country.At the same time,pointing out that the current intellectual property system has been widely used by International community as a legal protection tool for traditional knowledge.On this basis,analyzing the limitations of traditional intellectual property such as copyright,patent and trade secret in protecting traditional knowledge to laying the groundwork for the selection of geographical indications to protect traditional knowledge.The third part is the legitimacy of geographical indications to protect traditional knowledge.This part mainly discusses from three angles: firstly,introduces the multi-party concordance between geographical indications and traditional knowledge,which can effectively make up for the deficiency of the protection provided by Intellectual property rights,having obvious advantages.Secondly,answers some questions about geographical indications cannot protect traditional knowledge to demonstrate the feasibility of protecting traditional knowledge by geographical indications.Finally,selects some successful practice of protecting traditional knowledge by geographical indications and expounds their effectiveness.The fourth part is a reflection on the protection of traditional knowledge by geographical indications in China.After analyzing the present situation of the protection of traditional knowledge by geographical indications in China,it is suggested that the special legislation of geographical indications should be carried out with reference to the legislative experience of the European Union,and the protection of geographical indications should be strengthened to provide better protection for traditional knowledge.At the same time,according to the specific contents of the international TRIPS agreement,this paper puts forward some suggestions on the object,level andexception of the protection of traditional knowledge by geographical indications,so as to fully explore the potential utility of geographical indications in the protection of traditional knowledge.