Research On Judgment Rules For The Determination Of Infringement Of Geographical Indication Certification Marks

With the rapid development of China’s agricultural industrialization,the high added value and scarcity of characteristic agricultural products have gradually been revealed,and the malicious climbing of geographical indication certification trademarks has increased accordingly,resulting in frequent infringement cases of such trademarks.On the one hand,China’s geographical indications-related system started late,and although a number of relevant laws and regulations have been issued,they have not yet distinguished the infringement of such trademarks from ordinary trademarks,that is,they have not clearly stipulated whether "confusion" or "misidentification" is the criterion for infringement of such trademarks.On the other hand,the infringement of geographical indications and certification marks constitutes an infringement of the trademark.On the other hand,one of the constituent elements of the geographical indication trademark,"geographical name",has strong public attributes,and restricting the use of geographical names will lead to a conflict between the private rights of trademark rights holders in the place of origin and the collective rights of general production operators in the place of origin.At present,China’s law has not yet clearly stipulated the elements of proper use of such trademarks.In judicial practice,the courts have different ideas on the determination of such trademark infringement and proper use,and there are many cases of different judgments,which will hinder the right holders from exercising their rights in accordance with laws and regulations.In order to adapt to economic development and avoid the dilution and generalization of such trademarks in the process of actual use,there is an urgent need to clarify the aforementioned issues,so as to balance social public interests and maintain free competition space while guaranteeing the exercise of corresponding rights by the right holders of such trademarks.This thesis analyze the issue and put forward corresponding suggestions from four parts.In the first chapter,the infringement of geographical indications is analyzed,the source,the subject of rights and the characteristics of rights of such trademarks are analyzed,and the specific reasons for the conflict of interests between trademark owners and other producers and operators are explained.Chapter 2,analyzes the general situation of such trademark infringement cases in judicial practice in the past five years and the controversial focus of typical cases and court opinions,classifies the sample cases from the perspectives of infringement determination and legitimate use defense,and summarizes and concludes the factors leading to different judgments of the same case in such cases.Chapter 3 introduces the international treaties,the United States and Germany on geographical indications protection system and infringement determination and proper use,and proposes the significance and inspiration for China’s relevant system by analyzing the overseas experience.Chapter 4 analyzes and summarizes the problems of the current legal protection system of geographical indications in China,and puts forward specific suggestions from the legislative and judicial aspects,namely,unifying and harmonizing the legal system of geographical indications and improving the relevant provisions,clarifying that the judgment standard of infringement determination should be based on the expanded confusion theory,and refining the constitutive elements of legitimate use.