What Is a Geotag?

The World Trade Organization s definition of a geographical indication in the intellectual property agreement on trade is that a geographical indication is a mark that identifies a product originating in the territory of a member state or a region or a place in that territory, Reputation or other identified characteristics should be determined primarily by their place of origin. Therefore, geographical indications are mainly used to identify the origin of a product, that is, the origin of the product. Geographical indications are also a type of intellectual property.

Geographical indication

On October 16, the State Intellectual Property Office issued an official sign for the exclusive use of geographical indications.

Geographical indication

In China, there are currently three national departments that register, register and manage geographical indications. SAIC

The first national geographical indication research work started in 2003, and the first national geographical indication research report was completed and released in 2005.

The second National Geographical Indications Research Report was released at the "2011 Geographical Indications Protection and Development Experience Exchange and the Second National Geographical Indications Research Report Conference" held in Beijing on January 15, 2011.

The third national geographical indication investigation is underway.

The current legislation of China on geographical indications has insufficient private law protection, that is, the rights of the parties are insufficiently protected, the level of law established is low, and the protection of geographical indications by economic law is limited to the concept of "origin". The clear concept of geographical indications is not provided. Criminal law It is not even mentioned about geographical indications. China's "Trademark Law" clearly stipulates the concept of geographical indications, but in economic law, not only does not have an accurate concept of geographical indications, and even the four words of geographical indications are not mentioned, and The simple word of "origin" only allows us to protect geographical indications from the perspective of broad indications of origin. At this stage, China can improve the protection of geographical indications from the following aspects:

China has included geographical indications since 1994

Since China joined the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1980 and the Paris Convention in 1985, the Office has actively participated in the formulation and exchange of international geographical indication laws. The meeting of the Standing Committee on the Law of Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications, on behalf of the Chinese government, issued opinions on the registration and protection of geographical indications, and asserted China's rights and interests in the field of international intellectual property.

At the China-US Symposium on Trademark and Copyright Issues in 2000, the Trademark Office of our Office and the US Patent and Trademark Office exchanged information on the protection standards for geographical indications in the TRIPS Agreement.

In 2001, during the WTO accession negotiations between our country and Mexico, on behalf of our country, our Office promised to protect Mexican tequila geographical indication products in accordance with our laws.

In 2004, SIPO and the European Union implemented the Sino-European Intellectual Property Cooperation S2 Project (Trademarks and Geographical Indications), and held an international seminar on geographical indications under this project.

In May 2005, SIPO and Australia jointly held the "China-Australia Geographical Indications Seminar" project.

In November 2005, SIPO and the World Intellectual Property Organization jointly held a "Seminar on Strategic Use of Trademarks to Promote Economic and Rural Development" to exchange experiences on the use of agricultural product trademarks and geographical indications to promote rural development. Sign exhibition of work results.

In December 2005, SIPO and the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand signed the "Special Action Plan for Sino-Thailand Geographical Indication Activities".

In May 2006, the Office and the US Patent and Trademark Office jointly held a "China-US Geographical Indications Protection Seminar".

In June 2007, the Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization jointly held the "World Geographical Indications Conference" in Beijing. Wu Yi, then Vice Premier of the State Council, and Rubio, Special Envoy of the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, attended the conference and delivered speeches. During the meeting, an exhibition of China's geographical indication work results was also held. The World Intellectual Property Organization believes that this meeting fully demonstrates the government's commitment to the strengthening and promotion of the intellectual property system, and in particular the importance it attaches to the protection of geographical indications.

At the end of November 2009, SIPO and the World Intellectual Property Organization jointly held the "International Symposium on Geographical Indications in the Asia-Pacific Region" in Chongqing. Fu Shuangjian, Deputy Director General of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and Wang Binying, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization attended the meeting and delivered speeches. . The purpose of this conference is to strengthen international cooperation and exchange of geographical indications, and jointly discuss the legal system of geographical indications, the registration, application and protection of geographical indications, and the successful experience of promoting rural economic and social development. During and after the conference, exhibitions on the achievements of China's geographical indications were held in Chongqing and Beijing, respectively.

In addition, the Trademark Office of the SIPO has also organized delegations to visit European, American, and Asian countries on several occasions to exchange work experience on geographical indication protection systems. Extensive international exchanges and cooperation have made China's legal system and practice of protecting geographical indications in the form of trademark laws known and appreciated by the international community.

Through more than two decades of protection work practices, China has successfully established and improved a legal system for protecting geographical indications with collective and certification marks, making geographical indications an important means for governments at all levels in China to help farmers increase income and promote economic development. At the special historical moment when the nation s comprehensive promotion of the implementation of the trademark strategy has achieved phased results, the Trademark Office has completed three years of trademark registration to resolve the backlog, and the number of geographical indication trademark registrations and preliminary approvals has exceeded 1,000, all staff of the Trademark Office will continue to unify their thinking, Clarify tasks, strengthen confidence, and resolutely do a good job in the protection and protection of geographical indications in accordance with the "Trademark Law", and make new and larger efforts to protect the legal rights and interests of registrants, promote the development of geographical indications, and actively serve the work of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers". contribution! ^[3]

Geographical Indication Certification Mark

Controlled by an organization that has the ability to detect and supervise a certain good or service, and used by others outside of it to prove the origin of the goods or services, raw materials, manufacturing methods, quality, accuracy or other specific Quality trademark.