Geographical indications are effective. Remember these questions!

What is the magical effect of small geographical indications?

What should we pay attention to when applying for geographical indications?

……

Today, Xiaobian uses the following cases to tell you.

01. Landmark protection

Brief description of the case:

With the approval of the Trademark Office of the former State Administration for Industry and commerce, Wuchang rice Association (hereinafter referred to as Wuchang rice Association) has successively registered No. 1607996 "Wuchang Wuchang and Tu" trademark and No. 5789043 "Wuchang rice" trademark on category 30 "rice and rice products", both of which are certification trademarks. On April 27, 2012, "Wuchang Wuchang and Tu" trademark was recognized as a well-known trademark by the trademark office.

In March 2019, Wuchang rice association found that x Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as company X) sold the rice products involved with the words "Wuchang" and "Daohuaxiang" in its own market stores. Wuchang rice Association sued Company X to the court for infringement of trademark rights.

After hearing, the court held that the packaging bag of the products involved sold by X company was marked with the words "Wuchang" in a prominent way, which was the same as the words "Wuchang" in the main identification part of the two certification trademarks. The above use methods on the packaging of the products involved were enough to make the relevant public mistake the rice involved as "Wuchang rice", so as to misidentify the source and quality of rice. Accordingly, the defendant's behavior involved in the case constituted an infringement on the right of the certification trademark of "Wuchang rice" geographical indication.

Beijing hammer tips

The purpose of geographical indication certification trademark protection is to prevent consumers from misunderstandings about the real source and quality of goods, so that the special natural factors, human factors and the specific quality of goods formed by producers can be protected and continued. Therefore, compared with the ordinary trademark infringement based on whether the alleged infringement is easy to cause the relevant public to confuse the source of goods, the geographical indication certification trademark should also judge whether the alleged infringement is easy to cause the relevant public to misunderstand the origin and other specific qualities of goods.

02. Geographical indications shall comply with regulations

Brief description of the case:

Ziyang Branch of China trace element research association applied for the registration of "Ziyang selenium enriched CSE" geographical indication in category 42 "technical project research, quality control" and other services, It was rejected by the trademark administrative authority on the ground that "the evidence submitted failed to clearly describe the unique quality of the technical project research and other services designated for the use of the litigation trademark, nor was it sufficient to prove that the technical project research and other services designated for the use of the litigation trademark are necessarily related to the natural or human factors of the specific region of Ziyang".

After hearing, the court held that no matter from the subject qualification of Ziyang Branch or the specific quality of the designated use service of the litigation trademark, the litigation trademark did not meet the registration conditions as a geographical indication, so the judgment rejected the plaintiff's claim.

Beijing hammer tips

Geographical indications may be registered as collective trademarks or certification trademarks. According to the relevant laws and regulations of China, the registration of geographical trademarks as certification trademarks needs to meet the following three conditions:

1、 The specific quality, reputation or other characteristics of the goods or services specified in the trademark are related to natural or human factors in the region;

2、 The applicant's application has been approved by the people's Government of the relevant region or the competent department of the relevant industry;

3、 The applicant has the ability to supervise and manage the quality of specific goods or services pointed to by geographical indications.

03. Protect rights according to law as soon as possible

Brief description of the case:

"Magang goose" is a meat goose breed originated in Magang Town, Kaiping City, Guangdong Province. It has unique appearance, taste and flavor characteristics. It has been recognized as a geographical indication product of agricultural products.

The plaintiff Magang town agricultural comprehensive service center of Kaiping City is the qualified subject who can apply for the registration of the geographical indication of "Magang goose" after approval. However, the plaintiff found that a company in Guangzhou had registered the trade mark of "Jin Bao Ma Gang E and Tu" on category 31 "breeding poultry" and other commodities, so it filed an invalid application for the trademark.

After hearing, the court did not support all the reasons for invalidation raised by the plaintiff. The reason was only that the time when the plaintiff filed the application for invalidation was as long as five years from the time when the trademark in dispute was approved for registration, exceeding the five-year period stipulated by the law.

Beijing hammer tips

The specific user of a geographical indication trademark must come from the manufacturer or operator in the area indicated by the geographical indication. If there are other trademarks containing geographical indications in the first place, the later geographical indication trademark applicant may face the risk that the trademark cannot be approved for registration.

This requires that the applicant must actively plan and seriously deal with the application of geographical indication trademark, and pay close attention to removing the improper right obstacles that hinder the registration of geographical indication trademark within the five-year period stipulated by the law, so as to avoid the inability to register geographical indication trademark due to the limitation of time stipulated by the law.

geographical indication

It is a strong boost and protection for products with regional characteristics

It is also the image card of urban development

We should make good use of geographical indications~