Build a rights protection green channel for landmark products

Geographical indication products and certification trademarks are the "golden signboard" for enriching people's development. Up to now, there are 86 geographical indication protection products and 125 geographical indication certification trademarks in our province. Geographical indications have achieved remarkable results in promoting the development of industries with regional characteristics and driving the people to increase income and become rich. However, intellectual property disputes such as product counterfeiting and trademark infringement follow. Strengthening the protection of geographical indications has become the focus of relevant enterprises and practitioners. From now on, this newspaper will launch a series of reports on "Shaanxi geographical indication Sanqin travel", which will dig and report on the development of geographical indication brands and industries in our province, as well as the constraints in the development.

There are three "Baijiu" in Fengxiang, Baoji: East Lake willows, Xifeng Liquor and girl hands, respectively, which refer to willow, Feng Xiang liquor, Xifeng Liquor and folk handicrafts represented by clay sculpture. In 2003, Xifeng Liquor was approved to implement the protection of products with geographical origin and became a well-known product with geographical indications. In 2014, the geographical indication certification trademark of "Fengxiang clay sculpture and map" was approved, and Liuying village, Fengxiang County became "the first clay sculpture village in China".

Geographical indications are like a resounding business card, which leads Xifeng wine to be famous and Fengxiang clay sculpture to shine. In addition, Qishan saozi noodles, a famous geographical indication certification trademark in Sanqin, constitutes the new "three wonders" of Xifu geographical indications. From July 3 to 5, the reporter visited relevant towns, villages and enterprises on the spot and found that the use of geographical indications has made the products with regional characteristics famous, and the industrial development has driven into the fast lane, but the counterfeiting and selling of fake products also follow, and the businesses are not disturbed by it. It is urgent for the relevant government departments to strengthen the anti-counterfeiting and rights protection of geographical indication products and explore the path of rapid and efficient dispute resolution.

Geographical indication "turning stone into gold"

Craft activity breeds the industry of enriching the people

On the afternoon of July 4, Hu Xiaohong, the representative inheritor of Fengxiang clay sculpture of intangible cultural heritage, showed a "family heirloom" at home: the clay sculpture "sitting tiger" made by his father and Chinese arts and Crafts Master Hu Shen in 1991. Although polished by years, "sitting tiger" is still colorful.

"This is a gift from my father when my son is at the full moon." Hu Xiaohong carefully wiped the "sitting tiger", and her eyes were full of happiness. That year, my father made this clay sculpture by hand, and my mother painted flowers for it, while she painted it by hand. Hu Xiaohong said: "this is the work of the whole family."

In 2006, Fengxiang clay sculpture was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. In 2014, the geographical indication certification trademark of "Fengxiang clay sculpture and picture" applied by Fengxiang County Cultural Center was successfully approved. Fengxiang clay sculpture has gradually moved towards industrialization, with more than 200 varieties.

"The approval of geographical indication certification trademark is an improvement of the brand for Fengxiang clay sculpture and is conducive to the inheritance of skills." Hu Xiaohong said that at present, her biggest wish is to restore all of her father's more than 300 works and inherit the precious craft.

In Liuying village, Fengxiang County, a group of Arts and crafts masters and representatives of inheritors not only inherited the traditional craft of clay sculpture, but also taught the skills to the villagers. At present, 70% of the farmers in the village are engaged in clay sculpture production, which has become an important way to increase villagers' income. Relying on Fengxiang clay sculpture, Fengxiang county has also built a characteristic folk village of Liuying integrating clay sculpture making experience, eating, drinking, playing and living.

"Qishan saozi noodles" is also a representative geographical indication certification trademark of Baoji City. In 2008, Qishan saozi noodles were listed in the intangible cultural heritage of Shaanxi Province. In 2011, "Qishan saozi mian" geographical indication certification trademark was successfully approved, and the industrial development entered the fast lane.

Yu Hong, the inheritor of the making technology of Qishan saozi noodles, has been sparing no effort to promote the traditional making technology. The Qishan meiyang Pavilion she manages is an old store with a history of more than 100 years, driving the income of more than 2000 surrounding farmers. Now, the store of Qishan meiyang pavilion has been opened to Xi'an. Recently, she also applied for a registered trademark in the United States to open Qishan saozi noodle store abroad.

In order to promote the development and growth of Qishan saozi noodles industry, Qishan County has established a leading group to promote the "three modernizations" of Qishan saozi noodles to promote the branding, industrialization and marketization of Qishan saozi noodles. After more than a year of construction, the first phase of saozimian cultural industrial park has been fully completed, with a total investment of 20 million yuan. In the next step, the project will complete the construction of a series of product production lines for packaged saozi noodles, dry (wet) noodles, snacks and other saozi noodles, and realize the online and offline sales of major supermarkets and e-commerce across the country, so as to drive the expansion and strengthening of Qishan saozi noodles industry.

"Li Kui" and "Li Gui" are indistinguishable

There are troubles in combating counterfeiting and safeguarding rights of landmark products

"Shefeng liquor", "Xihuang liquor" and "Fengjiu liquor"... On the morning of July 4, Qi Hongjun, director of the anti counterfeiting Office of Xifeng Liquor Co., Ltd., pointed to the numerous counterfeit liquor in front of him and told reporters with indignation that with the gradual launch of Xifeng Liquor Brand, there are more and more violations of rights "near famous brands" in the market. Now, the investment of enterprises in safeguarding their rights and combating counterfeiting every year is about 20 million yuan.

In fact, the brand protection of "Xifeng wine" has been started more than 10 years ago. In 2003, Xifeng Liquor passed the examination and approval, and was officially listed as the product of national geographical origin protection, becoming the first geographical indication product in our province. In 2004, the national standard of Xifeng wine, a product protected by region of origin, was issued.

Geographical indication product protection is an advanced method of management in accordance with international practice, which makes detailed provisions on the geographical coordinates and protection scope of the product producing area. Passing the examination and approval of national standards is not only the protection of government behavior for the comprehensive management system of Xifeng Liquor, but also an effective extension of intellectual property protection. It is of great significance to carry forward traditional crafts and crack down on fake and shoddy products.

Xifeng Liquor Co., Ltd. has invested a lot of human and material resources to build a strategic alliance for brand rights protection, establish a rights protection network, strengthen the protection of brand assets and intellectual property rights, and strengthen the registration of core trademarks together with trademark professional agencies to ensure that the brand is not infringed by infringement, rush registration, malicious imitation and so on.

"I'm not afraid of fake wine, but I'm afraid of counterfeit wine." Qi Hongjun said that counterfeit wine has been perplexing the development of Xifeng wine. Small workshops for counterfeiting liquor are generally very hidden. When investigating, law enforcement officers often face the dilemma of no scene and no bills. Even if they seize the current situation, they can only give administrative punishment. The low illegal cost makes the illegal small workshops have no fear. If they end a point, they will immediately change places, change their heads and reopen again.

Qishan saozi also "sympathizes" with the trouble of fighting counterfeiting and safeguarding rights of Xifeng wine. As Baoji saozi noodle industry is dominated by traditional manual production and small store operation, practitioners lack awareness of intellectual property rights. Therefore, after Qishan saozi became famous, all kinds of counterfeits and stores followed.

"According to statistics, the annual sales of the national saozi noodles industry is about 1 billion yuan, but the annual sales of relevant enterprises in Qishan County is only 125 million yuan, that is to say, most of the market share of Qishan saozi noodles is occupied by non authentic products." Wu Weizhong, director of Qishan County market supervision and Administration Bureau, said that strengthening the protection of geographical indication certification trademarks and intellectual property rights is an inevitable choice for Qishan saozi noodles to be branded, industrialized and market-oriented.

Escort the development of geographical indication industry

"Speed up" of rapid protection of intellectual property rights

During the visit, the reporter learned that more and more enterprises and traditional craft inheritors began to pay attention to intellectual property issues such as trademarks, patents and geographical indications of origin, hoping to improve the popularity and brand influence of enterprises through the use of intellectual property rights, and escort new products, new processes and new technologies in time.

"At present, the fight against counterfeiting and safeguarding rights of Xifeng Liquor mainly rely on administrative law enforcement and judicial protection." Qi Hongjun told reporters that after administrative law enforcement, counterfeit products are resurgent, and it is difficult to obtain evidence in cases through legal proceedings. It is often difficult to win a lawsuit, but it is difficult to implement it, and the cost of protecting rights of enterprises is too high.

How to strengthen the anti-counterfeiting and rights protection of geographical indication products within the existing legal framework and quickly and efficiently solve disputes in the field of intellectual property is not only the focus of enterprises, but also an important work of the competent department of intellectual property.

"The handling of intellectual property infringement disputes involves not only relevant laws and regulations, but also the professional and technical content of intellectual property. The introduction of expert witness system in administrative handling or litigation is a good way to improve the level of intellectual property protection." Gou Hongdong, director of Baoji intellectual property service center, said that in the specific work of intellectual property protection cases such as cracking down on counterfeiting and safeguarding the rights of geographical indication products, joint enterprises can set up an intellectual property protection center, give full play to the advantages of expert team's familiarity with law and technology, improve the efficiency of case handling and ensure the objective and fair results.

Industry experts suggested that relevant government departments and enterprises should improve their ideological understanding, attach great importance to the protection, development and utilization of geographical indication products, clarify the concepts of intellectual property rights such as trademarks, patents and geographical indications of origin, do a good job in the management and application of geographical indications, and eliminate counterfeiting from the source. In addition, we should strengthen the follow-up supervision of geographical indication products, strictly investigate and deal with the counterfeiting and shoddy products of geographical indications and the infringement of geographical indication products, so as to create a good environment for industrial development.

Gou Hongdong said that according to the requirements of the institutional reform of the State Council, the competent intellectual property department is uniformly responsible for the registration and administrative adjudication of trademarks, patents and geographical indications of origin. The institutional reform has solved the problems of separate management and repeated law enforcement, and also provided a new opportunity for the effective protection of geographical indications of origin. We should establish a judicial confirmation system for intellectual property disputes and administrative mediation, strengthen the effectiveness of administrative rulings and mediation agreements, form a "green channel" for rapid protection of intellectual property rights, and provide guarantee for strengthening the industry and expanding the market of geographical indication products.