Regulations on the protection of geographical indications for public comment
Time of issue: : 2020-09--27
On September 24, the State Intellectual Property Office published the draft provisions on the protection of geographical indications (Draft for comments) (hereinafter referred to as the draft for comments) and its amendment instructions to solicit opinions from all sectors of society. The draft has been revised in the current provisions on the protection of geographical indication products, in order to effectively protect geographical indications and ensure the quality and characteristics of geographical indication products.
The draft stipulates that any unit or individual that uses the product name or product description to cause the public to misunderstand the origin of the product, or uses special geographical indications (hereinafter referred to as special indications) or signs similar to special indications on the product without approval to cause the public to misunderstand, shall be dealt with in accordance with the product quality law of the people's Republic of China; The use of the product name of a protected geographical indication on the same or similar products outside the scope of origin constitutes an infringement, which shall be stopped and fined by the market supervision and administration department.
At the same time, the exposure draft defines the rights and obligations of multiple subjects. The application subject of geographical indications is the producer association or protection application institution designated by the people's government at or above the county level. After geographical indications are protected, the applicant shall take measures to manage the use of geographical indication product names and special signs, product quality characteristics, etc. Producers of geographical indication products have the right to use the names and special marks of geographical indication products, and shall organize production in accordance with corresponding standards or management norms. In addition to the corresponding obligations of the applicant and the producer, the local people's Government where the scope of origin is located shall establish and implement the product standard system, testing system and quality assurance system of protected geographical indications; The local intellectual property management department shall conduct daily supervision over the product quality characteristics and product standard compliance of protected geographical indications within its administrative region.
It is reported that the current regulations on the protection of geographical indication products were formulated and implemented by the former AQSIQ in 2005. The supporting normative document measures for the protection of foreign geographical indication products was issued in 2016 and revised in 2019. The above regulations and normative documents have played an important role in effectively protecting geographical indication products and promoting local economic development. By the end of June 2020, 2385 geographical indication products had been approved and 8811 enterprises had been approved to use special signs. (reporter Wu Ke)
(source: China Intellectual Property News)