Cui Ning

According to the 16th Article of China's Trademark Law, geographic indication identifies a particular good as originating in a region, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to the location's natural or human factors. Most commonly, a geographic indication lists the name of the good's place of origin.

In China, geographic indication protects such products as farm produce, food, traditional Chinese herbs, handicrafts and industrial products.

Meanwhile, commodities under protection of geographic indication include fruits, tea, rice, vegetables, poultry, flowers, yellow rice or millet wine, thick broad-bean, the fruit of Chinese wolfberry and porcelain, according to the Trademark Office of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC).

The administration now plans to encourage farmers to better protect their farm produce by applying geographic indication protection, China Daily learned from SAIC's Trademark Office.

Agricultural products typically have qualities that can be attributed to their place of production and are influenced by specific local factors, such as climate and soil.

China has many geographic indicated products, such as "Korla Pears" produced in Korla of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and "Fuling Hot Pickled Mustard Tuber" made in Fuling of Southwest China's Chongqing.

Trademark awareness on the rise

Over the years, more and more producers and dealers of agricultural products have come to realize the importance of trademark protection, according to the office.

The Fumin White Goose Breeding Company in Nanxi County of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, for example, registered the "Shuyuan" trademark for its 31 breeds of live poultry in 2001. The company has gained credit in the market for its trademark, and developed itself on a larger scale and helped raise the economic level of local farmers.

To date, the company has employed 4,000 households to breed geese, and the net incomes of each household have increased by an average of 2,500 yuan (US$301).

Latest statistics indicate that the country's agricultural products have registered more than 220,000 trademarks, accounting for 8 per cent of the country's total registered trademarks. Rice, flour, tea or tea-related drinks, animal fodder and crop seeds constitute the bulk of the total agricultural trademarks.

According to SAIC, general agricultural products include those produced by agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery industries. These products can all apply for trademark protection once they have registered their trademarks.

The Trademark Office said consumers have realized that buying goods with registered trademarks is also the best way to safeguard their own interests.

The trademark umbrella can help agricultural products establish good credit in the market and thus promote sales and further help fatten farmers' wallets.

But more efforts are needed to enhance farmers' awareness of trademark protection as they still lack trademark knowledge.

Geographic protection

In China, rural contracted business households and individual business people can all apply for trademark under their own names, as the Trademark Law stipulates that natural persons and legal entities or other organizations have the right to apply for trademark registration.

They can go directly to trademark administrations or trademark agencies for registration.

Whereas, applicants for geographic indications are required to be societies, professional associations, rather than producers or dealers of a certain product.

For example, the applicant for the geographic indication of "Turpan Grapes" is the Turpan Regional Grape Industry Association, not simply one single person.

The history of international geographic indication protection dates back to 1883, when the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was formed.

Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights under the World Trade Organization (WTO) requires WTO members to protect geographic indication. Protection on geographic indication is beneficial to conserving natural and human resources, and beneficial to maintaining producers' enthusiasm as well. This protection has been highly regarded throughout the world.

In China, farmers are the main producers of products with geographic indication characteristics, and thus to protect geographic indication is to protect farmers' interests, according to SAIC's Trademark Office.

In Zhangqiu of East China's Shandong Province, for example, green Chinese onions have been registered with the geographic indication "Zhangqiu Green Chinese onion" for two years. The incomes of farmers there have increased three times that of two years ago. The products have been exported to Japan and the Republic of Korea over the past two years.

China is a big agricultural country with a long history of various agricultural products. From 1994 to January of this year, SAIC's Trademark Office has received 300 applications for geographic indications from 20 provinces, municipalities or autonomous regions. "Hami Chinese Dates" of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, "Jingdezhen Porcelain" from East China's Jiangxi Province, "Shaoxing Yellow Rice Wine" of East China's Zhejiang Province, and other native products, have all played an active role in boosting regional economies.

According to SAIC's official Fan Hanyun, the current corresponding laws and regulations of the European Union include: regulations on protecting application of origin and geographic indication of food, agricultural products, grape wine and hard liquor.

In France, for example, applications of origin and geographic indication mainly protect lamb, chicken, cheese, butter, olive oil, red-peel garlic, apples, yellow plums and essential oils.

China listed geographic indication into the Trademark Law protection range in 1994. To date, the country has approved 110 applications of geographic indication, covering such products as pears, oranges, tangerines, shaddocks, tea, fireworks, porcelain, coal, stone carvings and mineral products.

Fan said China's protection range of geographic indication has exceeded that of the United States and European countries. Further studies are needed to define what kinds of products should be protected under geographic indication, and which should not be protected under this mark. Geographic indication protection doesn't mean protecting all random native products, he said.

SAIC's Vice-Director Li Dongsheng has called on regional industrial and commercial administrations to further treasure the role of geographic indication in helping protect farmers' interests and helping enlarge the exports of agricultural products.

According to Li, about 25 per cent of agricultural households in France benefit from products which are protected under geographic indication.

Many Chinese farmers have also gained similar benefits, said Li.

"Zhangzhou tangerines" produced in East China's Fujian Province, for example, have entered the markets of Southeast Asia, reaping huge gains with the geographic indication protection.

China has joined the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Madrid Protocol for International Registration of Trademarks, and other international trademark conventions.

This has created a favourable condition for China to better protect geographic indications, Li said.

Geographic indication protection has become an important issue in international trade and relations, now that many countries pay more attention to the issue to sharpen the competitiveness of their agricultural products, according to Li.

Li said China's entry to the WTO has created an agreeable climate for the country's agricultural products to be traded in world markets. But, on the other hand, the country's agricultural products will face fierce competition from foreign countries.

He said enhancing the protection on China's agricultural products with geographic indication is an effective way to help those products enter international markets.

Farmers should be well equipped with the geographic indication knowledge during the process of receiving updated farming skills, he added.

(China Daily 10/25/2004 page5)