Tourists enjoy the sights of Hutiaoxia, a 16-km gorge in the upper reaches of Yangtze River with a 1,500-meter fall from the top of the gorge. The name of the famous scenic spot in Southwest China's Yunnan province was registered as a trademark by someone in Harbin, in the most northern province of Heilongjiang. Asianewsphoto

A beautiful scenic spot brings not only pleasure to travelers, but also huge profits to local service businesses. But, be careful! Some interests located far away from the scenic spot may have already registered the place's name as a trademark to claim the rights of its future commercial development.

Gao Fei, a resident in Harbin, capital of North China's Heilongjiang province, is one such person.

Gao said he used the names of six well-known scenic spots in Southwest China's Yunnan province to register trademarks at the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) last year for development of tiny landscapes to attract tourists.

The scenic spots for which Gao has registered trademarks include Yunshanping, a famous grassland in virgin spruce forests 3,240 meters above sea level, Hutiaoxia, a 16-km gorge in the upper reaches of Yangtze River with a 1,500-meter fall from the top of the gorge, Yushuishan, famous for its rich fountain, and others.

Gao's trademarks are an embarrassment to the Yunnan provincial government, and he has been in the spotlight of both the government and local industry since early last year.

Industry experts say well-known local tourism resources need the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), and such protection is also a kind of investment for the future in a broad sense.

In a recent interview with China Intellectual Property News, a national newspaper under the State Intellectual Property Office, Gao said he didn't receive any counter declarations from the province during the three months of publicity in accordance with the SAIC request for registration of his scenic spots-related trademarks. The trademarks have a lifespan of 10 years, from April 2008 to April 2018.

Those trademarks' business scope involves cargo and passenger transportation, travel services, property leasing, kindergarten, training, conferencing, library, media and ad publication, zoos and other recreation activity.

Zhou Li, a division head of the IPR office of the Yunnan provincial government, said scenic-related trademarks represent a painful lesson for the government, which should immediately strengthen its IPR protection of both the province's rich natural and tourism resources.

"I didn't say that I'll sell the scenic-related trademarks," Gao said. "But I wouldn't exclude the possibility of leasing the use rights of those trademarks."

The SAIC said Gao and his scenic-related trademarks are under the protection of the relevant law since he got the official registration.

Many natural resources in Yunnan province have been registered as trademarks by both locals and outsiders, said the provincial administration of industry and commerce. Strengthening IPR protection requires corresponding economic development and awareness among the officials of all local government departments, say officials.

Yunnan is a comparatively underdeveloped province, with its gross domestic product totaling about 500 billion yuan, a sharp contrast from Beijing's GDP of more than 1 trillion yuan, or Shanghai's 1.2 trillion yuan GDP.

Along with rapid tourism development, Yunnan is now attaching primary importance to the IPR protection of its local natural resources. Its government is considering leasing the using rights of unregistered scenic resources to local businesses as an investment in future commercial development.

Industrial experts say Gao's activity is widely called a sort of "freebooting". However, it also serves as a good lesson for the local government to no longer let the grass grow under its feet.

In addition, trademark infringement cases are increasing every year, and as a result fines from the cases can cause heavy economic losses for violators.

According to SAIC statistics, China investigated 56,634 trademark infringement cases in 2008, up 12.55 percent from the previous year. These included 45,492 domestic cases and 11,142 foreign-related ones, up 13.74 percent and 7.97 percent, respectively.

Fines from the cases reached 467 million yuan, up 11.92 percent from the previous year, while 137 trademark-related criminal cases and 145 suspects were handed over to judicial organs, according to the SAIC.

Industry and commerce authorities across the country handled 5,858 cases involving the trademark rights of Olympic symbols last year. These cases involved 34.84 million yuan in value, with total fines of 29.76 million yuan.

In 2008, industrial and commercial administrative organs at all levels dealt with 11,474 trademark complaints, accounting for 20.26 percent of trademark-related cases. A total of 10,124 cases were involved with infringement or counterfeiting, accounting for 88.23 percent of the total number. A total of 3,490 cases were foreign-related complaints, accounting for 30.42 percent.

Guangdong ranked first, with 1,561 cases, followed by Zhejiang, Beijing, Fujian, Hebei and Henan. Complaints investigated by the above-mentioned six provinces totaled 6,176, or 53.83 percent of the national total.

(China Daily 03/30/2009 page11)