On The Legal Protection Of Geographical Indications In America

Geographical indications(GIs) is a significant tool to protect the goods which have specialties for the places where they originate. Since WTO/TRIPs has stipulated GIs as an intellectual property in 1994, the world began to pay great attention to it.The world began to protect GIs 100 year's ago. In the process of protecting GIs, each country forms her own style. Among those styles, the trademark style of America is a simple and effective one whose certification marks and collective marks are samples for other countries like China. Since GIs in China is not protected so early as other countries and just at the beginning, thus, there are some defects in legal system and its judicial practice. Under the background of world economy mixing together and the fast development of market economy in China, GIs becomes very important to protect the product quality and traditional products in China, as a result, it is necessary to study the experience of America in protecting GIs, especially its operating system at the international level.In addition to the introduction and conclusion, the essay is divided into four parts.The first part lines the history of protecting GIs in America and analyses the characteristics of each period, which paves the way to introduce its legal system both home and aboard thereafter.The second part gives an explicit introduction on the protection of GIs in America at its national level. The protection of GIs in America is mainly through the trademark law of 1946, which does not only regulate the relevant rules on GIs, but also stipulate the tools for the protection of GIs by certification marks and collective marks that are introduced separately. The alcohol and tobacco tax and trade bureau is the main institute to protect GIs in America, which divides the viticultural area into three designations of geographic significance. Although the protection of GIs is mainly through the trademark law of 1946 in America, the common law still plays its role in protecting GIs in the states, thus, the assay introduces the protection of GIs by common law in America at the end of this part as well.The third part analyses the protection of GIs in America at the international level by the bilateral agreements and the multilateral agreements the America singed in, which reflects the cooperating system of America.The last part puts forwards some suggestions to perfect the legal system of GIs in China, firstly, it is necessary to regulate the relevant definition of GIs and improve the level of law of GIs. Secondly, it is need to perfect the law on GIs and establish a harmonious legal system to protect GIs. Thirdly, it is necessary to establish a special system to protect the wine and spirit. The last but not the least important one is to enhance the exchanges with the international world and internationalize the protection of GIs in China.