Research On Judicial Determination Of Damages For Infringement Of Geographical Indication Trademarks

Geographical indications contain enormous economic value,and protecting them well plays a significant positive role in rural revitalization,promoting foreign trade diplomacy,protecting traditional culture,and enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises.At present,there are 6085 cases of geographical indications registered as collective trademarks and certification trademarks.With the increase in the number of geographical indication trademark registrations,there are also more and more cases of geographical indication trademark infringement.Therefore,reasonable judicial determination in compensation for geographical indication trademark infringement is even more important.On the one hand,it is necessary to protect the exclusive right of the right holder to use the geographical indication trademark and fill in the losses suffered by them due to infringement;On the other hand,it is necessary to impose appropriate punishment on the infringer and play a good educational role.Although the national legal provisions and relevant judicial interpretation are becoming more and more detailed,and the legal system is also becoming more and more perfect,the judicial determination in the case of geographical indication trademark infringement damages is still facing many difficulties.The first part of this article first introduces the research background and significance of geographical indications.By searching for a large amount of information,it summarizes the current situation of geographical indication protection at home and abroad,as well as the current situation of trademark infringement compensation at home and abroad.Secondly,it organizes the origin and development of geographical indications,legal characteristics,and the relationship between geographical indications and trademarks.Finally,it introduces the relevant theories of compensation for trademark infringement damages of geographical indications.The second part uses the method of empirical analysis to sort out 176 cases of geographical indication trademark infringement damage compensation,and classifies and counts relevant data according to seven parts,namely,time and region,plaintiff and defendant,plaintiff’s evidence,court judgment basis,reasonable use and determination,applicable compensation method,and compensation calculation method,and intuitively displays the data results with the help of tables and pie chart.The third part objectively reflects the difficulties faced by the judicial determination in the compensation for infringement of geographical indication trademarks through the analysis of data.On the one hand,in reality,there are difficulties in the plaintiff’s negligence in providing evidence on the amount of compensation for damages,obstacles in the application of compensatory compensation,deviation from the legislative intent of statutory compensation,and neglect of the influence of extralegal factors.On the other hand,there are unclear requirements for the application of punitive compensation at the institutional level The dilemma of incomplete application procedures for punitive damages,unclear positioning of statutory compensation functions,lack of unified application rules for statutory compensation,incomplete evidence rules,and incomplete compensation calculation process.The fourth part proposes improvement suggestions for the problems in the judicial determination of compensation for infringement of geographical indication trademarks,such as adjusting the application order of compensation methods,refining the conditions for the application of punitive compensation,standardizing the application of statutory compensation,improving the concept and method of determining the amount of compensation,and returning to compensatory compensation methods.