Due to different attitudes towards the protection of geographical indications in various countries, coordinated actions have been taken internationally. The Paris Convention of 1883 was the first to include geographical indications in the scope of industrial property protection, and made some substantive provisions on the counterfeiting of geographical indications. The Agreement on Sanctions on False or Deceptive Indications of Origin of Goods of 1891 made specific provisions on prohibiting the use of counterfeit geographical indications to carry out unfair competition. The Lisbon Agreement of 1958 stipulated the international registration procedures for geographical indications. Later, in the framework of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, geographical indications were considered as one of the intellectual property rights related to trade. There are 3 articles in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights on geographical indications: Article 22, provisions and comments on general protection of geographical indications; Article 23, additional protection of geographical indications for wines and spirits; Article 24, exceptions to the protection of geographical indications.
Article 22, paragraph 1, of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights provides: “For the purposes of this Agreement, geographical indications are signs indicating that a good originates from the territory of a Member, or from a region or locality within that territory, and that the specific quality, reputation or other characteristics of the good are essentially associated with that geographical origin.”
Article 22, paragraph 2, of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights provides: “With respect to geographical indications, Members shall provide legal measures to enable interested parties to prevent the following acts: (a) any form of use that indicates, whether expressly or impliedly, that the goods in question originate from a place other than their true origin and is sufficient to mislead the public as to the origin of the goods; or (b) any form of use that would constitute unfair competition in accordance with Article 10bis of the 1967 Act of the Paris Convention.” This provision actually requires members to stop acts that violate the first aspect of the requirements of geographical indications (counterfeiting the origin of goods indicated by the geographical indication).
Article 22, paragraph 3 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights provides: “If a trademark contains or is combined with a geographical indication of a good, and the good does not originate from the region indicated by the indication, and the use of the indication in the trademark to indicate the good is of such a nature as to mislead the public in the territory of the Member not to identify the true place of origin, then, if permitted by legislation, the Member shall reject or cancel the registration of the trademark ex officio, or at the request of an interested party.” This provision clarifies the rule that a registered trademark shall not conflict with a geographical indication. Because both are intellectual property rights, the effectiveness of each right must be determined according to the order in which the rights are generated after a conflict occurs. The geographical indication was generated first, so the effectiveness of the registered trademark that conflicts with it should naturally be denied.
Article 22, paragraph 4 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights provides: “If a geographical indication, although it indicates the geographical area, region or place of origin of the goods literally, still misleads the public into thinking that the goods originate from another region, the above three paragraphs of this Article shall apply.” This provision actually requires that the use of place names should be carried out in a manner determined by the principle of good faith in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of geographical indication right holders.