The name is the asset

Most trademark work is about a name the owner invented. A geographical indication is the opposite: the name points at a place, and the value sits in the link between the two. For a brand owner selling tea, wine, ham or ceramics under a name that identifies where it comes from, China runs a registration route that protects the name itself.

The working rules of that route were consolidated in the Measures for the Protection of Geographical Indication Products, published as CNIPA Order No. 80 on 29 December 2023 and in force from 1 February 2024. The Measures run to 36 provisions, and what follows is drawn from CNIPA's own explanation of them.

Two instruments now deal with the subject. Where the Measures and the 2005 Rules on the Protection of Geographical Indication Products differ on recognition, management and protection, the Measures apply; administrative enforcement continues to follow the Rules.

What a geographical indication product has to be

The Measures define a geographical indication product as one produced in a defined territory whose quality, reputation or other characteristics are essentially attributable to the natural and human factors of that place. Two categories fall inside it: products grown or bred in the region, and products whose raw materials come wholly, or partly, from elsewhere but which are produced and processed in the region under a specific technique.

Four attributes then have to be met, each with its own definition in the Measures:

  • Authenticity — the name has been used continuously over a long period and is generally known to the public.
  • Territoriality — all, or the main part, of the production steps take place within the defined area.
  • Specificity — the product has a relatively distinct quality character, a particular reputation, or other characteristics.
  • Linkage — that specificity is determined by the natural and human factors of the place.

The four are cumulative, and none of them is settled by a map alone. Authenticity is a documentary question: continuous use of the name has to be evidenced, which is why the material a region gathers matters well before an application is prepared.

The scale is not marginal. As at the end of June 2023, CNIPA had approved 2,498 geographical indication products, and more than 25,000 business entities had been authorised to use the special mark. Geographical indications are treated as an object of intellectual property, and the special mark is protected as an official sign under the trademark system.

Who may apply, and where objection sits

The applicant is not the producer. An application is filed by a people's government at county level or above, or by a representative social organisation or protection-application body that government designates. A single factory, an exporter or a foreign rights holder does not file in its own name — which changes how a brand owner abroad works with a region it buys from.

Recognition is not automatic once the file is complete. The Measures set out the situations in which it is not given, including where the name is merely the generic term for the product, where it is someone else's registered or well-known unregistered trademark and would mislead the public, where it duplicates an already-protected indication or an approved plant variety name so that the public would be misled about origin, and where the product or its technique breaches safety, hygiene or environmental requirements.

One structural feature is easy to miss: the objection procedure sits after the technical examination, not before it — an ordering the office adopted so that examination is not interrupted by challenges that turn out to be unfounded. A request that arrives outside the period allowed, or that does not set out its reasons, is not accepted.

Changes, and taking protection away

Once protection is granted, the record is not frozen. A variation application goes to the office, and the Measures split variations into two tiers. Refinements that update or complete the protection requirements, without changing the quality characteristics, the product form, the name or the area of origin, are examined as a variation of those requirements. Changes to the main content — the name, the area of origin, the quality characteristics or the product form — go further: the expert review committee carries out a technical examination, a preliminary variation announcement is published, and the variation is then announced.

Protection can also be removed. From the date the recognition announcement is published, any entity or individual may request revocation, provided the request states reasons and is supported by evidence; a request that gives no reasons is not accepted. The grounds include a name that has become generic, a name not used in production or sale for a continuous period of three years, changed natural or human factors that leave the quality characteristics impossible to guarantee and hard to restore, breaches of law or of the public interest, and protection obtained by deception or other improper means. The office examines the request, issues a decision, and publishes a revocation announcement where protection is revoked.

Producers, the special mark, and what counts as misuse

Two duties run alongside the registration. The applicant is expected to manage the use of the name and the special mark, and the characteristic quality of the product, after protection is granted. Producers are expected to organise production in line with the relevant standards, and no one else may use the protected name or the special mark without authorisation.

The consequence of falling out of step is specific: a producer that does not produce to the standard and does not correct the position within the time allowed loses the registration permitting use of the special mark, and the office publishes that outcome. The same follows where a licence or production permit is cancelled or withdrawn, where the producer moves out of the area of origin or stops making the product, or where the special mark goes unused for a continuous period without correction.

On the protection side, the Measures name the conduct they treat as misuse: using the protected name on identical or similar products outside the area of origin; using a similar name outside the area in a way that misleads the public; using the protected name on products made inside the area that do not meet the relevant standards and management norms; and imitating or forging the special mark. The point that an origin claim is no defence is written into the rule — using the protected name outside the area is caught even where the true origin is stated, and even where a translated name or a qualifier such as "kind", "type" or "style" is added. Selling such products is covered too.

None of this displaces the trademark route, which is designed to sit alongside it. But for a product whose value is the place, this is the register that records it, and the file behind it is a documentary exercise as much as a legal one.

Frequently asked questions

Who applies for geographical indication product protection in China?

An application is filed by a people's government at county level or above, or by a representative social organisation or protection-application body that the government designates. A producer, an exporter or a foreign rights holder does not file in its own name, so for a brand owner abroad the work runs through the region and the body that represents it rather than through the company that sells the product.

What does a product have to show before it is recognised?

It must fall within the definition — produced in a defined territory, with quality, reputation or other characteristics essentially attributable to that place — and it must meet four attributes: authenticity, territoriality, specificity and linkage. Each has its own definition in the Measures. Authenticity looks at long continuous use of the name and public recognition of it, which is why evidence of use over time is gathered early.

On what grounds can protection be revoked?

Any entity or individual may request revocation from the date the recognition announcement is published, stating reasons and supporting them with evidence. The grounds include a name that has become generic, a name unused in production or sale for a continuous period of three years, changed natural or human factors that make the quality characteristics hard to guarantee and restore, breaches of law or of the public interest, and protection obtained by deception or other improper means.

What happens if a producer stops meeting the standard?

The registration allowing that producer to use the special mark is cancelled, and the office publishes it. That follows where the producer does not produce to the relevant standards and does not correct the position within the time allowed, where a licence or production permit is cancelled or withdrawn, where the producer leaves the area of origin, or where the special mark goes unused on the protected product for a continuous period without correction.

Official sources

Related reading

Selling a product whose name points to a place? Talk to our team about how the two protection routes fit together.