中国持续开展地理标志改革试点工作

"Living in an old house in remote mountains, far from the bustling city, I am busy planting peaches and repairing fences while keen on savoring alcohol and tea with friends when free." This is the real life of Xie Zengxian, a born-in-1980s new farmer in Lianping County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. The reason why this young man returns to his hometown to elect farming as his livelihood lies in the local product under GI (geographical indication) protection - Lianping Yingzui peach.

Guangdong Province was selected in the first batch of pilot areas to deepen the reform on the certified use of GI special marks. The responsible Guangdong Intellectual Property Administration has approved 270 enterprises to use the special marks on 37 GI products. The enterprise founded by Xie was certified to use the special mark of Lianping Yingzui peach by the regional administration in 2021.

The progress made by Guangdong epitomizes China's continuous engagement in the GI pilot reform. Recently, the General Affairs Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released a notice on the list of the second batch of pilot regions on GI special marks and the further steps for the first batch. The new pilot period would last three years effective from July 2022 to June 2025.

Compared with the first batch of pilot work, the new reform has more advantages: a wider range of pilot provinces, more focused pilot tasks, more specific work to do, and more pronounced policy incentives.

Expand to a wider range of pilot provinces. The coverage of both first and second batch of pilots moved up from 12 to 20 provinces, and the number of determined GI protection products increased from 1,218 to 1,951, accounting for 51.76% and 82.91% respectively of the total. According to the notice, the second batch of pilot reform, focusing on key issues and difficult tasks, will promote the facilitated applications and uses of GI special marks and continue to shrink the approval pendency, which will efficiently meet the needs of GI enterprises to use the marks and benefit more market entities.

Enhance more focused pilot tasks. According to the notice, the pilot provinces should take the pilot as an opportunity to comply with the new situation of GI protection and grasp the new needs of all sectors of society for the certified uses of special marks. From this, the coverage rate of GI special marks used by market entities will reach over 80%, and a supervision mechanism will be formed with credit monitoring as basis, an oversight model of random inspection, public release and "Internet + supervision" as means, key supervision as supplement.

Promote more in-depth pilot reform. Among the first batch, the five pilot provinces awarded for excellence have been in possession of the foundation for deepening the reform according to the notice. For this, the whole first-batch pilot regions should explore the list of abnormal use of GI special marks, establish and implement the work system for the mark cancellation and add the mark use into IP credit monitoring in law, based on the fully investigation of the social needs for the mark cancellation and the relevant regulations including the Provisions on the Protection of GI Products and the Regulation for the Use of GI Special Marks (Trial).

Highlight more regional policy incentives. The pilot work fully reflects the policy incentives for regions with outstanding IP fruits. In 2021, regions with outstanding achievements in IP creation, utilization, protection, management and service included Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hubei, which will be given the privilege support to their reforms on the certified use of GI special marks in 2022, according to a circular on supervising and supporting regions with outstanding results in 2021 issued by the General Office of the State Council. In accordance with the above requirement, the pilot work is being implemented.

"In the future, the CNIPA will continue to guide, coordinate, evaluate and inspect the pilot work to improve the quality of review and management of special marks. In addition, the administration will organize business training, mid-term assessment, pilot evaluation and promote the typical experience in time, which further provides experiential and empirical support for the implementation of GI protection system and mechanism," said a principal of CNIPA's IP Protection Department.  (by Feng Fei/ Zhao Ming)

“深山老屋为家，远离都市繁华，忙时种桃修篱，闲时三五好友，小酒清茶。”这是中国广东省河源市连平县80后“新农人”谢增县田园生活的真实写照，而吸引谢增县返乡“筑梦”的缘由，正是故乡的地理标志保护产品——连平鹰嘴蜜桃。

作为第一批地理标志专用标志使用核准改革试点地方，广东省知识产权局在第一批试点期间先后核准270家企业使用专用标志，涉及37个地理标志产品。谢增县回乡创立的企业于2021年由广东省知识产权局公告核准使用连平鹰嘴蜜桃地理标志专用标志。

广东地理标志专用标志使用核准改革取得的成效，是中国持续开展该项工作的一个缩影。近日，中国国家知识产权局办公室发布《关于开展第二批地理标志专用标志使用核准改革试点及持续深化第一批改革试点的通知》（下称《通知》），确定了第二批地理标志专用标志使用核准改革试点及持续深化第一批改革试点地方。试点期限为3年，自2022年7月至2025年6月。

记者在采访中了解到，与第一批地理标志专用标志使用核准改革试点工作相比，此次改革试点工作具有试点省份更广泛、试点任务更聚焦、涉及业务更深入、政策激励更突出等多个看点。

更广泛，持续扩大试点省份。第二批改革试点和持续深化第一批改革试点地方由12个省份增加至20个省份，涉及地理标志保护产品数量由1218件提高至1951件，占产品总数比例由51.76%上升至82.91%。《通知》指出，第二批改革试点聚焦影响专用标志使用的关键问题和工作难点，增强地理标志产品专用标志使用申请的便利化程度，持续压减核准周期，以更高效地满足地理标志生产企业的用标需求，使试点成效惠及更广泛的市场主体。

更聚集，深度推进试点任务。此次改革试点更聚焦，《通知》指出，试点地方应以开展试点工作为契机，顺应地理标志保护工作面临的新形势，把握社会各界对地理标志专用标志使用核准的新需求，推动市场主体使用地理标志专用标志覆盖率达到80%以上，形成以信用监管为基础、以“双随机、一公开”监管和“互联网+监管”为基本手段、以重点监管为补充的地理标志专用标志使用监管机制。

更深入，接续深化改革试点。《通知》指出，在第一批改革试点工作中获得优秀的5个省份，具备了深入开展改革试点的工作基础。第一批改革试点地方应充分调研地理标志产品专用标志使用注销的社会需求，依据《地理标志产品保护规定》《地理标志专用标志使用管理办法（试行）》等有关要求，探索建立地理标志专用标志使用异常名录，建立地理标志产品专用标志使用注销工作体系并组织实施，依法推动将地理标志专用标志使用纳入知识产权信用监管。

更突出，凸显地方政策激励。该项工作充分体现对知识产权工作成效突出地方的政策激励。《国务院办公厅关于对2021年落实有关重大政策措施真抓实干成效明显地方予以督查激励的通报》中明确，2021年知识产权创造、运用、保护、管理和服务工作成效突出的地方为北京市、上海市、江苏省、浙江省和湖北省，2022年将对上述地方予以优先支持开展地理标志专用标志使用核准改革试点的激励措施。此次试点工作贯彻落实了上述要求。

中国国家知识产权局知识产权保护司负责人表示，下一步，中国国家知识产权局将持续加强对试点工作的指导协调和评估检查，推动提高专用标志使用审核与管理工作质量。适时组织开展业务培训、中期评估和试点验收，总结推广典型经验做法，为完善地理标志保护制度机制进一步提供经验积累和实证支撑。（冯飞 赵铭）

（编辑：邵京京 责任编辑：吕可珂 审校：崔静思）