Not all with fish, all deserve to be called "Zhoushan with fish"

It's the season with the fattening of the fish. Zhoushan striped fish is very popular in the market. In seafood markets around the Yangtze River Delta, there are many striped fish claiming to come from Zhoushan Fishery, but not all of them can be called "Zhoushan striped fish". Recently, the Zhoushan Intermediate People's Court announced that last year it had accepted a number of intellectual property cases involving the trademark "Zhoushan Fish". The plaintiff, the Zhoushan Aquatic Products Circulation and Processing Industry Association (hereinafter referred to as "Zhoushan Aquatic Products Association"), is the registrant of the "Zhoushan Fish Belt Fish" series of geographical indication certification trademarks, and the defendants are all merchants who have set up shops on e-commerce platforms and sold products with fish segments. Of the six cases that have been concluded so far, 5 of them were settled due to settlement between the parties, withdrawal of the plaintiff's lawsuit or mediation, and the other 1 case was decided by the court that the defendant constituted an infringement of the plaintiff's exclusive right to use the registered trademark and was required to compensate the plaintiff for economic losses of 100,000 yuan.

In 2009, "Zhoushan Belt Fish" was successfully registered as a geographical indication certification trademark, and the Zhoushan Water Products Association has continued to protect its rights and fight counterfeiting to this day. Can enforcement maximize the value of a trademark? What is the best protection for the "Zhoushan Fish" brand?

Why do some brands want to use it

In order to protect the Zhoushan seafood brand and enhance the added value of the products, in 2004, Zhoushan City specially allocated funds to support the construction of the Zhoushan Water Products Trademark Brand Base, and the Zhoushan Landscape Products Association applied for a number of geographical indication certification trademarks, including "Zhoushan With Fish". Since there is no precedent for the declaration of geographical indication certification trademarks for seawater products in the whole country and even in the world, it is difficult to identify, and the declaration has been stranded several times. Cheng Guofang, deputy director of the Domestic Fisheries Division of the Zhoushan Municipal Bureau of Oceanography and Fisheries, said that according to the usual practice, the registration period for a geographical indication certification trademark is generally 2 years. But the declaration road of "Zhoushan with fish" has been gone for 5 years. In February 2009, the Chinese geographical indication certification trademark of "Zhoushan Belt Fish" was successfully registered, becoming the first batch of geographical indication certification trademarks for seawater products in China.

According to the regulations, "Zhoushan striped fish" is produced in Zhoushan Fishery, and the specific geographical scope, quality characteristics and even nutritional composition of the products are very clear. Fish products with fish originating in non-Zhoushan sea areas cannot use the "Zhoushan belt fish" logo on the product packaging and publicity pages without authorization; fish products in Zhoushan sea areas must first apply to the Zhoushan Water Products Association and obtain a license before they can be used.

Geographical indication certification marks are an internationally accepted system, which provides quality certificates for origin and products, which can improve the attractiveness of goods to consumers. The following year, the legally authorized "Zhoushan Fish" in the Shanghai market, the value of the body increased by 30%-50%.

I thought that after obtaining the trademark right confirmation, "Zhoushan With Fish" would be able to show its skills in the market. However, the dividend period is fleeting. Many authentic striped fish produced in Zhoushan Fishery are not active in applying for the "Zhoushan Striped Fish" trademark. There are more than 6,000 fishery-related stores in Zhoushan City, and there are about 120 aquatic product processing enterprises related to fish, but according to Cheng Guofang, there are 47 various enterprises authorized by the association, and only more than 20 are still in use.

Why are you reluctant to get an "identity card" for the Zhoushan striped fish that you sell at home? The reporter contacted Zhou Jun, a zhoushan fish merchant, who said that few people in the industry have heard of applying for authorization. In addition, if you apply to the Zhoushan Landscape Fisheries Association to use the "Zhoushan Striped Fish" trademark, you need to meet the relevant standards in terms of output, quality, and production process. Moreover, even if "Zhoushan strip fish" is clearly used in product packaging, the sales channels remain unchanged, the price of commodities remains unchanged, the relationship between market supply and demand remains unchanged, and the sales profit will not increase.

"Since you can't improve efficiency, why bother?" Zhou Jun asked rhetorically.

The formal use of trademarks is cold, and the protection of rights is unexpectedly hot

After obtaining the trademark right confirmation, disputes ensued.

A few years ago, a shopping mall in Beijing sold "Zhoushan Selected Fish Strips", without permission, prominently used the words "Zhoushan Striped Fish" on the outer packaging, and could not prove that its products came from the zhoushan sea area, and was sentenced to 30,000 yuan in damages; a Shandong agricultural development company opened a store on the e-commerce platform and sold the products with fish strips, and prominently used the words highly similar to the "Zhoushan Strip Fish" trademark in the product name, and was sentenced to 100,000 yuan in compensation.

The rights protection of "Zhoushan with fish" is not an isolated case. In all parts of the Yangtze River Delta, there are many characteristic agricultural and sideline products registered as national geographical indication certification trademarks. The reporter once went to Xuyi, Jiangsu Province, where crayfish are abundant, and the thirteen-spice flavor is the most famous. The trademark ownership and use right of "Xuyi Lobster" belongs to the Xuyi Lobster Association, and restaurants that want to hang up the "Xuyi Lobster" signboard must pay a membership fee to the Xuyi Lobster Association, about 6,000 yuan per year. In 2014, the Xuyi Lobster Association claimed that 90% of the "Xuyi Lobster" sold in Shanghai was counterfeit, and sued two Shanghai catering units for infringement of the exclusive right to use the trademark, one of which was claimed more than 210,000 yuan. A market stall owner in Xuyi told reporters that a friend of his had opened a crayfish shop in Zhangjiagang and purchased a hand takeaway box with the words "Xuyi lobster" from Xuyi, which was also found by the Xuyi Lobster Association and fined 5,000 yuan.

Looking at the whole country, cases of national geographical indications proving trademark rights protection are not uncommon. Some time ago, hundreds of "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Buns" snack bars were successively sued by the Shaanxi Tongguan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Association for trademark infringement, and were claimed for 30,000 to 50,000 yuan, and then if they wanted to continue to use the "Tongguan Meat Sandwich Bun" trademark, they also had to pay 99,800 yuan to the association. More than 50 Huoli Soup Shops in Jiaozuo, Henan Province, have also encountered similar problems, because "Xiaoyao Town Hu Spicy Soup" has been registered as a trademark by the Xihua County Xiaoyao Town Hu Spicy Soup Association, these merchants either change their course or have to pay a membership fee of 1,000 yuan per year, otherwise they have to compensate 30,000 to 50,000 yuan.

During the dispute, the relevant departments of Shaanxi and Henan intervened in the investigation and stopped the above-mentioned rights protection actions. The Xuyi Lobster Association's anti-counterfeiting activities, which lasted for many years, unexpectedly had a negative effect - it failed to allow authentic Xuyi lobsters to occupy the market, but made most wholesalers and restaurants more sought after crayfish from other sources. In recent years, Xuyi people have slowly reached a consensus, from the perspective of local industrial development or brand promotion, cracking down on counterfeiting is too strict, no benefit, it is better to relax the trademark authority, form a certain scale, occupy the market, and then standardize the use, it is also too late.

The rights protection of "Zhoushan with fish" is justified, but whether it is rights protection or decentralization, it is to create popularity and occupy a larger market share. If the control is too strict, it is difficult to find traces of "Zhoushan with fish" in the market, and I am afraid that the gain is not worth the loss. Using trademarks well and maximizing their value is by no means something that can be achieved by actively safeguarding rights. Cheng Guofang is also well aware that a paper geographical indication certification trademark certificate cannot solve the problem of brand and market. It is also worth a try to support and cultivate representative leading enterprises to go to a larger market.

Column Editor-in-Chief: Kong Lingjun Text Editor: Chen Shuyi Caption Source: Visual China Image Editor: Xu Jiamin

Source: Author: Gong Zhiping