In previous academic research, geographical indications were mostly equated with geographical indication rights, and the legal attributes of geographical indication rights were mostly expressed as the legal attributes of geographical indications. This is not conducive to a comprehensive study and grasp of geographical indications. Looking at the legal protection of geographical indications from the perspective of the most basic rights and obligations, especially the protection of international law, the most fundamental problem lies in the understanding of the right of geographical indications. The so-called geographical indication right refers to the bundle of rights attached to specific commodities from specific regions.

From the Paris Convention to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, geographical indications have always been stipulated as the content of intellectual property rights in civil legal affairs, which has also created a group of scholars to arbitrarily define the legal attribute of the right to geographical indications as a private right. For example, the TRIPS agreement clearly stipulates that intellectual property rights are a kind of private rights, and then it is made that "although the user of geographical indications cannot be an enterprise or individual in a certain region, the expansion of this user can not change the private rights of geographical indications at all". According to the provisions of the agreement, it is the exercise and protection of the property rights to give the interested parties legal relief to prohibit the third party from using geographical indications by any improper means. The legal relief provided by the member's domestic law for geographical indications is the protection of civil rights, whether it is a civil judicial procedure or an administrative procedure. As a relatively independent civil legal system, intellectual property is the result of the separation of legal norms of tangible property and intangible property in the field of property law, and the product of the integration of private law and public law, substantive law and procedural law in the field of intellectual property. However, the intervention of public power and the mutual penetration of public and private laws have not changed the essential attribute of intellectual property as a civil right. The above two typical arguments regard the right of geographical indications as a kind of civil right-private right. However, the right to geographical indications cannot simply be recognized as a private right from the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement and the simple understanding of property rights. On the contrary, the right to geographical indications has the characteristics of both private rights and public rights. If we follow the current situation of academic research and the division of public law, private law and the third jurisdiction, its legal attribute should belong to the nature of economic law or the third jurisdiction. At the same time, the right of geographical indications contains the protection of environmental rights in specific regions. According to the definitions of "mark of origin" and "geographical indication" in Lisbon Agreement and TRIPS Agreement, it is not difficult to see that geographical indications involve at least three standards or three elements, namely, (1) signs used to indicate the geographical origin of commodities; (2) related to a specific region; (3) The quality, reputation or other characteristics of commodities are mainly attributed to specific natural factors and human factors. Therefore, the composition of a geographical indication is closely related to the local specific natural environment factors. Champagne in France, for example, is mainly due to the name of a province in northeast France, and the specific natural and geographical factors in this area determine that this kind of sparkling wine is famous in the world. Another example is Basmati rice, which enjoys a high reputation in the international market, is produced in the northernmost part of the Indian subcontinent, and its producing area spans India and Pakistan. The climate in this area is unique, with the lowest temperature reaching MINUS 12 F; The soil is fertile, because the Ganges River and Indian River, which are rich in phosphorus, irrigate this fertile soil, thus bringing together Basbati rice with unique quality. Therefore, commodities in a specific geographical area, especially products with local characteristics, are largely constrained by local geographical conditions, that is to say, natural factors play a decisive role in geographical indications. Once the ecological environment of a specific region is destroyed, the products with specific natural factors and their geographical indications in that region no longer need special protection. On the other hand, the protection of local ecological environment should be strengthened during the protection of geographical indications, or the legal protection of geographical indications itself contains an indirect protection of specific ecological environment. The right of geographical indications should include a certain degree of environmental rights and interests, which means that the right holder of geographical indications has the obligation to protect the ecological environment and the right to maintain the unique local ecological environment.

Understanding the right of geographical indications from the perspective of ecological significance: (1) The right of geographical indications is ecological. The specific products that enjoy the protection of geographical indications mainly depend on the ecological environment factors in specific areas, such as French champagne and Indian Basmati rice. Coupled with the intelligence of the local people, a specific product with geographical indications is finally formed. However, there is still a hierarchy between natural factors and human factors, that is, natural factors precede human factors, and ultimately determine the effect of human factors. Therefore, the formation of a geographical indication is based on natural factors, supplemented by artificial intellectual creation. Therefore, in the process of protecting geographical indications, we should not over-exaggerate the role of man-made, and advocate only protecting the rights and interests of some local producers. In fact, more attention should be paid to protecting the rights and interests of local producers while emphasizing their obligations to protect the local ecological environment. To maintain or improve the quality of ecological environment as a restrictive standard to protect the rights and interests of producers' other geographical indications. (2) The right of geographical indications is not only a private right in the sense of private law, but also a right between public rights and private rights in the whole social standard and even the global standard. We can't just rely on the protection of geographical indications by private rights, and its role is limited by the principle of private interests and priority protection objects. On the contrary, the protected specific groups will use this so-called private right to exploit the ecological environment, resulting in the reduction of the entire ecological interests. If the right to geographical indications is protected as a right other than private rights, it will not only help to protect the specific ecological environment, but also help to maintain the maintenance of specific natural brands, thus ultimately benefiting the long-term interests of producers of specific products in the region, including the interests of future generations. Judging from the way of trademark legal protection of geographical indications, the right of geographical indications is not simply a category of private rights. According to the different legislative models of geographical indications protection, the protection of geographical indications can generally be divided into two types: special law protection and trademark law protection. France and Estonia are typical examples of special law protection, and the United States, Germany and Italy are typical examples of trademark law protection. In the protection of trademark law, countries usually protect geographical indications in the form of certification trademarks and collective trademarks. Section 45 of the Trademark Law of the United States and Article 1127 of Title 15 of the American Annotated Code define a collective trademark as follows: The so-called collective trademark is a commodity trademark or service trademark used by members of cooperatives, associations, groups or organizations, or used by these cooperatives, associations, groups or organizations in good faith or applied for registration in the master register prescribed by this law, including marks used to mark the relationship between members of collectives, associations or organizations. In addition, Section 4 of the United States Trademark Law and Article 154 of Title 15 of the American Annotation Code also allow certification of trademarks, including the registration of marks below the source. It defines a certification trademark as a word, name, symbol, design or their combination that is used by others other than the owner, or that the owner has a good intention to allow others to use it for business, and applies for registration in the master register, so as to prove the geographical location or other sources, raw materials, production technology, quality, accuracy or other characteristics of a person's goods or services, or that the work or services on the goods or services are completed by members of the Federation or other organizations. China's new Trademark Law also stipulates the forms of protection for geographical indications as collective trademarks and certification trademarks, and explains its connotation, namely: "The term" collective trademark "as mentioned in this Law refers to a symbol registered in the name of a group, association or other organization for members of the organization to use in commercial activities, so as to show the membership of users in the organization. The term "certification trademark" as mentioned in this Law refers to a mark controlled by an organization that has the ability to supervise a commodity or service and used by a unit or individual outside the organization to prove the origin, raw materials, manufacturing methods, quality or other specific qualities of the commodity or service. " Due to the diversity of the subjects of geographical indication rights, in order to better protect the interests of related subjects, ensure the fair and reasonable distribution of property rights and interests in geographical indications, and safeguard the unique ecological rights and interests in geographical indications, the fundamental legal purposes of applying certification trademarks and collective trademarks are: (1) to overcome the selfish, disorderly and even vicious competition of independent rights subjects; (2) Advocating the role of trade associations or relevant government administrative supervision institutions in maintaining fair competition and ecological environment. Although the definitions of certification trademark and collective trademark vary from country to country, they are clear and unified in substance and in maintaining the above purposes. In addition, even with the protection of certification trademarks and collective trademarks, it is still impossible for the obligee to prevent the third party from using such marks or signs in good faith in industrial and commercial activities, especially the trademarks cannot resist the reasonable use of geographical names by the third party.

therefore, the trademark protection of geographical indications well illustrates the non-private and non-public nature of the right of geographical indications from the legislative level, but is based on a legal right between them. First of all, the diversity of the subject of rights shows that the right to geographical indications cannot be completely attributed to a single individual, on the contrary, it belongs to a right owned by * * * within a certain range. This kind of right owned by * * * cannot use the traditional principles of private law such as the supremacy of private rights and absolute ownership. Secondly, if the right of geographical indications is given to a specific part of producers or operators, their private value orientation will eventually lead to unfair competition, infringement of consumers' rights and interests and endless grabbing of resources or interests from nature. Theoretically speaking, this result is the product of market and even international market failure. To eradicate this market freedom, we must intervene in the market from a macro perspective, and this intervention is achieved through the government or intermediary organizations. Group associations and supervision organizations in the protection of geographical indications trademarks are appropriate intervention organizations in this sense, which also makes it clear that the right to geographical indications is a right with the nature of economic law or the third French.