The licensing management of geographical indication certification trademarks (including collective trademarks, the same below) is the focus of geographical indication management and the most important task for certification trademark registrants. Management must first establish a management organization and set up a good management workflow. Taking the certification trademark registrant as an association as an example, we will briefly introduce the licensing management of geographical indication certification trademarks.

As the registrant of geographical indication certification trademarks, associations are generally very small in scale and have basically no funding sources; their organizational structures are simple and they only build basic organizational structures according to the needs of member management, and there is no geographical indication management. functional departments. In the following, based on the principle of frugality and relying on original institutions as much as possible, we will take the XX Tea Industry Association as an example to introduce the construction and functional arrangements of geographical indication management institutions.

The association has established a Certification Trademark Management Committee, which is composed of the following organizations:

1. Secretariat (Trademark Management Office)

×× Tea Industry Association establishes a trademark The management office is mainly responsible for the licensing and use management of the “××” certification trademark. The office is temporarily performed by the secretariat, and the secretary-general also serves as the director of the management office.

Specific responsibilities:

(1) Responsible for the daily work of trademark licensing management. Collect materials for applying for license to use certification trademarks, and conduct a preliminary written review of the application materials;

(2) Handle various procedures for licensing, and archive and archive documents related to licensing;

(3) Responsible for daily liaison with licensed users, conveying various management information of the association, and feeding back various relevant opinions or suggestions from licensed users;

(5) Relevant intermediaries for external liaison Service agencies, handle various legal procedures for rights protection, and provide various evidence materials required for rights protection;

(6) Collect information on policies related to geographical indications, exhibitions and other information, and understand the management models of other associations;

……

2. Board of Directors (approval authority)

The Board of Directors is the daily management body of the association and exercises approval in the management of licensing use of the “××” certification trademark functions. If conditions permit, a "review committee" can be set up in the board of directors. The members of the review committee must include experts in tea scientific research, planting, processing, etc., and the experts can express their opinions independently.

Specific responsibilities:

(1) Responsible for examining and approving whether to license the use of the “××” certification mark;

(2) Appointing personnel (with a review committee) , sent by the committee) to conduct on-site inspections of tea plantations and tea production units, issue inspection reports on the applicant’s tea planting area, production capacity and other data, and make preliminary opinions on whether to agree to the licensed use;

(3 ) Whether to agree to license the use of the "××" certification mark shall be decided by the board of directors in the form of a meeting;

(4) Randomly inspect the applicant's cultivation, processing and sales;

(5)...

3. President (final signature)

The president is the legal representative of the association. He will decide whether to agree to the applicant’s permission to use the “××” certification mark. Do the final sign-off.

Specific responsibilities:

(1) Sign and approve the documents submitted by the board of directors agreeing to use the “××” certification trademark, and issue the license if agreed;

< p> (2) The president has the right to veto the applicant's application and require additional materials or additional verification content.

1. The applicant shall submit a written application to the Secretariat of XX Tea Industry Association and submit relevant written materials as required, at least in triplicate.

2. The Secretariat will complete the written review within 15 days after receiving the materials. If the application meets the conditions, it will be reported to the Association Council for approval. If the application does not meet the conditions, it can be directly rejected and the reasons will be explained. If additional materials are required, the applicant will be notified to submit additional materials.

3. After review by the Secretariat, those that meet the conditions will be submitted to the Board of Directors for approval. After receiving the materials, the Council will appoint a review team for the project within 15 days to conduct an on-site and on-site inspection. In principle, the review team will issue an inspection report to the Council within 15 days and propose whether to agree to the applicant's license application.

4. The Board of Directors may deliberate at a regular meeting or an ad hoc Board meeting, and make a decision on whether to agree to license the use, and submit it to the President for signature within 7 days. After the President signs and approves, it shall be submitted to the Secretariat. Notify the applicant to go through relevant licensing procedures.

5. If the Board of Directors does not agree to permit the use, a written document will be issued and the Secretariat will notify the applicant to apply for reconsideration to the ×× County/City Agricultural Bureau. The reconsideration requirements and procedures shall be subject to the relevant regulations of the Agricultural Bureau. . In principle, the association accepts the reconsideration opinion of the XX Agriculture Bureau.

In principle, the relevant management documents of the association must be passed by the XX City Tea Industry Association Member Representative Conference and take effect from the date of adoption or after a certain period of time. Some associations issue documents in the form of notices, which are flawed in effectiveness and affect management work.

July 2020