Case Summary:

  Ham is the famous traditional specialty of Jinhua City in Zhejiang Province, dating back 800 years .

  Zhejiang Food company held the trademark certificate, other companies named " Jinhua Ham "for their products to mean the infringement , but in the entire region of Jinhua city, ham producers are very much, regardless of the number or scale. In 1984 , ham producers requested the Zhejiang food companies to return the trademark , but had been unable to success, therefore had to sign the " Jinhua Ham Trademark License Contract" with the other party and paid the trademark use fee to be allowed to use " Jinhua ham ".

  In July 2003, staffs of Zhejiang Food Company found a number of hams being sold by Taikang food company in Shanghai Nanjing East Road, which were used the word "Jinhua Ham " that produced by Zhejiang Yongkang four road ham plant. In November that year, Zhejiang Food Company sued the two companies onto the Shanghai Second Intermediate Court, requested the court to order the defendants to stop production and sale of infringing goods, public apology and jointly compensate the plaintiff 50,000 yuan.

Trial, the defendant of Yongkang Four Road Ham plant provided Notice No. 87 of 2003 issued by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. Notice indicated that 55 enterprises including the defendant obtained to use the " Jinhua ham " for geographical origin on their products . The defendant thus believed that the defendant didn’t infringe plaintiff’s trademark.

Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court thought that protection range of the registered trademark rights of Zhejiang Food company is the "Jinhua ham ", which the exclusive right protected by law . Any violation of the plaintiff registered trademark all should bear the law liability, but the plaintiff had no right to prohibit others use it correctly. AQSIQ approved the implementation of " Jinhua Ham" for geographical origin of products. Defendant was allowed to use " Jinhua ham " for special mark of geographical origin ,whose behavior is fair use . Defendant should regulate the use of geographical origin of products in the future , should respect plaintiff each other in the intellectual property, and exercise their rights according to law.

First, why " Jinhua " as the administrative divisions at or above the county level can register successfully as an ordinary trademark?
Article 10 The following signs shall not be used as trademarks: The geographical names as the administrative divisions at or above the county level and the foreign geographical names well known to the public shall not be used as trademarks, but such geographical terms as have otherwise meanings or are a part of collective marks/or a certification marks shall be exclusive. " Jinhua " was the geographical name as the administrative divisions at or above the county level, and wasn’t applied as a collective mark or certification mark. Why " Jinhua Ham" was approved to be registered ? This was a historical problem , the current Trademark Law clearly states: Where a trademark using any of the geographical names has been approved and registered, it shall continue to be valid.

  Second, the " Jinhua ham " as a well-known local traditional specialty was registered as a ordinary trademark, what consequence did it bring back ?
Zhejiang food companies owned trademark, if other companies named  " Jinhua ham "for their products that infringed its exclusive right, which severely influenced the traditional specialty development.

Third, the " Jinhua ham " as a local famous specialty , what kind of brand management could take account of the interest of ham manufacturers and could make it better development ?
December 11, 2007 , " Jinhua ham in Jinhua city" successfully registered as geographical indication , which make ham producers of Jinhua city no longer pay a fee for the use of " Jinhua ".

Conclusion : Small trademarks, big energy , trademarks of geographical indication were related to the economic prosperity of a region , like Luochuan Apple of our province as the geographical indication , not only promoted local economic development , but also improved the brand greatly, and was recognized as Chinese well-know trademark. While the opposite , the famous industry in many areas had been applied for the general trademarks, it was difficult to apply geographical indications.