2.2.1 What May be Registered as a Geographical Indication under the Trademark System

Under Chinese trademark law, a GI registered as a collective mark or a certification mark may be the name of the geographical region indicated or any other visual signs capable of indicating that a good originates from the region. The area of the region designated as the region from which GI products originate is not required to be fully consistent with the name or boundary of the administrative division of the same region.Footnote ²⁰ In this respect, the scope of trademark protection is much wider than that of the sui generis protection for GIs, as the latter only allows for the registration of geographically accurate names.

2.2.2 Special Registration Requirements

Applicants should follow the general rules enacted to register collective or certification marks in order to register a GI as a trademark. In addition, in order to apply for registration, applicants have to present the following supporting documents or evidence:

1. (1) a document issued by the people’s government which has jurisdiction over, or the competent authority of, the concerned industry approving the applicant’s registration of the GI in question, for example, agricultural or fishery authorities;Footnote ²¹

2. (2) a description of the GI including (i) the given quality, reputation, or any other characteristic of the goods indicated by the sign, (ii) the relation between the given quality, reputation, or any other characteristic of the goods and the natural and human factors of the region indicated by the GI, and (iii) the boundary of the region indicated by the GI;Footnote ²²

3. (3) detailed information of the professionals and special testing equipment of the applicant or of any other organization authorized by the applicant to show its capability of supervising the particular quality of the goods indicated;Footnote ²³

4. (4) the regulation governing the use of a collective mark or certification mark.Footnote ²⁴ The registrant of a GI imposes control over the use of the GI mainly through the implementation of this regulation.

Foreign applicants should appoint a trademark agent to act for them in China,Footnote ²⁵ and further present documents certifying that the GI being applied for is protected also in the country of origin, in addition to the documents mentioned in (2), (3), and (4) above.Footnote ²⁶

2.2.3 Use of Geographical Indications as Registered Certification or Collective Marks

Anyone within the specified geographical area who satisfies the prescribed standard can ask for permission to use the GI and the owner cannot refuse it. Therefore, the trademark system makes it possible that even small producers can share the benefits of the exclusive rights granted by GI protection.Footnote ²⁷ If a qualified product meets the standards set by the owner of the certification mark, the producer must be permitted to use the mark fairly. Generally, certification trademarks are not held by private businesses but by certification bodies, who should be impartial towards producers.Footnote ²⁸ These bodies must exercise legitimate control over the use of the marks, but may not discriminate against a producer who actually meets the standards. Therefore, collective use is open to all producers in the specified region who comply with the rules or specifications of the certification trademarks.

The difference between GIs as collective marks and certification marks lies in that only the members of the association that has registered the mark can use the former.Footnote ²⁹ The bodies eligible for collective mark GI registration should be composed of members located within the regions designated by the GIs.Footnote ³⁰ Anyone whose goods satisfy the conditions under which the GI is used may request membership from the collective mark registrant, and the registrant must accede to this request in accordance with its articles of association.Footnote ³¹ For those who do not request membership, fair use of the geographic name of the said GI must be allowed to describe the origin of their products.Footnote ³² This use constitutes a type of fair use exemption of a geographical mark under the trademark system in China.

2.2.4 Control and Supervision over Certification and Collective Marks

The registrants/trademark owners in accordance with the control and supervision system that is set for the products to which the collective or certification marks apply exercise the control of the use of GIs as certification or collective marks. This control and supervision system is specifically articulated in the regulation governing the use of the said marks, and is a required component of the application documents of these types of trademarks.Footnote ³³ If the registrants/trademark owners of a collective or certification mark fail to exercise effective control over the use of the mark and, as a result, the goods to which the said mark applies fail to meet the requirements of the regulation governing the use of the mark, causing damage to consumers, the administrative authority for industry and commerce can order them to rectify the situation within a time limit. If the registrants/trademark owners refuse to do so, they will be imposed a fine.Footnote ³⁴

2.2.5 Protection and Enforcement

Protecting GIs as certification or collective marks follows the general rule of ordinary product or service marks. Article 3.1 of TM Law 2013 provides that ‘[a] trademark registrant shall enjoy an exclusive right to use the trademark, which shall be protected by law’.Footnote ³⁵ The statute also provides a list of the acts that constitute infringements of the exclusive right to use a registered trademark, which are also applicable to a registered certification or collective marks (used to protect the GIs).Footnote ³⁶

Under the Chinese trademark system, there is a twin-track system to enforce trademark rights. In particular, right holders may either institute legal proceedings in the people’s court or request the administrative authorities for industry and commerce (AICs) to take action. The AICs are empowered by the TM Law 2013 to investigate and handle trademark infringement cases. The AICs can order the infringer to immediately stop the infringing act. Additionally, the AICs can confiscate and destroy the infringing goods and the tools that are used to manufacture the goods. The AICs can also impose a fine for counterfeiting the registered trademark.Footnote ³⁷ If the case is so serious as to constitute a crime, the AICs shall transfer the case to the judicial authority for determination.Footnote ³⁸ Alternatively, the interested party may directly bring a lawsuit to the people’s court for trademark infringement.

3.1.1 Registration Procedures

As a starting point, there is a two-tier process for applicants to apply for registration of the GI products. First, registration of the GI needs to take place with provincial quality and inspection departments, then with the AQSIQ. After the GI has been registered, producers who intend to use the GIs for their products have to go through a similar two-tier process to get the approval to use the GI. The applicants can either be entities designated by local governments, enterprises, or associations accredited by local governments.Footnote ⁴⁵ For GI products of exporting enterprises, applications should be made to entry-exit inspection and quarantine departments of the prescribed area. For other GI products, applications should be made to the local (that is at or above county level) quality supervision departments.Footnote ⁴⁶

3.1.2 Examination and Approval

Provincial quality supervision departments or entry-exit inspection and quarantine departments conduct the first level of examination for registering a GI. These departments draw up preliminary opinions on the application and then submit their report and application documents to AQSIQ.

At the second level, AQSIQ first conducts formal checks on the application, and will then publish a notice of acceptance in the AQSIQ Gazette, as well as on its website if the application satisfies the formality requirements.

If the application fails to meet the formality requirements, the AQSIQ will notify the applicant in writing.Footnote ⁴⁷ Anyone who objects to the registration can file an opposition within two months after publication.Footnote ⁴⁸

For an application without opposition or where the opposition is unsuccessful, the AQSIQ will set up an expert examination panel according to the features of the products in question. The expert panel will then conduct a technical examination on the application and the AQSIQ will publish its approval of the application, if it passes the technical review by the expert panel.Footnote ⁴⁹

3.1.3 Application by the Producer to Use a Geographical Indication Product

Any producer within the geographical limits of the origin region who wishes to use the GI sign on its product first has to file an application with the local (provincial) quality supervision department or entry-exit inspection and quarantine departments. Successful applications will then be subject to review by the AQSIQ.

After the AQSIQ approves its application and publishes it in the AQSIQ Gazette, the producer will be eligible to use the sign in question.Footnote ⁵⁰ The application process for hopeful users of GI products is quite similar to the registration system.Footnote ⁵¹

3.1.4 Control and Supervision

Local quality inspection authorities exert routine control on the quality of the GI products and do so in a very detailed way. Their scope covers almost every aspect of production. This includes raw materials, production techniques, quality features, classifications of quality, quantity, packaging and labelling of GI products, as well as the printing, distribution, quantity, and use of the special signs of the product, manufacturing environment, production equipment, and conformity with standards of the product.Footnote ⁵²

3.1.5 Protection and Enforcement

The approved GI products are protected in accordance with PPGIP. There are three types of acts that can be categorized as infringing the legitimate rights of registrants:Footnote ⁵³ (i) use without authorization or forging a GI and its specific marks; (ii) unauthorized use by producers within the protected regions who cannot obtain approval because their products fail the requirements; and (iii) use of signs that are so similar to the protected signs that consumers will be misled into believing the products are protected GI products.

According to PPGIP, the quality supervision and entry-exit inspection and quarantine departments are responsible for investigating the above-mentioned acts.Footnote ⁵⁴ Similar to the trademark regime, interested parties can either lodge complaints with local quality supervision departments or bring lawsuits to the people’s court. The quality supervision departments rely on China Law of the People’s Republic of China on Product Quality,Footnote ⁵⁵ Standardization Law of the People’s Republic of China,Footnote ⁵⁶ and Law of the People’s Republic of China on Import and Export Commodity InspectionFootnote ⁵⁷ to impose administrative penalties in dealing with cases of GI products.Footnote ⁵⁸

3.1.6 Protection of Foreign Geographical Indication Products

PPGIP provides that separate provisions are to be formulated for the registration of foreign GIs in China.Footnote ⁵⁹ Yet, there are no such provisions available to date. In 2007, the European Union (EU) initiated a ‘10 plus 10’ pilot project with AQSIQ, under which both sides presented a list of ten agricultural GIs, respectively, to seek protection in each other’s territories – that is, ten GIs from China were protected in EU and ten GIs from the EU were protected in China under the pilot project.Footnote ⁶⁰ In addition, AQSIQ accepted an application from the French GI ‘Cognac’ in June 2009. AQSIQ approved the application in December 2009 pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding on Geographical IndicationsFootnote ⁶¹ signed by AQSIQ of China and the European Commission DG Trade, with reference to the PPGIP. ‘Cognac’ is the first foreign GI product protected by AQSIQ in China.

3.2.1 Registration Procedures

The MOA Measures is quite similar to PPGIP in that the registration procedures also involve a two-level process – provincial and national – for an applicant to obtain registration.

Under the MOA Measures, agricultural product GIs are regarded as a collective right; accordingly, individuals or enterprises are not eligible to make applications. Eligible applicants include professional cooperative organizations of farmers and industrial associations determined by governments at or above the county level.

3.2.2 Examination and Approval

After receiving the application, provincial agricultural authorities will conduct on-site verification and propose their preliminary examination opinion. For applications that meet the requisite conditions, the authorities will send the filing documents and preliminary opinion to the Centre for Agri-food Quality and Safety (the Centre), operated under the MOA. For those that do not, the authorities will notify the applicant of their opinion.Footnote ⁶⁴

Within twenty working days after receiving the documents, the Centre will examine the application and organize expert examination. The expert committee will then undertake the appraisal of the registration of GIs of agricultural products, work out appraisal conclusions independently, and be responsible for the conclusions.Footnote ⁶⁵ If the expert committee is in favour of the application after appraisal, the Centre will publish an announcement approving the application on behalf of the MOA. Anyone who has an objection to the approval can file their opposition within twenty days with the Centre. If there are no objections, the MOA will make an announcement, issue a Certificate of People’s Republic of China on the Registration of Geographical Indications of Agricultural Products, and publish the relevant technical regulations and standards. If the expert committee does not approve of the application, the MOA will make a decision not to register it and notify the applicant of the decision in writing.Footnote ⁶⁶

3.2.3 Application to Use Geographical Indications on Agricultural Product

Any producer who satisfies the following conditions may apply to the registration certificate holder for uses of the GI on suitable agricultural products. In particular, applicants will need to (1) have the capability to supervise and administer the GIs of agricultural products and the products thereof;Footnote ⁶⁷ (2) have the capability to provide guidance for the production, processing, and marketing of agricultural products with GIs;Footnote ⁶⁸ and (3) have the capacity to bear civil liabilities independently.Footnote ⁶⁹

3.2.4 Protection Term

Unlike GIs registered as collective marks or certification marks, which have to be renewed every ten years, the MOA registration of a GI for an agricultural product will remain valid permanently without need to be renewed.Footnote ⁷⁰

3.2.5 Control and Supervision

Moreover, the MOA sui generis regime emphasizes administrative supervision and control over the quality and source of products. Competent local agricultural authorities will be responsible for conducting regular inspections and administering the use of GI signs, as well as evaluating the boundary requirement of geographical origin.Footnote ⁷¹ The producers of agricultural products with GIs also shoulder some responsibility by establishing a quality control tracing system.Footnote ⁷²

3.2.6 Protection and Enforcement

Forgery, use of GIs without authorization, or false claims regarding any registration certificates are considered to violate the MOA Measures.Footnote ⁷³ Like the PPGIP, there is no direct provision in the MOA Measures concerning any administrative penalty. Rather, administrative punishment will be imposed according to the Law on Agricultural Product Quality Safety.Footnote ⁷⁴

3.2.7 Protection of Foreign Geographical Indications for Agricultural Products

Article 24 of the MOA Measures provides that the ‘Ministry of Agriculture accepts applications for the registration of geographical indications of agricultural products from foreign countries, and protects them once they have been registered in China’.Footnote ⁷⁵ However, the specific measures as to the application and registration of foreign GIs for agricultural products are yet to be formulated. As no such specific measures have been promulgated, no foreign GIs of agricultural products have been registered under the MOA regime so far.Footnote ⁷⁶

5.1.1 Causes of Conflicts

In general, geographical terms, which are descriptive, cannot be registered as trademarks on the ground of lack of distinctiveness as they are unable to distinguish the goods or services of one undertaking from those of others, a fundamental function of trademarks.Footnote ⁸⁹ Meanwhile, this also prevents the possibility of the monopolization of geographical terms by a single entity.Footnote ⁹⁰ Moreover, if the goods or services are not offered within the designated region, the geographically descriptive term could be misleading to consumers.

However, the Trade Mark Law in force before 1993 allowed registration of geographical names (even administrative place names at or above the county level) as ordinary trademarks. Today, even misleading trademarks indicating a false place of origin continue to be valid if they were previously registered under this law in good faith.Footnote ⁹¹ The 金华(JINHUA) trademark for ham is one such example. Notably, the proprietor of JINHUA for ham does not produce ham originating in Jinhua City. Rather, the proprietor of the mark is located in another city within the same province. Accordingly, the mark actually indicates a false origin for the products that it identifies, but remains valid because it was a bona fide registration before 1993. Moreover, it becomes a rather famous trademark due to the heavy long-term investments made by the trademark owner.

Another issue is that the TM Law 2013Footnote ⁹² only regulates the registration of geographical terms consisting of administrative regions as ordinary trademarks. However, geographical boundaries are determined by natural environment and human skills, which makes them not necessarily identical to administrative regions. The same is true with administrative place names under the county level. Such geographical terms, following Article 10.2 of the TM Law 2013, cannot be prevented from being registered as ordinary trademarks. As a consequence, many geographical names below the county level, or non-administrative place names, have been registered as ordinary marks and these privately held trademark rights may be used to prohibit the use of such place names by local producers situated within the indicated place.Footnote ⁹³

Thus, if there were a causal link between the geographical place and the quality, reputation, or other characteristics of goods originated from this place, such a geographical name would be eligible for GI protection. However, a prior registered trademark may obstruct the registration of such a GI.

5.1.2 Proposed Solutions

The conflict between ordinary trademarks containing geographical terms and GIs applied for as certification or collective marks may be solved within the trademark regime itself. The ‘first in time, first in right’ principle is often proposed as an optimal solution to addressing the problem.Footnote ⁹⁴ But sometimes it is not as clear-cut an issue in practice.

The Jinhua Ham case is an exemplary case study of a situation where a rigid application of the priority principle would not produce satisfactory results. As mentioned above, JINHUA is a trademark used on ham owned by Zhejiang Jinhua Ham Co. Ltd.Footnote ⁹⁵ After becoming aware that Jinhua Ham could qualify as a protected GI, the Office for Protecting Jinhua Ham Certification Trade Mark filed an application for Jinhua City Jinhua Ham as a certification mark with the Trade Mark Office in 2003. Normally, in accordance with the principle of priority, a subsequent confusingly similar sign (as is the case here) should be refused registration based on the prior registration of a mark which is used on identical or similar goods. However, sometimes one needs to settle such conflicts by taking historical factors as well as the interests of producers and consumers into consideration. While the proprietor of JINHUA is a company outside the boundary of Jinhua City, local Jinhua ham producers want Jinhua City Jinhua Ham to be registered as a GI so that its hams can be adequately protected. After difficult and lengthy negotiations and mediation, Jinhua City Jinhua Ham was published in the Trade Mark Gazette in 2009 and registered as a certification mark GI.Footnote ⁹⁶ This has created a de facto co-existence of quite similar marks under the trademark system. Although co-existence is one solution for such conflicts, it should be subject to strict control and only allowed in exceptional cases. After all, intellectual property rights are generally subject to the principle of priority, which ensures exclusivity. Co-existence should be treated as an exception to this principle, only allowed under very limited circumstances because it has certain adverse effects on the right holders. If the system allows co-existence, the holder of a GI sometimes has to tolerate the use of the GI by third parties provided that the parties use it in accordance with honest practices in industrial and commercial matters. Otherwise, the owner of a prior trademark would need to take the risk of trademark dilution.

There is a suggestion that the TM Law 2013 be amended to allow for the cancellation of ordinary trademarks containing GIs or to disallow renewal of such trademarks. As a consequence there would not be any prior trademarks that could potentially conflict with a subsequent GI application.Footnote ⁹⁷ However, it seems unrealistic to revise the TM Law 2013 along these lines because it will result in legal uncertainty and deprive the trademark holders of their investment, and probably lead to more confusion among consumers. This is particularly true for famous individually owned geographical trademarks, which are also eligible for GI protection. In such cases, it may be better to maintain the status quo because the trademark has earned itself a good reputation in the marketplace at the owner’s expense. The owner has already considerably invested in the brand, so the potential cancellation of such famous regular trademarks or even co-existence between them and subsequent GIs would negatively impact upon the trademark owner. Furthermore, in the minds of consumers, after powerful presence of the brand in the marketplace for so many years, the geographical term would point to a specific producer rather than a region. Therefore, continuing to recognize the geographical term as an ordinary trademark would better serve the interests of consumers.

One case decided by the Trade Mark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB)Footnote ⁹⁸ reveals that the ‘first in time, first in right’ principle may not apply if the registered trademark has a GI nature, and the use of the trademark by the registrant might mislead the public as to the origin of its goods. In 2003, XIANG LIAN (literally meaning Hunan Lotus Seed) was registered by a Fujian-based company as an ordinary trademark on lotus seeds and other products. The Hunan Xiangtan Xianglian Association filed an application with TRAB to cancel this registration on the ground that Xianglian was in fact a GI, referring to lotus seeds produced in Hunan Province. In that caseFootnote ⁹⁹ the trademark owner defended itself by arguing that the disputed trademark has distinctiveness as an ordinary trademark. According to the evidence filed by the appellant, TRAB found that Xianglian is mainly produced in Hunan Province, and the lotus seeds have distinctive qualities, which are essentially attributable to the local temperature, humidity, soil, as well as the planting methods. ‘Xianglian’ had been in use for over 1400 years to refer to the lotus seeds produced in Hunan Province. It thus satisfied the conditions established in Article 16.2 of the TM Law 2001.Footnote ¹⁰⁰ Furthermore, TRAB found that the trademark owner engaged in lotus seed trade with producers in Hunan Province before its registration. The trademark owner thus knew that Xianglian referred to lotus seeds produced in Hunan Province but still applied for trademark registration, which was liable to mislead the public as to the quality and origin of its product. This act was in violation of the provision of Article 16.1 of the Trade Mark Law (providing ‘where a trade mark contains a geographic indication of the goods in respect of which the trade mark is used, the goods are not from the region indicated therein and it misleads the public, it shall be rejected for registration and prohibited from use; however, any trade mark that has been registered in good faith shall remain valid’).Footnote ¹⁰¹ Accordingly, TRAB cancelled the registration of the disputed trademark. In this case TRAB established that unregistered GIs in China could also be protected.Footnote ¹⁰² This is the first case where TRAB recognized and protected an unregistered GI in a trademark dispute case.

5.2.1 Causes for Conflicts

Conflicts will presumably not arise if GIs are owned by the same entities under different protection systems, though it might be regarded as a waste of time, money, or energy to seek parallel avenues for protecting the same GI. However, if the same GIs are pursued by more than one unrelated entity via different protection systems, it is likely that conflicts will occur.Footnote ¹⁰³ Moreover, the co-existence of the systems confuses applicants as to which avenue to take. In the absence of clarification regarding their differences, many of them have opted for cumulative registrations in all three of the relevant agencies. If conflicts arise out of different ownership decided by different authorities, the parties have to go to court to resolve them, which could be expensive and time-consuming. The current regime is thus ineffective and creates uncertainty for GI stakeholders.

A given geographical name associated with a product may be protected as a GI under criteria set by one administration, but the same geographically significant term may be considered as having acquired distinctiveness under the TM Law 2013 and be eligible for registration as an ordinary trademark.Footnote ¹⁰⁴ At present there are no explicit rules in either the TM Law 2013 or its related regulations, or the sui generis administrative rules of the AQSIQ and Ministry of Agriculture, which can resolve the conflict between rights granted under the trademark system and those granted under the sui generis systems.

The case of 金华火腿 (Jinhua Ham) is a milestone regarding the resolution of the conflict between sui generis GIs and trademarks in China.Footnote ¹⁰⁵ As noted above, the trademark JINHUA and the GI ‘Jinhua City Jinhua Ham’ (registered as a certification mark) are concurrently valid under the trademark system. Yet, before the Jinhua City Jinhua Ham was able to obtain GI protection as a certification mark from SAIC, the Jinhua municipal authorities applied for a designation of origin (which later became a GI) for its ham and successfully obtained approval from the predecessor of AQSIQ. When the defendant, a company located in Jinhua, which is authorized to use the designation of origin, put Jinhua Ham on the packages of its products, the individual trademark proprietor sued him for infringement. So the dispute is in fact a conflict arising out of two protection systems, namely, trademark protection versus designations of origin (sui generis GIs). After a trial, the court decided that the trademark owner of Jinhua had the exclusive right but was not entitled to prohibit the fair use of a third party. The fact that the defendant was authorized to use the designation of origin Jinhua Ham, which was approved by another government agency, granted the defendant the fair-use exemption. Both parties enjoyed independent IP rights, namely a trademark right and a sui generis GI right, both of which were protected by law. The court also ruled that in order to guarantee that their acts were legal and justifiable both parties should respect each other’s intellectual property rights and exercise their respective rights within the scope of protection, strictly following the relevant provisions.Footnote ¹⁰⁶ Although the court decided the case by allowing co-existence of both sets of rights and the two parties accepted the judgment, the potential for clashes between the two systems remains the same.

5.2.2 Proposed Solutions

From the JINHUA judgment, one can see that clashes between trademark rights and GI rights could be settled based on principles of honest concurrent use. For historical reasons relating to permissive legislation, many place names with potential GI significance have been registered as individual trademarks. The trademark owners have made tremendous efforts to enhance the reputation of the marks. On the other hand, the efforts and investment made by generations of local producers cannot be denied, either. Under such circumstances the law should protect both rights, provided that separate right holders use them fairly and honestly in the course of industrial and commercial activities.Footnote ¹⁰⁷ However, co-existence is achieved at the price of compromises made by both trademark and GI right holders.

7.2.1 Protection Pursued by Domestic Right Holders

Trademark systems have been established for an extended period of time and are well accepted in most countries. GI right holders have the option to apply for trademark registration in those countries where protection for GIs as collective marks or certification marks is available.Footnote ¹¹⁶ Even absent the possibility of collective or certification marks, they can often rely on regular trademarks to protect GIs. In contrast, there has been no harmonized international system regarding GI protection up to now. The Lisbon Agreement has only twenty-eight contracting parties, and China is not one of them.Footnote ¹¹⁷

Overseas GI protection can also be achieved by way of bilateral trade agreements or specific GI protection agreements via the provision of lists of protected GI terms in the annex, but this method relies heavily on the initiatives and efforts of governments and this takes time to negotiate and conclude. So far few such bilateral agreements have been reached between China and other countries.Footnote ¹¹⁸ By comparison, trademark protection is always available in other jurisdictions where GI producers have a market interest. While they can file the applications individually in these countries, the Madrid international registration system makes it much easier and cheaper to achieve the same goal. In particular, Rule 9(4)(x) of the Common Regulations under the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Protocol Relating to that AgreementFootnote ¹¹⁹ stipulates that, where the basic application or the basic registration relates to a collective or certification mark, the international application should contain an indication to that effect.Footnote ¹²⁰ Successful examples of Chinese GIs registered as certification trademarks include Zhangqiu ScallionFootnote ¹²¹ and Guanxi Sweet ShaddockFootnote ¹²² (also known as a pomelo). After commercial success on domestic markets, the trademark owners may exploit the commercial potential of the mark internationally by using the Madrid system to seek GI protection in overseas markets.Footnote ¹²³

7.2.2 Protection Pursued by Foreign Right Holders

At present it is difficult to register foreign GIs in China under the sui generis systems. As there is a lack in procedural rules, neither the PPGIP nor the MOA Measures can be used to register foreign GIs. So far, the AQSIQ has put several foreign GIs in its recording list, but these have been based on the conclusion of bilateral agreements, which are time-consuming and costly. The easiest way available is to register them as certification or collective marks under the trademark regime.Footnote ¹²⁴ Therefore, only the trademark mechanism fully complies with the TRIPS requirement in terms of national treatment and enforcement.