A Study on Intellectual Property Right Protection of Geographical Indications and Regional Public Brand Building in Xinjiang

Miaomiao XU, Chengshun SONG, Yueqiu HE, Wanzhen XIONG, Zhiguo SUN

Research Base for Forging the Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation, Hubei University of Science and Technology, Xianning 437100, China

Abstract This paper studies the geographical indication resources of Xinjiang and their distribution in administrative regions, national grain production functional zones, protected zones for production of major agricultural products, advantageous areas of Chinese characteristic agricultural products, and national advantageous characteristic industrial clusters. It analyzes the main problems existing in the protection of intellectual property rights of geographical indications. Besides, it discusses the strategies for the protection of intellectual property rights of geographical indications in the autonomous region and the building of regional public brands in the contest of the strategy of strengthening the country with intellectual property and rural revitalization strategy. Finally, it comes up with recommendations, including collecting and sorting out the human factors and natural factors of geographical indications of famous, excellent and special products, strengthening the protection of geographical indications of Xinjiang cotton and its products, enhancing the protection of geographical indications of grain and oil crops and sugar beet, implementing the protection of geographical indications for products with special needs for ethnic minorities, building national geographical indication product protection demonstration areas, formulating national and international standards for geographical indication products, and take full advantage of the EU-China Agreement on Cooperation on and Protection of Geographical Indications to actively participate in the EU protection of geographical indications.

Key words Famous, excellent and special products, Geographic indications, Regional public brands, Strategy of strengthening the country with intellectual property, Xinjiang

1 Introduction

Geographical indications, mainly used for the origin protection of agricultural products and specialty products, are an important type of intellectual property rights in theAgreementonTrade-RelatedAspectsofIntellectualPropertyRights(TRIPS). Based on TRIPS, China and the EU started negotiations in 2011, and formally signed theEU-ChinaAgreementonCooperationonandProtectionofGeographicalIndicationson September 14, 2020. This agreement is a comprehensive, high-level bilateral treaty on geographical indications, and has officially entered into force on March 1, 2021. On September 17, 2018, the National Standardization Administration released the national standardRegionalBrandEvaluation:GeographicalIndications(GB/T 36678-2018). In order to deepen the implementation of the decisions and arrangements of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council on comprehensively strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), strengthen the protection of geographical indications, deepen the reform of geographical indication management, promote the construction of national geographical indication product protection demonstration areas, and boost high-level protection and high standards for geographical indications management, high-quality development, China National Intellectual Property Administration issued theMeasuresforManagementofConstructionofNationalGeographicalIndicationProductProtectionDemonstrationAreason February 10, 2021.

In November 2019, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued theOpinionsonStrengtheningProtectionofIntellectualPropertyRights, which clearly set forth the requirements for continuously reforming and improving the intellectual property right protection system, and comprehensively using legal, administrative, economic, technological, and social governance means to strengthen protection and promote the overall improvement of protection capabilities and levels. On September 22, 2021, the CPC Central Committee and State Council issued thePlanontheDevelopmentofIntellectualPropertyRightsPower(2021-2035), which describes a blueprint for China accelerating the building of IPR power: considerable achievements will be made in building an IPR power by 2025; China’s IPR competitiveness will rank among the top in the world, and basically making China a world-class IPR power with Chinese characteristics by 2035.

The IPR can promote both the tough battle against poverty and the rural revitalization[1-2]. IPRs, especially the IPRs of geographical indications, collective marks, certification marks, provincial famous trademarks, Chinese well-known trademarks, and national industrial design patents, can promote the building of regional public brands of agricultural products and specialty products[3-6].

The Central Conference on Economic Work held in Beijing on December 8 to 10, 2021 stressed promoting high-quality development and strengthening the IPR protection. The Central Rural Work Conference held in Beijing on December 25 to 26, 2021 emphasized: "it is required to make every effort to do well in grain production and supply of major agricultural products, stabilize the grain sown area, vigorously expand the soybean and oilseed production, stabilize the swine production, and ensure the effective supply of livestock, poultry, aquatic products and vegetables, implement stringent farmland protection measures, and consolidate and expand the poverty alleviation achievements".

Xinjiang is not only the production advantage area of China’s major agricultural product cotton, but also one of the world’s three major production regions of high-quality long-staple cotton (sea island cotton). Also reputed as the "Hometown of Melons and Fruits", Xinjiang has rich and diverse specialty resources. Besides, it is an important hub of the ancient Silk Road, and has colorful ethnic cultures and rich cultural diversity. However, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has not been aware the importance of regional public brands, lacks effective integration of regional brand and corporate brand resources, and lags behind in brand building and management of agricultural products and specialty products. These factors have caused the resource advantages of agricultural products and specialty products to fail to be well transformed into economic advantages. The four prefectures of Kashgar region, Hotan region, Aksu region, and Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture in southern Xinjiang were still the national-level severely impoverished areas in 2020.

In view of the above situations, we surveyed and analyzed main problems in the IPR protection of geographic indications in Xinjiang, and explored the countermeasures for IPR protection of geographic indications and building of regional public brands in Xinjiang in the context of the strategy of strengthening the country with intellectual property and the rural revitalization strategy.

2 Resources of geographic indications in Xinjiang

The geographical indication protection system is still imperfect in China and there are currently three main systems: (i) the geographical indication product protection system of China National Intellectual Property Administration; (ii) the geographical indication trademark (certification trademark or collective trademark) registration system of Trademark Office of China National Intellectual Property Administration; (iii) the agricultural product geographical indication registration system of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

2.1 Geographical indication productsXinjiang has 39 kinds of GI products (13 kinds shared with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), including 13 categories: grains, fruits, dried fruits, melons, herbal medicines and Chinese patent medicines, livestock, poultry, fishes, textiles, wine, liquor, jade carvings, and mineral water (Table 1).

2.2 Geographical indication trademarksThe trademarks registered in the Trademark Office of China are divided into four basic types: common trademarks (common commodity trademarks, common service trademarks), collective trademarks, certification trademarks, and special trademarks. A geographical indication trademark is a mark that indicates that a commodity comes from a certain region, and the specific quality, reputation or other characteristics of the commodity are mainly determined by the natural factors or human factors of the region, and the geographical indication trademark belongs to the commodity collective trademark or commodity certification mark. So far, Xinjiang has registered a total of 19 collective trademarks, among which, according to theInternationalClassificationofGoodsandServicesforthePurposesoftheRegistrationofMarks, 1 trademark belongs to class 15, 5 trademarks belong to class 29, 6 trademarks belong to class 30, 4 trademarks belong to class 31, and 3 trademarks belong to class 43. And among these 19 collective trademarks, only 11 kinds are geographical indication trademarks.

Xinjiang registered a total of 103 certification trademarks. Among them, according to theInternationalClassificationofGoodsandServicesforthePurposesoftheRegistrationofMarks, 5 trademarks belong to class 5, 1 trademark belongs to class 27, 23 trademarks belong to class 29, 8 trademarks belong to class 30, 64 trademarks belong to class 31, 1 trademark belongs to class 32, and 1 trademark belongs to class 33. These 103 certification marks are all geographical indication marks. As shown in Table 2, the above-mentioned 114 geographical indication trademarks (including 5 of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps) include 13 categories, namely, grains and grain products, fruits and fruit products, dried fruits, melons, vegetables, edible fungi, condiments, herbal medicines, livestock, poultry, honey, textiles, and musical instruments,etc.

2.3 Geographical indications of agricultural productsXinjiang has registered a total of 14 kinds and 125 geographical indications of agricultural products (including 38 from Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), including grains, cotton, fruits, dried fruits, melons, vegetables, edible fungi, condiments, herbal medicines, livestock, poultry, honey, animals medicines, fishes,etc.(Table 3).

3 Administrative regional distribution of geographical indications in Xinjiang

Xinjiang had a total of 39 geographical indication products (Table 1), 114 geographical indication trademarks (Table 2), and 125 geographical indication of agricultural products (Table 3). Among them, Xinjian Uygur Autonomous Region has a total of 39 geographical indication products (13 shared with Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), 109 geographical indication trademarks, and 87 geographical indications of agricultural products. Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps had a total of 13 geographical indication products shared with local regions, 5 geographical indication trademarks, and 38 geographical indications of agricultural products.

Table 3 Geographical indications of agricultural products in Xinjiang

3.1 Bayingoleng Mongolian Autonomous PrefectureBayingoleng Prefecture had 8 kinds of geographical indication products: Korla pears (including Aksu region, First Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Qiemo jujubes (including Second Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Ruoqiang jujubes (including Second Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Ruoqiang jujubes (including Second Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps) Construction Corps), Qiemo sheep, Hoxod wine, Bosten Lake grass carps, Bosten Lake carps, Luntai white apricots; 11 geographical indication trademarks: Hoxod grapes, Korla pears, Luntai white apricots, Lapa melons, Qiemo jujubes, Ruoqiang jujubes (registration No.3590206), Ruoqiang jujubes (registration No.3590207), Yanqi big white melon seeds, Yanqi red peppers, Yanqi Chinese cabbage, Yanqi fennel seeds; 7 geographical indications of agricultural products: Bayan Bulag mushrooms, Yuli melons, Yuli watermelons, Bohu peppers, Yuli Lopnur mutton, Yuli dogbane leaf tea, and Korla pears.

3.2 Aksu regionAksu region had 5 kinds of geographical indication products: Aksu walnuts (including First Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Korla pears (including Bayingoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, First Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Aksu apples (including First Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Aksu jujubes (including First Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Kalpin mutton; 19 geographical indication trademarks: Aksu jujubes (registration No.5098712), Aksu jujubes (registration No.5918994), Aksu apples, Awati Musalas (registration No.5717691), Awati Musalas (registration No.5717692), Baicheng oil chicken, Kuqa Akshaywa grape, Kuqa white apricots (registration No.4650471), Kuqa white apricots (registration No.4650472), Kuqa plums (registration No.4650470), Kuqa plums (registration No.4651525), Kuqa medicinal mulberries, Aksu walnuts, Aksu fresh walnuts, Wensu rice, Uqturpan garbanzo beans, Xinhe pigeon, Xinhe grapes, Jiayin Jiayi folk musical instruments; 7 geographical indications of agricultural products: Kalpin Qamgur, XayarLopnur hemp honey, Uqturpan garbanzo beans, Kuqa small white apricots, Xayar dogbane leaf tea, Wensu rice, and Aksu apples.

3.3 Hotan regionHotan region had 4 kinds of geographical indication products: Hotan jujubes (including 14thDivision of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Hotan carpet, Hotan thin shell walnuts, Hotan Desertliving Cistanche Herb; 12 geographical indication trademarks: Hotan mutton, Hotan carpet, Hotan grapes, Hotan pomegranates, Hotan sweet melons, Hotan Cistanches Herba , Hotan rose, Hotan thin shell walnuts, Hotan jade jujube (registration No.7711765), Hotan jade jujube (registration No.7871448), Hotan black chicken, Hotan black chicken; 17 geographical indications of agricultural products: Hotan imperial jujube, Piyalma sweet pomegranate, Niya Kunlun snow chrysanthemum, Cele jujubes, Cele pomegranates, Cele fennel seeds, Hotan Akqal melons, Niya black chicken, Minfeng jujubes, Kokterak grapes, Kilyang snow chrysanthemum, Pishan yam, Andir melons, Yutian Cistanche tubulosa, Yutian desert rose, Niya mutton, and Yutian Sheldrake.

3.4 Kashgar regionKashgar region had 7 kinds of geographical indication products: Yecheng walnuts, Shache Badam, Kashgar pomegranates, Yengisar Semaiti dried apricots, Yengisar Semaiti apricots, Jiashi melons, Pamir Glacier mineral water; 23 geographical indication trademarks: Jiashi melons, Kashgar mutton, Jiashi mutton, Shache pigeon meat, Kashgar walnuts, Yecheng walnuts, Kashgar Badam, Shache Badam, Shufu figs, Kashgar jujube, Zepu Jun jujube, Makit gray jujube, Kashgar grapes, Kashgars weet apricots, Yengisar apricots, Kashgar pomegranates, Zepu apples, Kashgar plums, Jiashi plums, Yopurga figs, Kashgar sweet melons, Kashgar fennel seeds, Makit sheep; 5 geographical indications of agricultural products: Jiashi melons, Shache melons, Tielimu fennel seeds, Yecheng walnuts, Shufu Muyage apricots.

3.5 Kizilsu Kirgiz PrefectureKizilsu Kirgiz Prefecture had only 6 geographical indication trademarks: Uqar sheep, Uqar wild yak, Uqar Fernle Mushroom, Uqar snow chrysanthemum, Atux Munage grapes, and Atux figs. It has neither implemented the protection of geographical indication products nor registered the geographical indication of agricultural products.

3.6 Hami CityHami City had 2 kinds of geographical indication products: Hami melons (including Turpan City, 13thDivision of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Hami jujubes (including 13thDivision of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps); 2 geographical indication trademarks: Hami jujubes, Hami melons (including Turpan City); 3 geographical indications of agricultural products: Santanghu Hami melons, Hami mutton, and Nanhu Hami melons.

3.7 Turpan CityHami City had 6 kinds of geographical indication products: Turpan game fowl (including 12thDivision of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Turpan wine (including 12thDivision of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Hami melons (including Hami City, 13thDivision of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Turpan black sheep, Turpan grapes, Turpan raisins; 4 geographical indication trademarks: Turpan raisins (registration No.2016460), Turpan raisins (registration No.2016461), Toksun black sheep, Hami melons (including Turpan City); 2 geographical indications of agricultural products: Toksun jujubes and Toksun apricots.

3.8 Urumqi CityUrumqi City has not implemented the protection of geographical indication products; Urumqi City had 1 geographical indication trademark: Xinjiang jujube (including Xinjiang Autonomous Region and the Corps); 2 geographical indications of agricultural products: Dabancheng broad beans and Miquan rice.

3.9 Changji Hui Autonomous PrefectureChangji Prefecture had 3 kinds of geographical indication products: Mori garbanzo beans, Gucheng liquor, , Manas jade; 16 geographical indication trademarks: Fukang melon seeds, Hutubi dairy cows, Jimsar peppers, Jimsar garlics, Jimsar safflower, Qitai mutton, Qitai beef, Qitai pork, Qitai local chicken, Qitai potato, Qitai flour, Qitai buckwheat noodle, Qitai fine dried noodle, Qitai steamed cake, Qitai bean noodle, Qitai Calophyllum inophyllum; 16 geographical indications of agricultural products: Mori white peas, Mori garbanzo beans, Qitai white potato, Qitai Sipingtou peppers, Qitai flour, Fukang flat peaches, Shitizi onion, Wugongtai sweet potato, Manas Suffolk sheep, Laolonghe watermelons, Fukang melon seeds, Mori mutton, Hutubi dairy cows, Jimsar white skinned garlics, Mori long-browed camel, and Jimsar chicken.

3.10 Tacheng regionTacheng region had one kind of geographical indication products: Tacheng Bashbay sheep; 8 geographical indication trademarks: Emin Emil white sheep, Yumin Bashbay sheep (registration No.5373503), Yumin Bashbay sheep (registration No.5373504), Yumin thornless safflower, Shawan big plate chicken (registration No.19581868), Shawan big plate chicken (registration No.19581870), Shawan big plate chicken (registration No.20780511), Shawan big plate chicken (registration No.20780512); 2 geographical indications of agricultural products: Yumin thornless safflower and Anjihai peppers.

3.11 Ili Kazak Autonomous PrefectureIli Prefecture had 2 kinds of geographical indication products: Ili liquor (including 4thDvision of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), Ili lavender essential oil (including 4thDvision of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps); 5 geographical indication trademarks: Qapqal rice, Nilka black bee honey, Ili honey, Ili apples, Zhaosu potato; 20 geographical indications of agricultural products: Mohuer grapes, Qapqal rice, Gongliu walnuts, Gongliu Tianshan Fritillaria walujewii, Tangbra black bee honey, Tekes apples, Huocheng lavender, Tekes wildflower honey, Karabura apples, Karabura peaches, Zhaosu garlics, Zhaosu rape, Narat black bee honey, GongliuPrunusarmeniaca‘Diaogan’, Zhaosu heavenly horse, HuochengPrunusarmeniaca‘Diaogan’, Huocheng cherry plum, Huiyuan carrots, Gongliu apples, and Zhaosu potato.

3.12 Bortala Mongolian Autonomous PrefectureBortala Prefecture has not implemented the protection of geographical indication products; Bortala Prefecture had one geographical indication trademark: Jinghe wolfberry, and one geographical indication of agricultural product: Jinghe wolfberry.

3.13 Altay regionAltay region had 3 kinds of geographical indication products: Altay sheep, Altay Esox lucius, Altay large fruit sea buckthorns; 2 geographical indication trademarks: Altay sheep, Jemeney spring wheat; 5 geographical indications of agricultural products: Hom honey, Xirikxiy light speckled kidney beans, Qinghe Fernle Mushroom, Hanas melons, and Hanas soybeans.

3.14 Karamay CityKaramay City has neither implemented the geographical indication protection system, nor had geographical indication products, geographical indication trademarks, and geographical indications of agricultural products.

3.15 Xinjiang Production and Construction CorpsXinjiang Production and Construction Corps had 13 kinds of geographical indication products (shared with local regions): Aksu walnuts (First Division and Aksu region), Korla pears (First Division and Bayingoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Aksu region), Aksu apples (First Division and Aksu region), Aksu jujubes (First Division and Aksu region); Qiemo jujubes (Second Division and Qiemo County), Ruoqiang jujubes (Second Division and Ruoqiang County)；Ili liquor (Fourth Division and Xinyuan County), Ili lavender essential oil (Fourth Division and four counties and cities of Ili Prefecture); Turpan wine (12thDivision and Turpan City), Turpan game fowl (12thDivision and Turpan City); Hami melons (13thDivision and Hami City, Turpan City), Hami jujubes (13thDivision and Hami City); Hotan jujubes (14thDivision and Hotan region), while other 8 divisions (the 8thDivision, and the 5thto 11thdivisions) have not implemented the geographical indication protection.

Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps had only 5 geographical indication trademarks: Tumxuk winter jujube of the Third Division, Wujiaqu sweet melons of the 6thDivision, Xiayedi cherries of the 8thDivision, Xiayedi water melons, and Beitun sunflower seeds of the 10thDivision, while other 8 divisions (the first and second divisions, the 4thand 5thdivisions, 7thDivision, 9thDivision, and the 11thto 14thdivisions have not implemented the geographical indication protection.

Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps had 38 geographical indications of agricultural products. Specifically, the First Division had 3 kinds: Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 6thRegiment apples, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Third Regiment walnuts, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 5thRegiment apples; the Second Division had 8 kinds: 223rdRegiment apples, Tarim Reclamation Area hairy antler, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 27thRegiment hops, Kereid red peppers, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 31stRegiment dogbane, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 29thRegiment pears, Tarim Reclamation Area deer horn, Tarim Reclamation Area red deer flower plate; the Third Division had 2 kinds: Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 48thRegiment jujubes, Xiaohaizi grass carps; the 4thDivision had 3 kinds: 68thRegiment rice, AlmalikPrunusarmeniaca‘Diaogan’, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 73rdRegiment rice; the 5thDivision had 2 kinds: Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 84thRegiment pigment chrysanthemum, Bole red globe; the 6thDivision had one kind: 103rdRegiment melons; the 7thDivision had one kind: Urh Reclamation Area Bailan melons; the 8thDivision had 6 kinds: 148thRegiment colored cotton, Shihezi table grapes, Shihezi Desertliving Cistanche Herb, Xiayedi water melons, Shihezi 143rdRegiment flat peaches, Paotai melons; the 9thDivision had 2 kinds: Dayensuw beef, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 170thRegiment sea buckthorn; the 10thDivision had 3 kinds: Beitun Esox lucius, Dingshan confectionery sunflower, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 184thRegiment apples; the 11thDivision has not registered the geographical indication of agricultural products; the 12thDivision had 2 kinds: Toutunhe grapes, Xishan Farm and Ranch potato; the 13thDivision had 2 kinds: Liushuquan jujubes, Nomuhu Hami melons; the 14thDivision had 3 kinds: Hotan jade jujube, Hotan First Ranch snow chrysanthemum, Hotan First Ranch mutton.

4 Distribution of geographical indications in Xinjiang’s agricultural "three zones" and advantageous and characteristic industrial clusters

4.1 National grain production functional zonesTheGuidingOpinionsonEstablishingtheFunctionalZonesforGrainProductionandtheProtectedZonesforProductionofMajorAgriculturalProductsissued by the State Council (Guo Fa[2017] No.24) determined 60 000 000 ha of functional zones for grain production[7]. Xinjiang had 2 273 300 ha of national grain production functional zones (including 240 000 ha of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), including 1 266 700 ha of wheat production functional zone, 806 700 ha of maize production functional zone, and 66 700 ha of rice production functional zone. The rice production functional zone had 2 geographical indication trademarks: Qapqal rice and Wensu rice; 5 kinds of geographical indications of agricultural products: Qapqal rice, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 73rdRegiment rice, Wensu rice, Miquan rice, and 68thRegiment rice; but the rice production functional zone has not implemented the geographical indication protection. The wheat production functional zone had 4 geographical indication trademarks: Jemeney spring wheat, Qitai flour, Qitai fine dried noodle, and Qitai steamed cake; one kind of geographical indication of agricultural product: Qitai flour; however, wheat production functional zone has not implemented the geographical indication protection. The maize production functional zone has neither applied the geographical indication protection system, nor had the geographical indication product, geographical indication trademark, or geographical indication of agricultural product.

4.2 Protected zones for production of major agricultural productsTheGuidingOpinionsonEstablishingtheFunctionalZonesforGrainProductionandtheProtectedZonesforProductionofMajorAgriculturalProductsissued by the State Council (Guo Fa[2017] No.24) on April 10, 2017 determined 15 900 000 ha of protected zones for production of five major agricultural products (cotton, soybean, rapeseed, sugarcane, and natural rubber), with 5 333 300 ha overlapping with the grain production functional zones[8].

Xinjiang had 2 million ha of protected zone for cotton production (including 400 000 ha of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), accounting for 85.71% of the country’s total, and it had 46 700 ha of protected zone for sugar beet production. In Xinjiang, the protected zone for cotton production only had one kind of geographical indication of agricultural product, namely, 148thRegiment colored cotton. It neither had geographical indication product nor had geographical indication trademark. In addition, the protected zone for sugar beet production has not applied the geographical indication protection system, and not had geographical indication product, geographical indication trademark, or geographical indication of agricultural product.

4.3 Advantageous areas of agricultural products with Chinese characteristicsFrom 2017 to 2020, nine departments including the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration carried out the establishment and selection of advantageous areas of agricultural products with Chinese characteristics[9-13], and successively identified 308 national level advantageous areas of characteristic agricultural products. Specifically, Xinjiang now has 10 national level advantageous areas of characteristic agricultural products: Bayingoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture Korla pears, Ruoqiang jujubes, Shache Badam, Yecheng walnuts, Yengisar apricots, Turpan Hami melons, Shanshan County Turpan grapes, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 5thDivision Shuanghe grapes, First Division Alar City Alar jujubes, and First Division Alar thin shell walnuts.

These national level advantageous areas of characteristic agricultural products had a total of 12 geographical indication products: Korla pears, Ruoqiang jujubes, Yecheng walnuts, Shache Badam, Yengisar Semaiti dried apricots, Yengisar Semaiti apricots, Hami melons, Turpan grapes, Turpan raisins, Turpan wine, Aksu jujubes, Aksu walnuts; 13 geographical indication trademarks: Korla pears, Ruoqiang jujubes (registration No.3590206), Ruoqiang jujubes (registration No.3590207), Kashgar walnuts, Yecheng walnuts, Kashgar Badam, Shache Badam, Kashgarsweet apricots, Yengisar apricots, Hami melons, Turpan raisins (registration No.2016460), Turpan raisins (registration No.2016461), Xinjiang jujube; 5 kinds of geographical indications of agricultural products: Korla pears, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 29thRegiment pears, Yecheng walnuts, Bole red globe, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Third Regiment walnuts.

4.4 National-level advantageous and characteristic industrial clustersIn 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Finance approved the construction of 50 advantageous and characteristic industrial clusters. Among them, Xinjiang had 3 national-level advantageous and characteristic industrial clusters: Xinjiang Korla pears industrial cluster, Xinjiang thin shell walnut industrial cluster, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps jujubes industrial cluster.

Xinjiang Korla pears industrial cluster had geographical indication product Korla pears, geographical indication trademark Korla pears, agricultural geographical indication Korla pears, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 29thRegiment pears. The leading product of Xinjiang thin shell walnut industrial cluster is the southern Xinjiang thin shell walnut, involving 3 geographical indication products: Aksu walnuts, Hotan thin shell walnuts, Yecheng walnuts; 5 geographical indication trademarks: Aksu walnuts, Aksu fresh walnuts, Hotan thin shell walnuts, Kashgar walnuts, Yecheng walnuts; 2 kinds of geographical indications of agricultural products: Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Third Regiment walnuts and Yecheng walnuts. Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps jujubes industrial cluster involves 5 geographical indication products: Aksu jujubes, Qiemo jujubes, Ruoqiang jujubes, Hami jujubes, and Hotan jujubes; 2 geographical indication trademarks: Xinjiang jujube, Tumxuk winter jujube; 3 geographical indications of agricultural products: Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps 48thRegiment jujubes, and Liushuquan jujubes, and Hotan jade jujube.

5 Construction of national geographical indication product protection demonstration areas in Xinjiang and geographical indication EU protection

On August 27, 2021, the Office of China National Intellectual Property Administration determined the list of 50 national geographical indication product protection demonstration areas to be established in 2021. Among them, there are two in Xinjiang: national geographical indication product protection demonstration areas for Korla pears and national geographical indication product protection demonstration areas for Jinghe wolfberry.

According to theEU-ChinaAgreementonCooperationonandProtectionofGeographicalIndications, the first batch of 100 Chinese geographical indications will be protected within the EU. Among them, Xinjiang has 3 kinds: Korla pears (ranked 20th), Turpan raisins (ranked 40th), and Jinghe wolfberry (ranked 100th). China’s 175 geographical indications will be subsequently protected by the European Union (for the first four-year period after the entry into force of this agreement on March 1, 2021). Among them, Xinjiang has 4 kinds: Huocheng lavender (ranked 11th), Bohu peppers (ranked 39th), Cele jujubes (ranked 44th), and Aksu apples (ranked 175th).

6 Major problems in the IPR protection of geographical indications in Xinjiang

6.1 Very weak geographical indication protection of Xinjiang cotton and textilesXinjiang had 2 million ha of protected zone for cotton production (including 400 000 ha of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps), accounting for 85.71% of the national total. In 2021, its cotton output was 5.129 million t, accounting for 89.50% of the national total. Xinjiang’s own textile industry has a certain scale. There are 6 national foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases in the textile and garment category, which are now undertaking the transfer of the cotton textile and garment industry in the domestic areas. However, the protection of geographical indications for cotton and textiles in Xinjiang is very weak. Specifically, Xinjiang cotton has only registered the 148thRegiment colored cotton of the Agricultural Products Geographical Indication of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. As to its textiles, only Hotan carpet has implemented the protection of geographical indication products and registered the geographical indication trademark.

6.2 Geographical indication factors of commodities with special needs for ethnic minorities to be further improved for collecting and sortingXinjiang has 127 national designated production enterprises for commodities with special needs for ethnic minorities, and produces knitted textiles, clothing, daily necessities, furniture, stationery, arts and crafts, production tools, halal food and other types of commodities with special needs for ethnic minorities. Geographical indications of these commodities have obvious human factors and rich intangible cultural heritage. However, only Hotan carpet has been protected by geographical indications for special ethnic commodities in Xinjiang autonomous region.

6.3 Weak protection of geographical indications for bulk agricultural products such as grains, oil crops and sugar beets

Xinjiang has national grain production functional zones for three staple grains: wheat, maize, and rice. However, not many varieties of wheat and rice have been protected by geographical indications. In addition, functional zones for maize production, protected zones for sugar beet production, oil crops and their edible oils,etc., have not implemented the geographical indication protection system.

6.4 Geographical indications of national-level advantageous and characteristic industrial clusters to be strengthenedAmong the 10 national-level advantageous and characteristic agricultural product areas in Xinjiang, there are 12 geographical indication products, 13 geographical indication trademarks, and 5 geographical indications of agricultural products. However, there are few geographical indications registered for agricultural products, and there is a lack of geographical indication protection for their deep-processed products. Among the 3 national-level advantageous and characteristic industrial clusters, Xinjiang thin shell walnut industrial cluster and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps jujubes industrial cluster involve many geographical indications, but most are primary agricultural products. It is difficult to distinguish the geographical indication brand that is absolutely dominant in the industrial cluster.

6.5 Very little use of special sign for geographical indicationsThe use of special sign for geographical indications is an important part of the marking and branding of special geographical indications. geographical indication products, geographical indication trademarks, and geographical indications of agricultural products all have their own special signs.

Among the 114 geographical indications in Xinjiang (including Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps) (Table 2), as many as 102 have not been approved to use their special signs for geographical indications, accounting for 89.47% of the total number of geographical indications in the region. There are only 12 legal users with special signs for geographical indication trademarks. Among them, Jimsar peppers, Tumxuk winter jujube, Nilka black bee honey, Zhaosu potato, all have only one user of the special sign of geographical indication trademark; Hotan jade jujube has 2; Aksu apples, Beitun sunflower seeds have 2 each; Ruoqiang jujubes (registration No.3590206) and Ruoqiang jujubes (registration No.3590206) have 8 and 12, respectively. Both Jinghe wolfberry and Qapqal rice have 19 users of special signs for geographical indication trademarks. Only the Korla pears geographical indication trademark has a large number of legal users, as high as 95. These indicate that in general, the use of special signs for geographical indications in Xinjiang is very small.

6.6 Lack of national standard of geographical indication productsXinjiang (including Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps) has a total of 39 geographical indication products (Table 1), 114 geographical indication trademarks (Table 2), and 125 geographical indications of agricultural products (Table 3). Taken together, Xinjiang has a total of 234 kinds of geographical indication specialties. However, there are only 4 national standards for its geographical indication products:GeographicalIndicationProductKorlaPears(GB/T 19859-2005),GeographicalIndicationProductTurpanGrapes(GB/T 19585-2008),GeographicalIndicationProductTurpanRaisins(GB/T 19586-2008), andGeographicalIndicationProductHamiMelons(GB/T 23398-2009). As many as 230 geographical indication products (including geographical indication trademarks and products corresponding to geographical indications of agricultural products) do not have corresponding national standards.

7 Strategies of geographical indication IPR protection and regional public brand building in Xinjiang

7.1 Collecting and sorting out the human factors of geographical indications of famous, excellent and special products to promote the building of a shared spiritual home for the Chinese nationIt is recommended to collect and sort out the production history, traditional production technology, agricultural biological genetic resources, traditional land use system, traditional processing techniques, agricultural cultural heritage, tangible cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage and other geographical indications of human factors of famous, excellent and special products, enhance the cultural connotation of famous, excellent and special products, enrich the rural culture, and implement the protection of relevant cultural relics units, intangible cultural heritage, Chinese and global agricultural cultural heritage, inherit the traditional Chinese culture, to promote the building of a shared spiritual home for the Chinese nation.

7.2 Surveying and analyzing the natural factors of geographical indications of famous, excellent and special products to give full play to the advantages of biological genetic resources and agricultural natural environmentIt is recommended to survey and analyze the natural factors of geographical indications such as topography, climate, soil, variety, production technology and processing skills of famous, excellent and special products. Besides, combined with agricultural biological genetic resources, it is recommended to analyze the suitability of agricultural animal and plant varieties and the authenticity of products, build high-standard farmland, pastures, and fish ponds, make full use of the high suitability of land, so as to give full play to the advantages of biological genetic resources and agricultural natural environment.

7.3 Strengthening the protection of geographical indications of Xinjiang cotton and its products to promote the high-quality development of protected zone for production of major agricultural product cotton in the country and the prevention and resolution of Xinjiang cotton incidentsXinjiang can take cotton quality as the main basis and combine topography, landform, climate, soil, hydrology, cultivars, planting history and other conditions to subdivide the existing three cotton regions into more than ten sub-regions of cotton production. Besides, based on the natural and human factors of the geographical indication of cotton products in sub-regions, Xinjiang can implement the protection of geographical indication products of China National Intellectual Property Administration, and register the geographical indication trademark (certification trademark, or collective trademark) of Trademark Office of China National Intellectual Property Administration, and register the geographical indication of agricultural products of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Also, taking advantage ofEU-ChinaAgreementonCooperationonandProtectionofGeographicalIndications, it is recommended to obtain the protection of geographical indication in the EU like Korla pears, Turpan raisins, and Jinghe wolfberry.

It is necessary to concentrate on six national foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases for textiles and garments, including Ili, Korla Economic and Technological Development Zone, Kashgar Economic Development Zone, the 8thDivision of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the Third Division Tumshuq City, and the First Division Alar Economic and Technological Development Zone, and combine the national designated production enterprises of commodities with special needs for ethnic minorities to screen the geographical indication factors of cotton products, implement the protection of geographical indication products of Xinjiang cotton products, and register their geographical indication trademarks. Besides, with the innovation of biological varieties, the branding of geographical indications, and high-quality development as the main lines, Xinjiang can promote the construction of the protected zone for production of major agricultural product cotton in the country and the national foreign trade transformation and upgrading base for textiles and garments, and prevent and resolve the Xinjiang cotton incident based on IPR protection and high-quality development

7.4 Enhancing the protection of geographical indications of grain and oil crops and sugar beet,etc., to ensure food security and supply of major agricultural productsXinjiang should strengthen the protection of geographical indications of wheat, maize, rice, oilseeds and edible oils, sugar beets, hemp, sheep, cattle, horses, goats, honey,Esoxlucius,etc., and promote the high-quality construction of functional zones for grain production of wheat, maize, and rice, and production protection zones for sugar beets, to ensure food security and supply of major agricultural products.

7.5 Enhancing the protection of geographical indications of national and autonomous region level advantageous area of characteristic agricultural products, to improve the branding development of advantageous and characteristic industrial clustersXinjiang should promote the standardized development of characteristic agricultural products. Taking geographical indications as regional public brands, Xinjiang can encourage leading agricultural enterprises and farmers’ professional cooperatives within the protection scope of geographical indications to use corresponding special signs of geographical indication, and enhance the protection of national and autonomous region level geographical indications of advantageous agricultural products. For example, it is feasible to improve the branding development of advantageous and characteristic industrial clusters such as Korla pears, Southern Xinjiang thin shell walnuts, Hami melons, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps jujubes, Turpan grapes, Jinghe wolfberry, and Aksu apples,etc.

7.6 Implementing the protection of geographical indications for products with special needs for ethnic minorities, to promote exchanges and integration of various ethnic minorities

Xinjiang needs to collect and sort out the human factors and natural factors of geographical indications of Xinjiang’s products with special needs for ethnic minorities, implement the protection of geographical indication products with special needs for ethnic minorities, register geographical indication trademarks, assist 127 nationally designated production enterprises of products with special needs for ethnic minorities, and take products with special needs for ethnic minorities as the material basis and "heart-to-heart bridge" to promote exchanges and integration of various ethnic groups.

7.7 Formulating national and international standards for geographical indication products to promote help the standardized development of famous, excellent and special products

TakingGeographicalIndicationProductKorlaPearsandGeographicalIndicationProductHamiMelons as examples, Xinjiang may formulate national standards for more than 200 kinds of geographical indication products in Xinjiang (including geographical indication trademarks, products corresponding to geographical indications of agricultural products), and formulate the international standard for the geographical indication products Korla pears, Turpan raisins, Jinghe wolfberry, Huocheng lavender, Bohu peppers, Cele jujubes, Aksu apples,etc.listed in theEU-ChinaAgreementonCooperationonandProtectionofGeographicalIndications, to promote the standardized and international development of geographical indication products.

7.8 Building national geographical indication product protection demonstration zones to lead the building of regional public brands of characteristic and excellent productsXinjiang should focus on the construction of Korla pears and Jinghe wolfberry national geographical indication product protection demonstration zones, so as to demonstrate the geographical indication protection of more than 200 kinds of its geographical indication products. Taking geographical indications as the key link, Xinjiang should effectively integrate regional brand and corporate brand resources, carry out brand marketing, and build regional public brands of characteristic and excellent products.

7.9 Actively participating in the EU protection of geographical indications and building regional public international brandsIt is recommended to take full advantage of theEU-ChinaAgreementonCooperationonandProtectionofGeographicalIndicationsto actively participate in the EU protection of geographical indications, especially Korla pears, Turpan raisins, Jinghe wolfberry, Huocheng lavender, Bohu peppers, Cele jujubes, Aksu apples and other geographical indication products, vigorously promote the high quality construction of national foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases such as Urumqi City (canned fruits and vegetables), the 8thDivision Shihezi city (agricultural products), the 10thDivision Beitun City (characteristic agricultural products), the Second Division (vegetables), the 9thDivision (vegetables), and the 6thDivision (tomato), build public international brands in geographical indication areas, and develop the EU and the international market along the Belt and Road.