Trademark protection for folk paper-cutting in Yu County
Trademark protection refers to the way intangible cultural heritage is protected as goods or services through trademark registration. The trademark protection model is applicable to the protection of all intangible cultural heritage in commercial development, especially the protection of birthplaces and special symbols and marks of indigenous communities. A trademark is a commercial identifier and a basic element that promotes the domestic and foreign commercial circulation of goods and services. Products and services produced and provided by craftsmen, craftsmen, technicians, traders of native and indigenous communities, or on behalf of them or the groups to which they belong (such as cooperatives, trade associations, etc.) can be distinguished by different trademarks and service marks. Come.
Due to the regional nature of intangible cultural heritage and the collective nature of its subjects, for its trademark application, we can learn from the provisions of my country’s Trademark Law on geographical indications. According to Article 22 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, a geographical indication is an indication that identifies the origin of goods from the territory of a member or a certain area or location in that territory, and the specific quality, reputation or other characteristics of the goods Mainly due to this geographical environment. A geographical indication is a commercially valuable identifier that is closely linked to a specific region. It can indicate the quality and quality of a product in a specific region or place of origin, and clarifies the unique correspondence between the product and its geographical origin.
Yuxian paper-cutting is as regional as a geographical indication. Yuxian paper-cutting is a local cultural resource produced in Yuxian County, Hebei Province. In addition, Yuxian paper-cutting originated from the folk and is a folk art created collectively by many folk artists, which makes Yuxian paper-cutting and local
Like physical signs, their subjects are non-specific. It can be seen that Yuxian paper-cutting can learn from geographical indications in terms of trademark application. As an excellent intangible cultural heritage, Yuxian paper-cutting has gained a certain reputation in society since it successfully applied for the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects in 2006. After some people from other places came to Yu County to study under teachers, they claimed that the paper-cutting skills they learned were inherited from their ancestors. They returned to their hometowns to set up factories and take apprentices, and never mentioned the Yuxian paper-cutting skills to the outside world. Many foreign merchants come here to order and purchase Yuxian paper-cuttings, and then package them into their own local paper-cutting products and sell them to the market; or some foreign merchants hire Yuxian paper-cutting artists toIn their hometown, they designed and produced Yuxian paper-cutting products, which were later called their local folk paper-cutting, and Yuxian paper-cutting was never mentioned. The so-called Yuxian paper-cutting refers to the folk paper-cutting that was born in Yuxian area and is made using unique knife carving and dot dyeing techniques. The regional specificity of its production and the uniqueness of its production technology make Yuxian paper-cutting unique. Therefore, no matter who makes Yu County paper-cutting or where it is done, it should be called Yu County paper-cutting. If the inheritors of paper-cutting improve their awareness of rights protection and add the Yuxian paper-cutting brand logo to the works they create, it will not only protect the trademark rights of Yuxian paper-cutting works, but also promote the standardized operation of the private paper-cutting sales market. In this way This leaves no loopholes and opportunities for unscrupulous foreign traders to exploit.
