An Anatomy of the U.S. Regime of Geographical Indications: Trademark Law, Labeling and Advertising Regulations, Agricultural Measures, and A Bite of Everything

美國地理標示法之解析──商標法、產品標示與廣告管制以及農業措施

美國法並不承認地理標示為獨立類型之智慧財權。通說認為美國地理標示法係由包括商標法及一系列規範管制商品標示、廣告行銷以及農業措施之法規所組成。這些法規各有其制定背景及政策目標，消費者保護及反制不公平競爭只是其一環。美國法向來被公認為是以商標法保護地理標示的典範。專利商標局將地理標示保護視為商標議題，主張現有之商標法已提供地理標示充分保護。這種論點造成地理標示概念的扭曲紊亂。概念上，地理標示與商標法中的證明標章和團體商標相近。然而實際上，由於證明標章與團體商標仍受商標法一般原理原則之拘束，當地理名稱成為證明標章或團體商標時，主要政策考量在於限制權利人專屬排他性範圍，以免妨礙其他業者使用該地理名稱之權利並維護自由競爭之秩序。美國政府對於地理名稱在產品標示與廣告行銷之使用定有特別管制措施。首先，就酒類及若干農產與食品，由行政機關對於具有地理意義的名稱加以分類管制其使用。其次，美國政府允許業者申請創設葡萄酒產區。Vidalia洋蔥例證了美國如何透過地方及聯邦法規建立保護地方特色農產品名稱及品質之制度。

The U.S. law does not recognize GIs as a sui generis category of IP. Under the U.S. law, GIs are protected through a number of regimes deriving from a collection of unrelated laws and regulations. These laws and regulations serve different policy objectives and consumer protection and the prevention of unfair competition are only part of them. There is an inherent incompatibility between the concept of trademarks and that of GIs. Although included under the Lanham Act, certification marks and collective trademarks are two special categories of marks. In U.S., the origins of both categories of marks were in some way connected to the protection of geographical designations. Conceptually, these two categories of marks better accommodate GIs. However, being subject to the general principles of trademark law, the protection for GIs that these two categories of marks can provide is rather limited and uncertain. Following the established trademark law principles, when a geographical term is used as a certification mark or collective trademark, the main policy concern is to preserve the freedom of all actors in the region to use the term and, therefore, the exclusivity of such geographical marks will be rather limited. Administrative schemes regulating product labeling and advertising are also used to regulate commercial use of geographical designations. These regulations serve diverse policy goals, ranging from consumer protection, domestic producer protection, to facilitate the development of specific industry.