표장의 형태를 통해 분석한 지리적 표시 단체표장의 활용성 제고에 대한 고찰

The geographical indication collective marks protect the producers and enforce the competitiveness of their agricultural and marine products and other related processed goods etc. by guarding the geographical indication of regional products which contains superior geographical characteristics. They also protect the consumers by providing the correct information of the origins of the products. The geographical indication collective marks are granted principally only when the marks are consisted of geographical indications or the marks are combined with geographical indications and product names. However, it is also allowed that these marks contain common patterns, logos, and figures for the general use of geographical indications, except when parts other than geographical indications weaken or dilute them. For the activation of legal entity of geographical indication collective marks, it is desirable to adopt a design-combined mark instead of a word mark in order to distinguish between union members and non-union members. By letting union members and non-union members use different marks in the same local area, the dilution of the quality assurance of union members that can arise by the free-ridings of non-union members can be stopped. In order to advertise regional products to consumers, it is also desirable to show that the geographical indication collective marks were granted. For advertisement purposes, effort should be taken for the awareness of consumers for the regional product by using the designed-combined mark. Also, promotional marketing such as showing lateral notation which indicates the authentication receiving the geographical indication collective marks in the proper space on the regional products with the design-combined marks is necessary.