Geographical Indication Intellectual Property Protection and Regional Public Brand Construction of Rape Industry in China

Li GAO, Yamin PENG*, Leying WU, Jin ZENG, Yuanpeng SUN, Zhiguo SUN

1. Centre for Cultural Studies on Southern Hubei Province Xianning 437100, China; 2. College of Economics and Management, Hubei University of Science and Technology, Xianning 437100, China

Abstract As China’s largest oil crop, rape occupies a central position in ensuring the safety of China’s cooking oil supply. This paper introduced China’s rapeseed industry from the rape type, rapeseed production, planting area, national rapeseed production protected area, rape national dominant characteristic industrial clusters, and rapeseed industry, etc. Besides, from the aspects of geographical indication products, geographical indication trademarks, and geographical indications of agricultural products, this paper discussed the intellectual property protection of geographical indications of rape, rapeseed, and rapeseed oil in China. It analyzed the main problems such as the lag in the formulation of relevant standards for geographical indications and the low use of special signs for geographical indications, and finally came up with recommendations including building a public brand of geographical indications and expanding foreign exchanges of geographical indications.

Key words Rape, Rapeseed, Rapeseed oil, Geographical indication, Regional public brand, China

1 Introduction

China is highly dependent on imports of edible vegetable oils, importing 10.39 million t in 2021. The rapeseed oil accounts for about 50% of domestic cooking oil. As China’s largest oil crop, rape occupies a central position in ensuring the safety of China’s cooking oil supply[1-3]. In recent years, China has always attached great importance to the production of rapeseed oil, an important agricultural product. The winter rape region is actively promoting the "rice rape rotation" model and making full use of idle fields to grow rape[4-5]. Cabbage-type rape has a dual purpose of oil and vegetables, and is a main vegetable in China.

Geographical indications, as important agricultural intellectual property mainly aimed at specialty products, are an effective tool for building regional public brands of specialty products and also an important resource for traditional cultural carriers and market competition[6-11]. The14thFive-YearPlanfortheProtectionandUseofGeographicalIndicationsissued by China National Intellectual Property Administration proposes to consolidate the foundation for the protection and management of geographical indications, improve the level of protection and management of geographical indications, strengthen the brand building of geographical indications, develop characteristic industries of geographical indications, and expand foreign exchanges of geographical indications. In view of this, we discussed the protection of intellectual property rights of geographical indications of China’s rapeseed industry and the construction of regional public brands.

2 Rapeseed industry

2.1RapetypesThe rape cultivated in China generally can be divided intoBrassiacampestrisL.,Brassicajuncea(L.) Czern. et Coss., andBrassicanapusL.[12-13].B.campestrisandB.Junceaare native to China and have been cultivated for more than 8 000 years.B.campestrisused to be widely grown in the north and south, but now it is mainly used for vegetables, and also planted for rapeseed.B.junceawas widely planted in the southwest plateau and northwest dry areas, but now the planting area has become smaller and smaller.B.napushas been introduced to China for nearly 90 years and is replacing the locally originatedB.campestrisandB.junceain the main rapeseed production area.

2.2RapeseedyieldandrapeplantingareaAccording to the 2022ChinaRuralStatisticsYearbook, China’s total rapeseed production is 14.714 million t, with an acreage of 69.916 thousand ha, and an average single output of 956.0-3 111.4 kg/ha in various regions, and a national average of 2 104.5 kg/ha. As shown in Table 1, the top ten rapeseed production provinces in China are Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Yunnan, Chongqing, and Henan; the top ten provinces with planting area are Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Anhui, Chongqing, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, and Jiangsu; the top ten provinces with the yield are Shanghai, Jiangsu, Xinjiang, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, Anhui, Tibet, Gansu, and Hubei.

Table 1 Rapeseed yield and rape planting area in regions of China

2.3NationalrapeseedproductionprotectionareaGuiding Opinions of the State Council on the Establishment of Functional Food Production Areas and Protection Areas for the Production of Important Agricultural Products issued on March 31, 2017 proposed focusing on the Yangtze River basin, defining 4.667 million ha of rapeseed production protection areas (4 million ha of rice and rapeseed multiple crop planting areas). Later, the winter rapeseed production protection areas were determined, including 1 million ha separately in Hubei and Hunan, 0.667 million ha in Sichuan, 0.466 million ha separately in Anhui and Jiangxi, 0.2 million ha in Jiangsu, 0.166 million ha in Chongqing, and 0.133 million ha separately in Guizhou and Henan. At present, Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan have significantly increased the rape planting area.

2.4NationalrapeadvantagecharacteristicindustrialclustersThe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Finance launched the construction of national advantage characteristic industrial clusters in 2020, and so far a total of 140 construction lists have been issued in three batches. Among them, the winter rape has rapeseed industrial cluster in Jianghan Plain, Hubei Province, rapeseed industrial cluster in Hunan Province, rapeseed industrial cluster in Sichuan Province, and mountain winter idle rapeseed industrial cluster in Guizhou Province; the spring rape has rapeseed industrial cluster in Qinghai Province.

2.5RapegermplasmresourcesAccording to the national crop germplasm resource sharing platform, China has 8 498 kinds of rape germplasm resources. Among them, there are 3 640 varieties ofB.napusrape, 2 809 varieties ofB.campestris, 1 871 varieties of leaf mustard (Brassicajunceavar. foliosa Bailey), 159 varieties of Ethiopian mustard (BrassicacarinataA. Braun), and 19 varieties of black mustard (BrassicanigraL.). In China, there are 7 national and regional rape breeding bases: Xishui County, and Gucheng County in Hubei Province, Changshun County in Guizhou Province, Hanzhong City in Shaanxi Province, Shandan County and Minle County in Gansu Province, and Huzhu County in Qinghai Province; 8 national-level rape planting counties: Hengyang County in Hunan Province, Hengfeng County in Jiangxi Province, Santai County, Luojiang District and Jingyang District of, Deyang City in Sichuan Province, Tongnan District in Chongqing Municipality, Mian County and Nanzheng District in Hanzhong City in Shaanxi Province. There are 5 national seed industry enterprises in the oil industry: Anhui Guohao Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., Qingdao Huashi Seedling Co., Ltd., Henan Jinwoye Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., Zhongken Jinxiu Huanong Wuhan Technology Co., Ltd., Shaanxi Ronghua Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd.

China has authorized 304 new varieties ofB.napusrape agricultural plants, involving 16 provinces (Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Henan, Yunnan, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Qinghai, Chongqing, and Gansu), a total of 82 variety rights holders, involving 39 research institutions, 33 enterprises, 7 universities and 3 individuals. However, the application announcement only involves 15B.campestrisvariety, oneB.junceavariety, and has not authorized new varieties of agricultural plants to originate locallyB.campestrisandB.juncea. There are 26 rape varieties in theNationalCatalogueofPromotionofExcellentCropVarieties(2023), all of which areB.napus. Among them, there are 2 special varieties for spring rape: Qingza 5 and Qingza 12; spring rape and winter rape have 5 varieties: Fengyou 737, Huayouza 50, Huayouza 62, Huayouza 62R (anti-clubroot rape), Qinyou 1618; there are 19 special varieties for winter rape: Baoyou 150, Dadi 199, Fengyou 320 (short reproductive period rape), Fengyou 730, Fengyou 777, Ganyouza 8, Kangyou 3 (yellow seed high oleic acid rape), Huayouza 9, Huayou 2129 (high oleic acid rape), Qinyou 10, Qingyou 3, Ningza 182, Chuanyou 81, Yangguang 2009, Yangguang 131 (short reproductive period rape), Zhongshuang 11, Zhongyouza 19, Zhongyouza 501, and Zheyou 50.

3 Geographical indications

At present, China’s geographical indication protection system is not perfect. There are three systems: (i) geographical indication products of the China National Intellectual Property Administration; (ii) geographical indication trademarks of the Trademark Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration; (iii) geographical indications of agricultural products of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

3.1GeographicindicationproductsRegardless of the winter rape area or the spring rape area, there is no rapeseed or rapeseed as the main production purpose of rape geographical indication products. Rape, which takes vegetables as the main production purpose and mainly produces rapeseed, isB.Campestris, which belongs to winter rape, has 3 varieties (Table 2): Zengcheng Late Caixin (Choy sum), Hongshan Caitai (rape), Suizhou Paopaoqing (wrinkled leaf black oil cabbage).

Table 2 Geographical indication products of rape in China’s vegetable industry

Rapeseed oil has 2 kinds of geographical indication products: Wuxue rapeseed oil and Boshang rapeseed oil ofB.napusproduced in winter rape areas (Table 3).

Table 3 Geographical indication products of rapeseed oil in China

3.2GeographicalindicationtrademarksThe rapeseed and rapeseed for production purposes have 6 geographical indication trademarks (Table 4), all of which areB.napus. Among them, there are 4 varieties of winter rape: Xiangyang rapeseed, Babao rape, Chunmancheng Jinhua (registration No.38068095), Chunmancheng Jinhua (registration No. 38074098); 2 varieties of spring rape: Xinlong rape, Mozhu Gongka small rapeseed.

Table 4 Geographical indication trademark of rapeseed industry in China

The rape, which uses vegetables as the main production purpose and also for producing rapeseed, isB.campestris, belonging to winter rape, and there are 10 varieties (Table 5): Zengcheng Caixin, Maocao Red Caitai (registration No.13833910), Maocao Red Caitai (registration No.14229283), Ehongshan Caitai, Hongshan Caitai (registration No.12861108), Hongshan Caitai (registration No.49743971), Yizheng Purple Caitai, Suizhou Paopaoqing, Zhongxiang Paopaoqing, and Midu Daqingcai.

Table 5 Geographical indication trademark of rape in China’s vegetable industry

Rapeseed oil has 12 geographical indication trademarks (Table 6). Among them, 4 trademarks ofB.napusrape produced in the winter rape area: Xiangyang rapeseed oil, Zhongxiang rapeseed oil, Yiling rapeseed oil, and Luoping rapeseed oil; 8 trademarks ofB.napusrape produced in the springr rape area: Guyang rapeseed oil, Guide rapeseed oil, Menyuan rapeseed oil, Luhuo rapeseed oil, Rangtang rapeseed oil, Bomi rapeseed oil, Nimu rapeseed oil, and Pulan rapeseed oil.

Table 6 Geographical indication trademarks of rapeseed oil in China

3.3GeographicalindicationsofagriculturalproductsFor the rape with rape and rapeseed as the main production purposes, there are 7 geographical indications of agricultural products (Table 7). Among them, there are 3 geographical indications for winter rape typeB.napus: Li County Shuangdi rapeseed, Jingmen rape, Wuxue shuangdi rape; there are 4 geographical indications for spring rape typeB.napus: Hulunbuir rapeseed, Huzhu rapeseed, Menyuan small rapeseed, Zhaosu rape.

Table 7 Geographical indications of agricultural products in China’s rapeseed industry

Rape, which uses vegetables as the main production purpose and also for producing rapeseed, isB.campestris, which belongs to winter rape, has 11 geographical indications of agricultural products (Table 8): Huarong Yellow and White Caitai, Hongshan Caitai, Jiuhua Red Caitai, Yizheng Purple Caitai, Lianzhou Caixin, Futian Caixin, Ningxia Caixin, Xingyi White Stem Qingcai, Wujiang Fragrant Qingcai, Baoying Hetao Wuqingcai, and Suizhou Paopaoqing.

Table 8 Geographical Indications of rape agricultural products in China’s vegetable industry

(Continued)

4 Main problems in developing geographical indications and regional public brands

4.1Inadequateprotectionofgeographicalindicationsforrape,rapeseed,andrapeseedoilChina has a long history of rape, rapeseed oil, and rapeseed oil production, and has rich cultural heritage and diverse humanistic factors. The rape and rapeseed production areas are widely distributed, environment and germplasm resources are diverse, and natural factors are also rich. However, the investigation and analysis of humanistic and natural factors of rape, rapeseed oil, and rapeseed oil geographical indications in the whole country are not enough, and not many geographical indications are protected.

4.2LagintheformulationofstandardsrelatedtogeographicalindicationsThe rapeseed industry in China has 5 kinds of geographical indication products, 28 kinds of geographical indication trademarks, and 18 kinds of geographical indications for agricultural products, involving rape, rapeseed, and rapeseed oil. However, there are no corresponding national standards for these geographical indication products, geographical indication trademarks, and geographical indications of agricultural products, and the formulation of relevant geographical indication standards for rape, rapeseed, and rapeseed oil is lagging behind.

4.3FewspecialsignsforgeographicalindicationsGeographical indication products, geographical indication trademarks, and geographical indications of agricultural products all have corresponding special signs for geographical indications. Among the 5 kinds of geographical indication products and 28 geographical indication trademarks of China’s rapeseed industry, only 4 enterprises use special geographical indication marks, which only involve Xiangyang rapeseed oil, Luhuo rapeseed oil, and Luoping rapeseed oil. Among them, Xiangyang rapeseed oil has Hubei Yuanda Grain and Oil Technology Co., Ltd., Hubei Yuanda Bio-energy Balance Technology Co., Ltd., Luhuo rapeseed oil has Luhuo County Modern Plateau Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., and Luoping rapeseed oil has Yunnan Wanxinglong Biological Technology Group Co., Ltd.

4.4FewforeignexchangesofgeographicalindicationsIn accordance withEU-ChinaAgreementonCooperationonandProtectionofGeographicalIndications, 275 Chinese geographical indication products will be protected in the EU, but not including rape, rapeseed, and rapeseed oil.

4.5WeakrapeseedandoilraperegionalpublicbrandbuildingIn theCollectionandRegistrationInformationSystemforNationalFamousandExcellentNewAgriculturalProductsList, dual-use rape for oil and vegetables (B.campestris) are: Zengcheng Late Caixin, Futian Caixin, Lianzhou Caixin, Yexian Caixin, Xingyang Caixin, Huaiji Caixin, Jian’an Caixin, Haifeng Caixin, Mengjin Caixin, Jiexi Caixin, Yicheng Caixin, Likou Xiaoqingcai, and Wujiang Xiangqingcai. Rapeseed oils include Horqin Right Wing Front Banner rapeseed oil, Chahar Right Middle Banner rapeseed oil, Baofeng rapeseed oil, Laolonghe rapeseed oil, Zhaosuhe rapeseed oil, Quanjiao rapeseed oil, Guyang rapeseed oil, and Nelek rapeseed oil. However, there are rapeseed, and rape for oil (B.napusandB.juncea), which are not included intoNationalFamousandExcellentNewAgriculturalProductsList, the rapeseed and oil rape regional public brand building is weak.

5 Strategies for strengthening geographical indications and regional public brands

5.1IncreasingmembersfortheprotectionofgeographicalindicationsIt is necessary to investigate the resources of rape, rapeseed, and rapeseed oil, analyze the humanistic and natural factors of their geographical indications, apply to the National Intellectual Property Administration for the protection of geographical indication products, register geographical indication trademarks (certification trademarks or collective trademarks) with the Trademark Office of the National Intellectual Property Administration, register agricultural product geographical indications with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and increase the number of geographical indication protection members, especially the national famous and excellent new agricultural products, China’s good rapeseed oil, provincial-level good rapeseed oil, national rapeseed production protected areas, rape national dominant characteristic industrial clusters,etc.

5.2FormulatingcorrespondingnationalstandardsforgeographicalindicationsIt is recommended to refer to other specialty products to formulate corresponding national standards for various geographical indication products, geographical indication trademarks, and geographical indications of various agricultural products of rapeseed industry across the country, and strengthen the standardization and development of characteristic industries of geographical indications.

5.3EncouragingtheuseofspecialsignsforgeographicalindicationsThe related government and organizations should encourage new agricultural business entities (large professional households, family farms, farmers’ cooperatives, agricultural enterprises), small farmers, and national trustworthy enterprise grain and oil demonstration enterprises to use various geographical indication products, various geographical indication trademarks, and corresponding special signs for various agricultural product geographical indications within the scope of protection of geographical indications.

5.4CreatingpublicbrandsofgeographicalindicationsIt is recommended to explore the humanistic factors and cultural heritage of geographical indications, enhance the cultural connotation of products, explore the natural factors of geographical indications, and give full play to the advantages of germplasm resources and the environment. Based on geographical indications, it is recommended to integrate the regional public brands of the main production areas of rape, rapeseed, and rapeseed oil, strengthen product certification and brand marketing, and create a common brand of geographical indications for the whole rape industry.

5.5Expandingforeignexchangesofgeographicalindications

In accordance withEU-ChinaAgreementonCooperationonandProtectionofGeographicalIndications,Sino-FrenchAgreementonCooperationinGeographicalIndications, andSino-ThaiGeographicalIndicationProtectionAgreement, it is necessary to actively expand the foreign exchanges of rape, rapeseed, and rapeseed oil geographical indications, hold overseas-oriented promotion and display activities of China’s geographical indications products, and strengthen international exchanges and cooperation of geographical indications to serve the "going global" of geographical indications products.