Three departments jointly issue the "Special Action Implementation Plan for Agricultural Brand Protection."

To thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, strengthen agricultural brand protection, crack down on infringement and illegal activities, foster a fair and orderly market environment, boost consumer confidence, and protect farmers' interests, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the China National Intellectual Property Administration recently jointly issued the Implementation Plan for the Special Action on Agricultural Brand Protection. This special action comprises four key tasks: First, strengthen quality and safety supervision and enforcement for primary agricultural products under brand names. Promote brand authorization management, establish a traceability system covering the entire process of production, processing, and sales, and encourage branded agricultural products to take the lead in achieving full-process traceability, ensuring that sources can be traced, destinations can be tracked, and responsibilities can be held accountable. Second, severely crack down on illegal activities involving agricultural trademarks and patents. Strictly investigate and punish illegal activities such as agricultural trademark infringement, geographical indication infringement, and patent counterfeiting, rigorously regulate misleading practices in the agricultural sector such as the use of deceptive trademarks, and lawfully address violations of the rules governing the use and management of collective trademarks and certification trademarks. Third, severely crack down on unfair competition. Severely crack down on unfair competitive practices such as "free-riding" and "riding on the coattails of well-known brands," with a focus on investigating and punishing confusing practices such as the unauthorized use of names, packaging, and trade dress that are identical or similar to those unique to well-known regional public brands and geographical indication brands, and on investigating and punishing operators who make false or misleading commercial promotions regarding their products' performance, functions, quality, sales status, user reviews, and past honors, as well as acts that harm competitors through commercial defamation and other means. Fourth, strengthen administrative protection of agricultural intellectual property. Support agricultural brand entities in establishing multi-dimensional intellectual property portfolios covering trademarks, patents, geographical indications, and new plant varieties to strengthen the protection of brand rights and interests. Standardize trademark registration management and prevent and curb malicious trademark squatting.