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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 6TH OCTOBER, 1905.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.---No. 668.
The following Circular Despatch from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies is published for general information.
By Command,
T. SERCOMBE SMITH,
Colonial Secretary.
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 6th October, 1905.
CIRCULAR.
DOWNING STREET, 31st August, 1905.
SIR,—I have the honour to communicate to you, with a view to the attention of traders in the Colony being drawn to the matter, the following representations made by His Majesty's Consul in Buenos Aires in a despatch to the Foreign Office, respecting the registration of Trade Marks in the Argentine Republic.
Mr. Consul Ross suggests from what has come under his notice, that the im- portance of registration in the Republic of marks well known and therefore valuable, is not understood or appreciated by British Merchants either in the United Kingdom or in the Colonies. He states that, according to the Argentine law, it is permissi ble for anyone to register in the Republic a trade mark for one class or for any number of different classes of goods, provided that mark has not already been re- gistered in that country; that the cost of registration including agents' fees is about £10 and the time necessary to obtain registration about six weeks and that registration gives protection for ten years.
Attention is called to the serious disadvantage which may result from non- registration. A person not necessarily being the real owner of a particular trade mark, but having registered that mark in the Argentine, can lay an embargo on any goods he may find bearing that mark, although such goods may have been made by the original owner of the mark and have been legitimately introduced into the country. An instance is given of the case of a Canadian firm which has been selling for some years under a special mark and now finds that it may not import its own goods into the Argentine Republic under that mark because it has been registered by a firm of importers in Buenos Aires; and so far as the Consul can learn there is no remedy except for the original owners to buy up the local re- gistered owner of the mark, unless the manufacturer is prepared to invent and push another trade mark.
Registration in the Argentine Republic can be effected by an agent acting under a power of attorney in the form enclosed, which should be certified to by an Argentine consul; and His Majesty's Consul at Buenos Aires has declared his willingness to furnish the name of a reliable patent agent in that city.—I have, &c.,
ALFRED LYTTELTON.
The Officer Administering the Government of
HONGKONG.