This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[40549]
No. 1.
1799
Rec
December
SECTION 1.
Foreign Office to Messrs. Ashton, Hoare, and Co.
Gentlemen,
Foreign Office, December 17, 1907. WITH reference to your letter of the 9th instant respecting the protection of trade-marks in China, I am directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to communicate the following observations to you :-
The communication from Shanghae quoted in your letter would appear to be that addressed by this Department to Messrs. Morton on the 12th September last. As regards the advice tendered to them as to the necessity for registering marks in Japan, Sir E. Grey is not prepared in any way to modify that recommendation which was given after careful consideration and on evidence supplied by the Commercial Attaché to His Majesty's Embassy at Tokió.
Sir E. Grey is informed that the expenses incurred in registering are not excessive, and he is decidedly of opinion that persons and firms having marks liable to imitation should lose no time in registering them, as there would appear to be nothing to be gained by postponing matters till the last moment. This applies not only to trade- marks used in Japan but also to those used elsewhere in the Far East. Whatever trade-mark Regulations may be adopted in other countries, it may frequently happen that in the case of imitations coming from Japan action can more easily be taken in that country so as to deal with the source of the evil. Action in Japan would also tend to diminish the danger of applications for registration of the same trade-mark in such a country as China by British and Japanese simultaneously, each having the mark validly registered in his own country.
With regard to the penultimate paragraph of your letter, I am to say that only one case of a pirated registered mark, viz., that of Messrs. Buchanan's whiskey, has been brought to the notice of His Majesty's Government. This case is receiving careful consideration, and a further full report on it is now on its way from Tôkið.
I am to add that His Majesty's Government are at present actively engaged in negotiations with the Japanese Government for the conclusion of a Convention for the reciprocal protection of British and Japanese marks in China, but such a Convention, if successfully concluded, would not of course apply to cases of infringe- ment in Japan itself, where British subjects are amenable to Japanese Courts and Japanese law.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
F. A. CAMPBELL.
[2765 r-1]
346