[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
703
C.O.
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[17233]
No. 1.
21666
[May 19
15 JUN 08
SLOTION
Sir,
Manchester Chamber of Commerce to Foreign Office.-(Received May 19.)
Manchester, May 16, 1908.
I AM desired by the Board of Directors of this Chamber to thank you for the very full information contained in your letter of the 3rd ultimo, with a Memorandum from the Shanghae custom-house, the branch office of the Bureau for Registration of Trade-Marks. Paragraph 6 of the Memorandum states that the sole advantage of recording a trade-mark is the right of priority which it gives—to have the trade-mark dealt with before others, once the law is put into force.
The Chamber is inclined to believe that this implies no right of registration, but desires me to emphasize the point which has been brought out in previous correspondence with the Foreign Office. The mere recording of a mark at Shanghae and Tien-tsin ought not to give any title or claim to registration whatever.
On the general subject of the registration of trade-marks in China, the Chamber would be very glad to learn what are the present prospects of the early promulgation of trade-mark rules for China, with the establishment of offices for carrying them out.
I have, &c. (Signed) WALTER SPEAKMAN,
[2967 +-2]
Secretary.