*
COPY.
CO
Jonclosure 2.
5155 171
Rrop 19 FEB 10,
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong, 6th January, 1910.
Sir,
I have now the honour to reply to your letter dated
15th December, 1909 (No.2890/1908 Conf.) having reference to the
draft Convention between Great Britain and Japan for the recipro-
cal protection of Trade Marks in China and a minute thereon by
the Crown Solicitor.
My Committee have given the draft very careful considera
-tion and, as regards the protection of British Merchants in
Hongkong, they are of opinion that the Convention is useless.
They find themselves in complete accord with the views
expressed by the Crown Solicitor in his minute, especially as
regards the third paragraph of Section 2 and of Section 3, 4 &
3.
5.
As Section 5 puts it, and as my Committee have pre-
viously contended, the principle which should underly any con-
vention is, in their opinion, that the rights of a merchant to
a trade mark should be decided according to priority of usages,
and no convention not having for its object the protection of
the rights of the prior user of a mark will receive the support
of this Chamber.
Hon.Sir Henry May,K.C.M.G • ›
Colonial Secretary.
My