COPY.
Sir.
437
C
о
51945
HONGKONG GENERAL CHAMBER OF COM-
(MERCE.
CHARTERED BANK BUILDING,
RLCS
Rre 28 OCT 18
HONG KONG, 22nd. July, 1918.
Your letter of the 26th. ultimo relating to
certain Hongkong Trade Marke jointly owned by British and German Firms which the British Government propose to sell to the former including the Goodwill within Hongkong of the Piece-Goods business carried on by the latter, has been considered by my Committee.
I am to state that in view of the liquidation of all German Firms during the past four years, the value of the Goodwill and Trade Marks can only represent a nominal sum at the present time, but a different state of affairs would undoubtedly have existed had the decision to sell been arrived at during the first year of the war. There is no one in Hongkong who would be able to give other than a guess at the market value now.
In the past my Committee have strongly urged the Hongkong Government to decide on this vexed question of the retention or otherwise of German and partly German owned Trade Marks and they deprecate any decision such as the present one being arrived at without a pronouncement as to the policy in regard to the rest. They however are infavour of the policy initiated in this case of allowing jointly owned Trade Marke to be taken over by the British partner and they consider the remainder should be cancelled.
A. Nisbet, Esq.,
Registrar of Trade Marks,
Kongkong.
I
etc.,
(84.)
A.R. LOWE,
Actg. Secretary.