2
2. The mark was not registered in a foreign country by the date as fixed under («); 3. It has not been used in China within the period of time mentioned under (a) and (b) for the goods enumerated in the application.
The recording of a mark cannot be refused on the ground of its being similar to or identical with another mark.
The idea underlying the above Regulation is that marks which have already been in use in China should receive preferential treatment. An attempt at attaining this object was made in Articles 8 (c) and 26 of the Provisional Regulations; but the wording as well as the purport of those Articles is open to doubt.
One of the results of the evolution of foreign commerce in China is that a number of identical or similar trade-marks are at present in use side by side. This fact must be taken into account by the legislator, and nothing is more to be deprecated than an interference with established custom and vested rights. In conformity with the proposals of the China Association it is, therefore, contended that before proceeding to the registration of new trade-marks the status quo ante should be safeguarded. A certain date for trade-marks registered in foreign countries has been adopted for the purpose of preventing abuse, for it is not impossible that, when it became known that a Trade-Mark Law was about to be enacted, registration should have been obtained in some foreign country or other with a view to basing on such registration a claim to priority of rights in China, which could not, by other means, have been acquired.
The fact that the marks dealt with under (6) are in many instances similar or identical is responsible for the proviso that such marks shall have the Chinese or foreign
of trade name added to them; the trade name will, to some extent, serve the purpose differentiation.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
18069
May 10.] TREG
AEL
CHINA TRADE,
CONFIDENTIAL,
No. 1.
The China League to the Marquess of Lansdowne.-(Received May 10.) My Lord,
Dacre House, Victoria Street, London, May 9, 1905. THE Committee of the China League have received from Shanghae a despatch to the following effect :---
"British merchants draw His Majesty's Government's attention to the fact that China ignores the Mackay Treaty, rendering the same ineffective in most essentials. China actively opposes currency, mining taxation, and navigation stipulations, and we beg His Majesty's Government to insist on Treaty being made immediately operative."
The China League is informed that this despatch is a copy of one sent to your Lordship, and that the original was signed by seventy British merchants.
My Committee are strongly of opinion that more than sufficient time has been allowed to the Chinese Government to take at least some steps towards the loyal fulfilment of the stipulations of the Mackay Treaty, and they cordially support the Petition of the seventy British merchants of Shanghae for the active intervention of His Majesty's Government, with a view to securing to them the due enjoyment of their Treaty rights.
Two and a-half years have elapsed since the signing of that instrument, and it is no exaggeration to say that not only have no serious steps been taken by China to give effect to the clauses of the Treaty, but that her efforts have been directed generally towards nullifying them, both in the spirit and in the letter, and it would appear that, unless a vigorous protest be entered by His Majesty's Government, the history of the Shanghae Treaty will be the history of the Tien-tsin Treaty, and that the bitter experience of Chinese bad faith in the past will be our portion in the future.
In June 1902 the China League had the pleasure of expressing their appreciation of Sir J. Mackay's services in negotiating the new Treaty and their approval of the conditions and stipulations embodied therein, and these views, they believe, were shared by all the commercial bodies and traders of Great Britain who were interested in the China trade,
The disappointment will therefore be the greater if the present contemptuous attitude of the Chinese Government towards her solemn engagements be allowed to continue unrebuked or without protest.
In support of the contention that essential stipulations are being made nugatory by the passive resistance or active hostility of Chinese officials, it is only necessary to refer to the history, inter utiu, of Article II (Currency Reform).
So far from any steps being taken to carry into effect the engagement to provide for a uniform national coinage, provincial mints are being establishod all over the country, and are issuing an almost unlimited coinage lacking in uniformity of value, weight, &c., making confusion worse confounded, but yielding large profits to their proprietors.
The difficulties of carrying out clause 2 were sufficiently great two and a-balf years ago, but if the existing state of things be permitted to continue they will be multiplied tenfold.
The spirit in which this question is approached by leading and influential Chinese officials is well exemplified in a Memorial lately presented to the Throne by Chang- chih-Tung, Viceroy of the Hukuang Provinces, against Professor Jenks' financial scheme.
Article IX (Mining Regulations) is equally a dead letter. Two or three draft Regulations have been issued and approved by the Throne, each, if possible, more puerile and futile than the preceding, but all too obviously put forward for the discouragement of foreign capital and of the development of the mineral resources of the country; in effect, contemptuously neutralizing Article IX.
Article X (Inland Navigation). Additional rules, amending and supplementing those of 1898, were annexed to the Treaty of 1902, but the China League is informed
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