CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 131

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]

CHINA TRADE,

CONFIDENTIAL.

J

[10913]

No. 1.

[April 6.]

SECTION 5.

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.(Received April 6.)

(No. 84.) Sir,

Peking, February 16, 1907. WITH reference to my despatch No. 468 of the 13th November, inclosing an English translation of the Trade-marks Regulations as redrafted by the Board of Commerce, and reporting that I had sent a copy of the same to Mr. Hosie for the the purpose of ascertaining the views of British firms at Shanghae on this question, I now have the honour to inclose a copy of Mr. Hosie's reply, transmitting a Report drawn up by a Sub-Committee of the China Association.

Leaving out of consideration a recommendation that the Comptroller of the Chinese Bureau should be a British subject, a suggestion which is hardly likely to commend itself to the Chinese Government, the criticisms offered in these documents only serve to strengthen the conviction that negotiations must be based on the draft Regulations of the Diplomatic Body of 1905, and not upon the recent draft of the Board of Commerce. The concluding suggestion of the China Association that an Agreement with Japan for the mutual protection of trade-marks in China should precede the Chinese enactment appears to show also an appreciation of the facts set forth in Sir Ernest Satow's despatch No. 145 of the 28th April, 1905, namely, that the Chinese Regulations will govern the acts of Chinese subjects only, and not those of foreigners, and that it is against counterfeiting by foreigners that protection for British trade-marks is chiefly required. Until this can be attained it appears to me that no Chinese measure can be of advantage to British interests in this matter. Neither my French nor my German colleague are prepared to resume negotiations with the Wai-wu Pu, though it is probable that we shall be urged to do so as soon as the Chinese New Year holidays are over.

I have, &c. (Signed)

J. N. JORDAN.

(No. 3.) Sir,

Inclosure 1 in No. 1.

Mr. Hosie to Sir J. Jordan.

Office of His Britannic Majesty's Commercial Attaché, Shanghae, January 24, 1907. IN accordance with the instructions contained in your despatch, Separate, of the 13th November, 1906, forwarding a translation of the Trade-marks Regulations recently redrafted by the Board of Commerce, and instructing me to consider it and consult confidentially with British firms interested in the question, I have the honour to inform you that I at once submitted a confidential copy of the Regulations to the China Association (the Chamber of Commerce being composed of British and other merchants) with a request to be favoured with the Association's views thereon, and I inclose a copy of a Report which has been drawn up by a Sub-Committee of the Association appointed for the purpose.

You will observe that the main objections raised to the proposed Regulations in this Report are :—

1. That there is no special provision made against the registration of open marks, that is, marks which all or certain classes of traders are in the habit of using on goods of the same kind, and which by those engaged in trade are not considered proprietary marks. It is true that a solitary reference is made to open marks in Article 5 of the Special Trade-marks Rules, but to me it seems doubtful, as it evidently did to the translator, whether the meaning of the last clause of the Article is correctly represented. At any rate, it is essential that special provision should be made for

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