This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[38601]
No. 1.
[November 6.]
SECTION 1.
Sir,
Messrs. C. and E. Morton to Foreign Office.-(Received November 6.)
107, 108, and 109, Leadenhall Street, London,
November 4, 1908.
WITH reference to our letter of the 29th August, 1907, and your reply thereto, dated the 12th September, 1907, we beg again to bring to your remembrance the question of labels and the protection of British trade-marks in Japan and China, and to ask whether you can now give us any information as to the probable date upon which a Convention will be entered into between China, Japan, and Great Britain for the full protection of the labels of the several countries from infringement.
The question is becoming more and more a burning question with trades on this side, and there is no shadow of a doubt that a vast amount of commerce is being done in both China and Japan in goods which bear labels which are spurious imitations of those of merchants of this country. We ourselves have had again and again brought under our notice samples of goods which are being sold in Japan, and the labels, which can scarcely be detected from our own, are imitations forged in that country, and we have only recently had brought before us a cutting from the "Japan Weekly Chronicle," published in Tôkiô, and which appeared in the issue of the 9th July of this year.
We inclose this for your information, and should be glad if you would be good enough to return the same when you have perused it.
It would appear from our experience there, and from the experience of others, that the registration of our labels which has taken place in Japan is of no avail whatever, and it seems to us that the question is one now in which strong remonstrances should be addressed to the Japanese Government to protect British interests.
We learn over and over again of the zeal of the German Consuls in protecting the interests of German exporters in this matter, and in other matters in other countries, but we do not find that this zeal is exercised by the British Consuls on behalf of British interests. These matters are rarely brought under our notice by the Consuls, but we find them out from various sources, such as our own travelling representatives, from the newspapers, and other unofficial sources.
We have just had a communication from one of our customers in Hong Kong, advising us of the piracy of our brand of mustard condiment in Hong Kong--this is a line in which we have for many years past done a very large trade, but which, in view of the infringements of our label, has been gradually falling off--and with these instances before us we realize how important it is that a proper arrangement for the mutual protection of labels should exist between the three countries named, and we trust that it will not be long before such protection will be afforded us, that our efforts to increase British trade to the advantage of the country in general may be prosecuted without the serious losses from fraud which are now occurring.
Awaiting the favour of your reply on this subject, we beg, &c.
Per pro. C. and E. Morton,
(Signed) THEO. W. WATKINS.
Inclosure in No. 1,
Extract from the "Japan Weekly Chronicle" of July 9, 1908.
ANOTHER instance of that sincere form of flattery which is increasingly popular among Japanese manufacturers of certain lines of goods has been brought to our notice. The other day a correspondent sent his cook for a bottle of vinegar, but when eating the salad in which the vinegar had been used a strange and unusual taste was noticed. Examination of the bottle showed that the vinegar was not Morton's, as ordered, so our correspondent went down to interview the grocer who sold the stuff. That worthy blandly admitted that the vinegar was made in Japan, adding that, although he had charged the same price for it as he did for the genuine foreign article, he could--
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(
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.}
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[38601]
No. 1.
[November 6.]
SECTION 1.
}
Sir,
Messrs. C. and E. Morton to Foreign Office.-(Received November 6.)
107, 108, and 109, Leadenhall Street, London,
November 4, 1908. WITH reference to our letter of the 29th August, 1907, and your reply thereto, dated the 12th September, 1907, we beg again to bring to your remembrance the question of labels and the protection of British trade-marks in Japan and China, and to ask whether you can now give us any information as to the probable date upon which a Convention will be entered into between China, Japan, and Great Britain for the full protection of the labels of the several countries from infringement.
The question is becoming more and more a burning question with trades on this side, and there is no shadow of a doubt that a vast amount of commerce is being done in both China and Japan in goods which bear labels which are spurious imitations of those of merchants of this country. We ourselves have had again and again brought under our notice samples of goods which are being sold in Japan, and the labels, which can scarcely be detected from our own, are imitations forged in that country, and we have only recently had brought before us a cutting from the "Japan Weekly Chronicle," published in Tokiô, and which appeared in the issue of the 9th July of this year!
this we inclose for your information, and should be glad if you would be good enough to return the saine when you have perused it.
It would appear from our experience there, and from the experience of others, that the registration of our labels which has taken place in Japan is of no avail whatever, and it seems to us that the question is one now in which strong remonstrances should be addressed to the Japanese Government to protect British interests.
We learn over and over again of the zeal of the German Consuls in protecting the interests of German exporters in this matter, and in other matters in other countries, but we do not find that this zeal is exercised by the British Consuls on behalf of British interests. These matters are rarely brought under our notice by the Consuls, but we find them out from various sources, such as our own travelling representatives, from the newspapers, and other unofficial sources.
We have just had a communication from one of our customers in Hong Kong, advising us of the piracy of our brand of mustard condiment in Hong Kong--this is a line in which we have for many years past done a very large trade, but which, in view of the infringements of our label, has been gradually falling off-and with these instances before us we realize how important it is that a proper arrangement for the mutual protection of labels should exist between the three countries named, and we trust that it will not be long before such protection will be afforded us, that our efforts to increase British trade to the advantage of the country in general may be prosecuted without the serious losses from fraud which are now occurring.
Awaiting the favour of your reply on this subject, we beg, &c.
Per pro. C. and E. Morton, (Signed) THEO. W. WATKINS.
Inclosure in No. 1,
Extract from the "Japan Weekly Chronicle" of July 9, 1908.
ANOTHER instance of that sincere form of flattery which is increasingly popular among Japanese manufacturers of certain lines of goods has been brought to our notice. The other day a correspondent sent his cook for a bottle of vinegar, but when eating the salad in which the vinegar had been used a strange and unusual taste was noticed. Examination of the bottle showed that the vinegar was not Morton's, as ordered, so our correspondent went down to interview the grocer who sold the stuff. That worthy blandly admitted that the vinegar was made in Japan, adding that, although he had charged the same price for it as he did for the genuine foreign article, he could-if
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