No. 246.
Mr. Outrey to Mr. Evarts.
Washington, January 9, 1880.
Mr. Secretary of State: You are aware that a congress met at Paris, during the Universal Exposition of 1878, for the purpose of considering questions relating to industrial property. The Government of the United States was represented by three delegates at this congress, which was under the honorary presidency of the minister of agriculture and commerce. Its special object was the examination of questions having reference to patents, designs, industrial models, and trade-marks.
Before adjourning, the congress appointed a permanent commission, the members of which were divided into national sections, and which was charged with the execution of the resolutions which had been adopted, and especially with bringing about the meeting of an international conference, having for its mission the adoption of the measures necessary to secure, as far as possible, the unification of the different systems of legislation relative to industrial property.
This permanent commission, of which the delegates of the foreign governments represented at the congress were members, prepared a draft of a treaty to be concluded by the different adhering powers, the object of said treaty being to form, of the contracting countries, a “union for the protection of industrial property,” and to fix the general principles which should, by common consent, be rendered uniformly applicable to the matter.
This draft of a treaty was transmitted by the executive committee to [Page 383] the minister of agriculture and commerce, with a request that he would take the necessary steps to induce the Government of the Republic to take the initiative in bringing about the assembling of an international conference to carry out the work undertaken by the congress. Mr. Teisserene de Bort thought that it was proper to submit at first to the deliberations of an international conference only drafts of resolutions rather of an executive (administratif) than of a legislative character, easy of application, and whose adoption would not require serious modifications of the laws, which are based, in various countries, on different principles. He consequently requested the French section, acting as an executive committee, and representing the commission of the congress, to extract from the draft of the treaty, to be recommended to the governments for their adhesion, those provisions which seemed to it to enter more particularly into this order of ideas. That section performed the task intrusted to it, and the result of its special work was transmitted to the minister of agriculture and commerce, who, appreciating the importance of the resolutions adopted by the congress, at once recognized that they were in all respects worthy of the solicitous attention of the French Government.
His excellency the minister of foreign affairs instructs me to transmit to you a volume containing the reports of the sessions of the congress, together with a pamphlet* relative to the plan presented by the executive committee, and to commend them to your most serious attention.
As you will observe, the commission has divided its work into five parts. The first comprises those questions which are common to all branches of industrial property 5 the second is devoted to patents; the third to industrial designs and models; the fourth to trade-marks; and the fifth to the commercial name. It has, moreover, taken care to distinguish in each one of these parts the provisions which it has thought could be immediately inserted in an international convention, from those which, as they involve the modification of the laws of each country, must, for the present, be considered only in the light of recommendations to the various governments.
The minister of foreign affairs instructs me, in addressing this communication to you, to beg you to inform me whether the Government of the United States is disposed to send special delegates to an international conference having for its object the examination and discussion of the conclusions of the commission. He expresses the hope that the Government of the United States, sharing the views of the congress, and feeling convinced, as we are, of the high importance of the questions which have reference to industrial property, will receive these overtures with favor.
In case the labors of the conference should result in the adoption of a number of provisions suitable for incorporation in an international convention, the draft prepared by the special delegates, might subsequently be invested with the signatures of the representatives of all the adhering governments, being clothed with the necessary powers for that purpose.
My government would be glad to be informed, with as little delay as possible, of your intentions in this matter.
Be pleased to accept, &c.,
- Not printed herewith, owhig to their length.↩