Minister Squiers to the Secretary of State.

No. 1321.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of department’s instructions No. 519a of July 14, and No. 529a of July 29, with [Page 495] reference to the Cuban trade-mark registration law, and in reply to advise you that the matter was duly brought to the attention of the Cuban Government with a view to correcting the abuses complained of.

The Secretary of State has replied to my representations suggesting that the United States join in the “treaty on patents of invention, industrial drawings, and models and trade-marks,” a treaty that was considered during the second conference which took place in Mexico in 1902, and to which President Palma proposes Cuba shall subscribe.

In inclosing a translation of this note I beg to say that I shall make no further representations, awaiting your instructions.

I have, etc.,

H. G. Squiers.
[Inclosure.]

The Secretary of State and Justice of the Republic of Cuba to Minister Squiers.

Mr. Minister: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your excellency’s note No. 745 of the 22d instant, inviting my attention to the statements made by the National Association of Manufacturers of America to the Department of State of the United States relative to the pirating of unregistered trademarks in Cuba and requesting my views on the subject or any suggestion which will put a stop to the abuses complained of.

Complying with your excellency’s wish, I beg to state that I have read with care the aforesaid statements and gather therefrom that the legislation regarding the matter is entirely different in our two countries to the extent that to make them alike, even on the point raised by the National Association of Manufacturers, reforms would have to be made on our side by the legislative power; but in lieu of an early innovation in this sense permit me to suggest that the United States adhere to the convention on trade-marks signed by the delegates of the American Republics during the second conference which took place in Mexico in 1902, for the President of the Republic has just proposed to the senate the adhesion of Cuba, and both nations adhering thereto, trade-marks registered in either of them would be duly protected.

I take, etc.,

Juan F. O’Farrill.
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