File No. 406/52–54.
The Secretary of State to
Minister Rockhill.
Department of State,
Washington, June 13,
1907.
No. 310.]
Sir: I inclose herewith copy of the
communication, with which the department has referred to the Patent
Office for its information, a copy of the trade-mark regulations
prepared by the Chinese authorities which accompanied your dispatch, No.
567, of March 25, 1907.
It would have been of interest to the department to gain a more specific
idea of the objections which the committee of the diplomatic corps may
have to the Chinese draft.
The intimation that still further modifications to the diplomatic draft
may be suggested, and that final action upon it seems as remote as ever,
is discouraging. If progress by this committee is so hopeless, it may be
advisable to expedite matters so far as American trademarks are
concerned by independent and direct negotiations with the Chinese
Government.
It is difficult to accept in explanation of the delay the general belief
which you describe that foreign interests need have no immediate
apprehension of infringement of trade-marks by Chinese, while the danger
from Japanese is appreciated. The danger of Japanese infringement in
China is doubtless great. As you are aware, we are
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endeavoring to negotiate at Tokyo a treaty
whereby the protection of American trade-marks in Japan will be made
extraterritorial in extending to Korea and China. Even with such an
arrangement secured, and even if Chinese subjects were not given to
infringing American trade-marks, there would still be in the absence of
formal protection against Chinese infringement the likelihood that
Japanese or other foreigners in China would carry out their piracies
under Chinese names or through Chinese agents. The department, moreover,
has heard of a number of infringements of American trademarks by Chinese
subjects.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
The Secretary of
State to the Secretary of the
Interior.
Department of State,
Washington, June 13,
1907.
Sir: By reference to a previous
correspondence of considerable length which has passed between the
Department of State and the Department of the Interior, it will be
recalled that draft trade-mark regulations for China which were
drawn up by the representatives at Peking of Austria-Hungary,
France, Great Britain, Germany, and Italy were agreed to by the
United States upon the conditions of the inclusion of certain
amendments which were suggested by the Patent Office. The French and
German representatives at Washington signified that their
Governments saw no objection to the changes desired by the United
States. Our minister at Peking has formally communicated the
proposed changes to the five representatives at that capital who
compose the committee appointed in 1905 by the diplomatic body for
the drafting of the projected regulations for the protection of
trade-marks in China. It appears, however, that the members of the
committee have not yet received instructions to enable them to
incorporate our amendments in the draft and are not yet in a
position to proceed with the effort to get the regulations put into
effect.
Meanwhile the Chinese ministry of commerce has prepared and submitted
to the diplomatic body a new draft of regulations, a copy of which I
have the honor to inclose together with the legation’s dispatch No.
567 of March 25, 1907, which throws light upon the present phase of
these negotiations.
For the guidance of the department in this important matter, I have
the honor to request that you will kindly obtain for me an
expression of the expert opinion of the Patent Office as to the
relative merits of the diplomatic and the Chinese drafts, and as to
whether the latter, if accepted, would be satisfactory to American
interests.
Very faithfully, yours,
