Secretary of State to the Danish Minister .

No. 671.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 19th instant, in which, by order of your Government, you inquire [Page 267] whether the Government of the United States would be disposed to conclude with that of Denmark an arrangement by an exchange of notes for the reciprocal protection in China of trade-marks of the citizens of either country from infringement by citizens of the other when the said trade-marks are duly registered in the country of the infringer.

By this agreement Danish subjects infringing in China an American trade-mark duly registered in Denmark would, you state, be brought before the Danish consular court at Shanghai and eventually punished in accordance with the provisions of the law of Denmark, and the Government of the King would expect the Government of the United States to take similar measure in regard to American citizens who might violate in China the privilege of a Danish subject whose trade-mark is duly registered in the United States.

The agreement proposed by your Government is in line with the agreements which have been effected by exchange of notes between the minister of the United States at Peking and the diplomatic representatives there of certain other countries.

It is to be pointed out, however, that in view of the fact that there is no statute in the United States making the infringement—counterfeiting, etc., of a trade-mark—a criminal offense, and that effectual provision exists by a civil action for damages by the owner of a trademark, the word “punishment” is to be understood, with respect to the United States, to refer to a civil action only and not to a criminal procedure.

If this explanation, which has been made in the case of each of the agreements mentioned above, is satisfactory to your Government, I shall be pleased to make the exchange of notes with you.

Accept, Mr. Minister, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration.

Elihu Root.