File No. 406/229–241.
Chargé Jay to the Secretary of State.
Tokyo, August 23, 1908.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith translations in duplicate of imperial ordinances No. 196 to 203, relating to the operation [Page 527] of the new conventions for the protection of industrial and literary property in China and Korea, which were promulgated, together with the texts of the conventions, in the Official Gazette of August 13.
It will be noted that the new ordinances refer chiefly to Korea and take the form of making the existing Japanese law, with necessary verbal alterations, applicable alike to Japanese and Korean subjects and to the subjects or citizens of such countries as do not exercise in Korea extraterritorial jurisdiction in respect to the rights in question.
The conventions are made operative in Kwantung, China, and other extraterritorial countries by means of ordinance No. 201. In the opinion of the embassy, these ordinances appear to fairly and fully meet the obligations imposed upon Japan by the new conventions.
As will appear from the press comments also inclosed, the new conventions are heartily welcomed as guaranteeing more effective protection to honest trade in China and Korea, while the partial surrender of jurisdiction in the latter country is appreciated as an expression of America’s good will toward Japan and of sympathy with the latter in the difficult task of administering her protectorate. Recent developments in Korea in connection with the trial of the editor of the Korean Daily News have no doubt added point to this consideration.
It is also interesting to note that the present occasion has been taken by the minister of agriculture and commerce to issue a notification to the local officials calling attention to the importance of a strict enforcement of the new conventions and accompanying legislation.
I am informed that the British Embassy has again reopened the negotiations on this subject which have been delayed by the protests of the British merchants in Shanghai. An effort will still be made to secure protection in China and Korea by means of one convention, without surrendering jurisdiction in the latter country.
I have, etc.,