File No. 811.54262/169
[Enclosure—Translation]
The German Foreign
Office to the Spanish Embassy at
Berlin
No. 11M214–28947
Note Verbale
The Foreign Office has the honor to forward herewith to the Royal
Spanish Embassy, in reply to note verbale Am.
Div. 232/1371 of the 14th of last month, Reichs-Gesetzblatt No. 2 of 1918,1 containing three notices of
the Chancellor of the Empire of the 3d of last month, viz.:
- No. 6198 concerning the extension of the period of
priority in the United States of America;
- No. 6199 concerning the mitigations in the matter of the
protection of industrial property rights in the United
States of America;
- No. 6200 concerning the industrial property rights of
citizens of the United States of America.
[Page 332]
The effect of the notice issued under No. 6198 is that the extension
of the priority period in article 4 of the revised Paris convention
for the protection of industrial property of June 2, 1911, provided
for subjects of the German Empire, holds good in favor of citizens
of the United States to the same extent as the American act of
October 6, 1917, allows in section 10, second sentence of paragraph
(a), enemies to file applications for
extension of time.
Under the second notice, No. 6199, citizens of the United States
enjoy, with regard to their German patents, utility models and
trademarks, the advantages that flow from the ordinance of the
Bundesrat of September 10, 1914 (Reichs-Gesetzblatt, p. 403), and from the ordinances of
March 31, 1915 (Reichs-Gesetzblatt, p. 212),
and of April 13, 1916 (Reichs-Gesetzblatt, p.
278); citizens of the United States of America will also, in the
matter of the mitigations introduced by reason of the war, receive
the same treatment as the Germans and enjoy in Germany advantages
similar to those that are set forth in section 10, paragraph (a), sentence 2 of the American act of October
6, 1917.
The right of American citizens to file applications for protection of
all kinds of property, to pay dues, to appoint and remove attorneys
is not affected by the war. There is no occasion or legal ground for
expressly conferring that right upon them as is done in paragraph
(a), sentence 1, of the above-cited
section 10. They would only have lost that right if it had been
taken from them by a special order. Such an order has not been
issued.
Special measures for the protection of the patents, trade-marks,
designs, and copyrights of citizens of the United States of America
have not been adopted in the German Empire.
The question as to whether Germans may use during the war the
patents, trade-marks, or copyrights of American citizens is to be
answered in the affirmative after the manner of the American
provisions in paragraph (c) of the
above-cited section 10.
The notice issued under No. 6200 bears upon this point. No use has
yet been made of the power therein granted to cancel or restrict, in
the public interest, the patents, utility models, and trade-marks
owned by citizens of the United States.
Berlin, February 25, 1918.
