Chapter III.—Unfair competition (Art. 274 à 275)

Article 274.

Germany undertakes to adopt all the necessary legislative and administrative measures to protect goods the produce or manufacture of any one of the Allied and Associated Powers from all forms of unfair competition in commercial transactions.

Germany undertakes to prohibit and repress by seizure and by other appropriate remedies the importation, exportation, manufacture, distribution, sale or offering for sale in its territory of all goods bearing upon themselves or their usual get-up or wrappings any marks, names, devices, or descriptions whatsoever which are calculated to convey directly or indirectly a false indication of the origin, type, nature, or special characteristics of such goods.

Note to X, 274

This article is a restatement of a prohibition which formed the subject of the international agreement for the prevention of false indications of origin of goods signed at Madrid, April 14, 1891 (96 British and Foreign State Papers, p. 837), revised at Washington on June 2, 1911 (104 ibid., p. 137; Treaties, Conventions, etc., 1910–23, iii, 2953). It had not been widely enough ratified in 1919 to warrant imposing it in the treaties of peace on Germany and its allies or to stipulate for the adherence of new states. In view of this situation the Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations undertook a study of the problem with the result that articles 6 bis, 6 ter, 10 bis, and 10 ter were added to the international convention for the protection of industrial property, signed at The Hague, November 6, 1925 (ibid., 1923–37, iv, 4945; 74 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 305).

Article 275.

Germany undertakes on condition that reciprocity is accorded in these matters to respect any law, or any administrative or judicial decision given in conformity with such law, in force in any Allied or Associated State and duly communicated to her by the proper [Page 562] authorities, defining or regulating the right to any regional appellation in respect of wine or spirits produced in the State to which the region belongs, or the conditions under which the use of any such appellation may be permitted; and the importation, exportation, manufacture, distribution, sale or offering for sale of products or articles bearing regional appellations inconsistent with such law or order shall be prohibited by the German Government and repressed by the measures prescribed in the preceding Article.

Note to X, 275

The question of appellations of origin was studied by the Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations. The principle was incorporated in several bilateral treaties and in the convention concerning the marking of eggs in international commerce, Brussels, December 11, 1931, under the auspices of the International Institute of Agriculture (5 Hudson, International Legislation, p. 1164). The previous experience was utilized in framing the international convention for the protection of industrial property, signed at London, June 2, 1934 (Treaties, Conventions, etc., 1923–37, iv, 5516).