The Express.
London, England, 1862-02-19 00:00:00

TRADE MARKS.

The house having gone into committee,
Mr. ROEBUCK moved for leave to bring in • bill to
amend the law relating to trade marks. Many menu-
lecturers of this country had, by dint of industry and skill,
acquired far themselves great reputation. A men acquired
a reputation, he would say, lot the manufactuie of
keno+. sow, when he wished to sell those knives, be
wished the buyer to usderstaed that they were maculae.
tared by him, and sot only put his name es the article, but
also a mark. or symbol, soul that mark or symbol was called
• trade mark. From time to time that went on, the article
was so manufactured and so marked, and the mark acquired
• mosey value. sow, all he wanted to do was to
rs"s to the manufacturer his murk or ayin-
His own proposal was to visit the forger* of trade
marks with summary conviction ; and to make the °met-
alloid reciprocal with other nations, so that the goods ei
every foreign manufacturer should be reelected, if his
country protected the 'cods (of Luglishinee, but not
otherwise. The bill would do no harm to any one but
rogues. (Cheers.)
Mr. 4: UPSON was quite willing to adopt the sugges-
tion of his hoc. mad learned friend, and to refer his in.
tended measure to the sense select committee. A ball on
this subject had lad year passed the House of
Leeds. but it could not be proceeded with any
furthers:Aries to • we'd, of information in this house on the
subject; and thwe was out time lust year to eppoiuta
cum-
mittee of ionatigatioe. The object was nee upon which
they were all agreed, but it was extremely difficult to effect
what they had in view without espueing ionooeut peisoue to
peosecutima of a vexatious character. It would also be
very difficult to say what • trails mark was, so that • justice
of the peace, to whom it was proposed to give jurisilictiou,
might be able to my whether A. B. was entitled to the ex.
elusive use of the symbol he claimed. It would not be suf-
ficient for • per-sou to ,how that he had used a particular
but he mint show that he had so used it that it
heroine known to the world as hie. With regent to the
femme question, be could art my that the retaliatory
clause which the boo. and learned gentlernau proposed
mewed to Lim judicious. It appeared to Lim that
it would he better to give the foreiguer the
benefit of our laws, without refereoce to Low
they treated as in return. It was said that foreigners hail
ahcaily the benefit of oar laws, but that those foes were so
Ird WI to be useless to them. At the stuns time, unless the
experiment of attempting • prosecution, my, in Prussia, had
actually been tried, it could not he said that Prussia refused
our manufacturers redress. It did not appear to him that
the registratiou of trade marks would benf any benefit. It
was altogether a different cad from the registration of designs.
That was intended to create • sew species of property ;
whereas the bill would neither create a new property nor
iutroduce a 1143 W law ; fur it was already illegal to appro-
priate another man, mark. A registration, therefore,
would rather be a new obstacle thrown is the way of menu-
lecturers, because it would require them to pay
smile tee or to go through some additional form
before they could take steps to defend their
rights. TIROS were, however, all matters of detail,
which it would be wrong to discuss at present. The go.
vernmeut were entirely of opinion that something should
be dos to remedy the evils complained of, provided only
that it could la done 'without exposing innocent persons to
frivolous and vexatious prowieutions. (Neer, hear.)
Mr. CRAP, Ultl) said his constituents in the City
were chiefly interested in the bill, SO far as it would render
them liable to prosecution for innocently selling articles
which had fraudulent trade marks ripen them ; and he was
glad, therefore, to hear thatthey would have an opportunity
snowed them of stating their views to a select committee.
Mr. LOCKE agreed with the him. and learned gentleman
the member for Sheffield; but there was another fraud to
which attention should Le straws, namely, the practice of
manufacturers themselves putting false trade marks upon
their goods. For example, a case had occurred in the Court
rif Queen's Beech, where • manufacturer hail labelled his
comma as of • greater length than was really the fect. He
(Mr. Lcke) had been in Parts while Mr. Cobden was De.
raiding the commercial treaty, and he learned from the
secretary of that boa. gentleman that the greatest difficulty
had bee* experienced in attempting to settle the gumlike of
I Made marks, in couesqueniee of the practice which ob-