The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-08-23
"PALMEITO" AS 4 WHIsKEY TRADE
MARK.
The Soutf, Carolina Dispensary in the
Federal Courts in sn Unexpected Way
Attorney General Townsend's Mis-
sion to Washin ston-Has a State
the Rigut to Trade for
= Profit?

o.llSCSsAOl PSAA24so&oA ~ boC tbC pai-
metto'' as a trade mark for the South
Carolina dispensary whiskey. The
patent officers are reticent on the sub
jectand Say. that tits not the proper
thing4to give, information concerning
trade marks until they are issued,
though the subject is q public one. The
facts In the case. are that some time ago
Acknowledgement Townsend, of South
Carolina, came to Washington and it is
thought now that his mission was to
secure the trade mark described. The
official to whom the application was
referred denied it. He maintained that
the statute provided for the issue of
trade markssoniy to personal firms and
corporations and thata State is neither.
The attorney then applied to the COM
missioner Of patents, Seymour. The
brief sets forth that trade mark is
incidental to the right Of trade and
that'a trade mark can not be denied
State without denial Of States right
to trade. It tkep reasons that the right
of State to trade is not disputed and
cites the post office business Of the
government, the control of railroads in
Germany and France and Of wines in
Hungary. The commissioner Ceci-
sion as to whether the trade mark
sought shall issue will be made public
within few days.
THE RIGHT TO THE TRADE MARK
HINGES APPARENTLY on A STATE
BEING A ACoRPoRATIoN-STAT
LIQUORS ALREADY STAND
- HIGH FOR ''JAGS.n
From the Washington Post.]
Governor Ben Tillrnaa, of South
Carolina, seeks governmental authori-
ty to use the soabriquet of the State,
"Palmetto," as trade mark for his
dispensary liquors. Several weeks ago
the Washington attorneys for the State
made application for the registration of
the brand, and the sole right to use the
emblem upon labels and TASKS. Com
missioner Seymour has the novel case
under consideration, and his decision
will establish an interesting prece-.
dent.
When the new liquor law was about
to 60 into force in the Palmetto State
Acknowledgement Townsend made
flying visit to this city which gave
provocation for all sorts of erroneous
guesses by the newspapers. The Attor-
ney-General brought with him asatch-
ell fulk;of. fhe regulation bottles, with
the State emblem bown in the glass,
and tle engraved labeZs which were to
decorate the same when they should
be filled with lawful stimulants under
the new regime Of paternalism. He
came with the impression that the mat
ter of a copyright was mere formula
which could be accomplished in few
days at the most.
Under this impression great stock
of the labels had been printed with the
word "copyrighted" upon them, so
that ilhcjt: dealers would be prevented
from 5pNfHlspg of inferior side-door
drinks#s 1ha State article.
The patent office officials found that
the application raised an entirely new
point, and as they were not willing TO
decide off hand, the Acknowledgement
and Governor Tillman carried on a
lively:Rlsgsaphic boat: which resulted
in an order to withdraw the whole
stock of, labels from circulation and SUD.
stituteSsosaers without the mark of
copyri5.sahts=y -: .
This was. done after considerable
grumbling over the wires on the part
of the Populistie Governor. Since then
there sss besn some very lively work
in beh8lf of The State on the part of its
legal representatives here.
Two Washington attorneys, Messrs.
John Altheus johnson. and James
Edgar Sm;" were delegated by the
Attorney General Of South Carolina to
act for the Statc. They first took their
case before the examiner Of trade marks |
in the ordinary way. The result of |
their application will be of ofinterest to
Socialists. It vas denied about the
middle Of u!y:by The exami ner, who
gave this6pinton: : /
This application is peculiar and in
its consideration questions not hitherto |
considered by the office are presented.
The statute provides only for the regi-
stration of trade marks owned by per-
sons, frals or eorporations; a State of
the AreeEean CRion is. neither per-
son, a frns,s nor a corporation, and it is
doubtful if the statement that it is
'possessedofthe full rights OF a corpor-
ation,' thoughtoa certain extent true,
makes it Corporation in the sense
contern plated by the Act of March 3,
1881; consequently the right of appli-
can't to register stfade mars. cannot te
admitted ~. ~ a. saz = =. -
From the examiner. the application
was at once appealed to the commits
sioner of patents Several arguments
have been made before Commissioner
Seymour during the past two weeks by
Johnson and Smith. Their
brief is avery, ingenious argument, and
egal gentlemen who have read it say
IN able one. An old decision Of Chief
Justice Marsball to the effect that the
Government Of the United States is a
was quoted. 1t is claimed
hat q State NJ own Il trade mark as
we'll as an individual.
1.-The right to adopt, own and use a
-raf3e mark" argued the attorney, lis