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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Value of Trade Harks.
BOARD OF TRADE URGES INTERNATIONAL COM-
MERCIAL UNION—SYMBOLS WORTH MIL-
LIONS—THE AMERICAN TRADE MARK
IS WITHOUT ANY ADEQUATE OR
SUFFICIENT PROTECTION BY
REASON OF THE DEFI-
CIENCY OF OUR NA-
TIONAL LAWS.
The convention of the Board of Trade
and Transportation held its third session
the closing days of last week at the Board's
headquarters, 203 Broadway.
An important subject for discussion was
" American Trade Marks." Morris S. Wise,
editor of the Trade Mark Record, treated
it from the point of view of the American
manufacturer, and Francis Forbes, Secre-
tary of the United States Trade-Mark As-
sociation, considered it from the historic
and international standpoint.
Mr. Wise said in part: "Even as the
national flag is the symbol of all that is
patriotic, noble, lofty, and inspiring in the
country over which it floats, so the trade
mark, the flag of commerce, typifies what-
ever there is good and valuable and repu-
table in the article to which it is attached
and which it professes to symbolize. There
are many American trade marks in various
lines of business the naked abstract right
to use which could in all probability not be
purchased from the owners for many mil-
lions of dollars; and the aggregate money
value of the trade marks employed in the
commerce of the United States represents
a tangible—even if inchoate—value of per-
haps several thousand millions of dollars.
" The trade mark must not simulate or
copy some other person's trade mark with
a view of palming off the goods of the one
for the other, and the courts of equity of
this country and England have also gone
very far in the application of what is
known as the 'fair-trade' doctrine, where-
by they have, regardless of all technical-
ities, restrained and prevented what is
termed 'unfair trade' and 'unfair compe-
tition.'
" A trade-mark owner has the right at
any time, when his property rights in his
trade mark are invaded, to enter a court
of equity and by the process of injunction
restrain and prevent a continuance of the
injury which he suffers by the pirating or
counterfeiting of his mark, as well as ob-
tain damages for such illicit use.
" I t is a matter of deep regret and of
constant commercial detriment that our
national statute books should not possess a
national trade-mark law which would to
the fullest extent of constitutional limita-
tions afford ample and complete protection
to the marks of commerce used and em-
ployed in the United States, and these
national laws should be of both a civil and
criminal nature, and they should be uni-
form, so that the remedies of a trade-mark
owner and their methods of enforcement
would be similar throughout the whole of
the United States.
"At the present time the only trade-
mark registration law found on the statute
books of the United States is a law per-
mitting the registration in the United
States Patent Office of a trade mark when
the same is used in foreign commerce or
in trade with the Indian tribes. And also
a new provision of the Dingley bill, pro-
viding for the registration of domestic
trade marks in the United States Treasury
Department, so as to prevent the importa-
tion of foreign-made goods whose marks
would constitute an imitation of American
trade marks.
"The salient object of this paper is to
impress two cardinal points upon the
minds of those who will give attention to
it; and they are, first, that the American
trade mark represents an actual value so
large, so valuable, and so important that
such value can hardly be computed in dol-
lars and cents; and, secondly, that this
enormous factor of commercial value which
enters so largely into the carrying on of all
manufacturing and industrial enterprises
in this country is at the present time with-
out any adequate or sufficient protection,
by reason of the deficiency of our national
laws. This deficiency is an economic evil
which should certainly be remedied by
Congress at the very earliest possible op-
portunity."
Francis Forbes, who was a delegate to
the last international conference, held un-
der the Industrial Property Convention at
Madrid in 1890, gave a rapid survey of the
history of the protection of property by
means of trade marks. He said that the
action of these international conventions
" guarantees to each citizen of a contract-
ing State the same rights in another of the
contracting States as the citizens of the
latter, and further provides for a seizure
of goods bearing false trade marks on im-
portation into the States of the union
formed by the convention, and in the case
of countries like the United States, where
seizure does not prevail, a refusal of entry.
It also establishes an international office
at Berne, supported by the joint contribu-
tions of the members of the union."
At the Madrid conference, he said, pro-
vision was made for an international regis-
tration of trade marks. This has been
agreed to by Belgium, Brazil, France, Italy,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzer-
land and Tunis. "Registration is made
through the home government of each citi-
zen, and effects an estimated saving at the
present time of about $500 to each regis-
trant over the old method of independent
registration. Since the United States has
not adhered to this subsidiary agreement,
our manufacturers and merchants are shut
out from its advantages."
Figured Mahogany Veneers.
At the veneer factory of Isaac I. Cole &
Son, it was reported on Wednesday that a
large shipment of choice figured mahogany
has recently been received. This ship-
ment, with some immediately preceding,
places this firm in possession of an excep-
tionally fine assortment of woods certainly
not excelled, and hardly equalled by any
veneer house in the country. Business is
reported as active.
Receiver Davenport Wins.
KELLER BROS. & BLIGHT PIANO CO. AFFAIRS
COME UP FOR AN AIRING THE PAYMENT
OF A DIVIDEND NOT WARRANTED.
[Special to The Review.1
Bridgeport, Conn., Oct. 18, 1897.
Judge Curtis, of the Common Pleas
Court, to-day rendered a decision sustain-
ing the plaintiff's demurrer to the de-
fendant's second defense in the case of
John I. Davenport, receiver, vs. George O.
Lines. Mr. Lines holds a half interest in
fifty shares of the preferred stock of the
Keller Bros. & Blight Piano Co., of which
Mr. Davenport is receiver. Just prior to
the company going into the hands of the
receiver, dividends amounting to $504 were
paid to Mr. Lines on the stock he held.
After taking charge of the affairs of the
concern, Mr. Davenport discovered that
there had been an irregularity about this
payment, and that the company was in-
solvent when the payment was made. On
his petition the superior court granted him
permission to bring suit to recover the
dividends that ought not to have been ever
paid.
Mr. Lines made a general denial as his
first defense, and as a second defense he
alleged that the company was solvent at
the time of the payment of the dividends.
Judge Curtis finds that the contrary was
the case and that, even though there was
no irregularity the payments were not war-
ranted. If Mr. Lines cannot substitute a
new defense he will lose his case and will
have to refund the money.
There is Nothing to It.
MR. PECK CONTRADICTS IDLE GOSSIP PRINTED
BY A LOCAL CONTEMPORARY.
During a brief business chat with
Leopold Peck, of Hardman, Peck & Co.,
on Wednesday with reference to a state-
ment made in the last issue of the Courier
Trade Extra, wherein the possibility of
changes in the business and title of Hard-
man, Peck & Co., as well as the formation
of asyndicate, etc., were discussed, he said:
"They talk about something of which
they know nothing. It is mere gossip.
There is nothing to it, therefore nothing
can be said. Dignified papers do not give
credence to or find space for unfounded
rumors."
William Bell's Retirement.
[Special to The Review.]
Guelph, Ont., Oct. 18, 1897.
A report was in circulation last night
that Wm. Bell had retired from the posi-
tion of General Manager of the Bell Organ
and Piano Co., Limited, and that John C.
Kirby,the New York manager of the firm of
Hart Brothers & Tibbetts, auditors for the
Bell Co. ever since it was made a company,
had taken charge in the meantime. Such
has proved to be the case. Mr. Kirby's
appointment is believed to be merely in-
terim.
Thos. La M. Couch, of the Kroeger Co.,
is sending in big orders. Work on the
road seems to agree with him.