Patent and Trade Mark Review Copyright, 1913, by Wm. Wallace White A monthly journal for the publication of new laws and regulations, court decisions, and information with regard to patents, trade marks and other related subject-matter. Edited and Published by RICHAR S & CO., WOOLWORTH BUILDING, NEW YORK CITY. Eleven Volumes of the Review have been completed, the first beginning with October, 1902, and each subsequent volume with the October issue of the next succeeding year. Volumes 1 to 10 were paged continuously, but in the new series beginning with Volume 11 each volume will be paged independently. Back volumes may be obtained separately or as a set until exhausted. PRICES: Yearly subscription, $2.00; single Copies 25 cents. Per volume, with index, unbound, $2.00; bound in cloth, $2.75; bound in sheep, $3.00. Per set of 10 volumes, with indices; unbound, $15.00; bound in cloth, $22.50; bound in sheep, $25.00. (Expressage prepaid throughout the United States) ADVERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION WHILE THE UTMOST CARE IS TAKEN TO INSURE ACCURACY IN THE MATTER THAT APPEARS IN THE REVIEW, NO RESPONSIBILITY IS OF ERRORS OR INACCURACIES WHICH MAY OCCUR THEREIN. The Netherlands. Office of Industrial Property. Since, on the 1st of June, 1912, the Netherlands Patent Act of 1910 entered into force, this Office in its new proportions may be considered as the junior institution of its nature among those all the world over. DR. F. W. J. G. SNIJDER VAN WISSENKERKE, LL.D., D.P.S. Office of Industrial Property. The Office commenced its functions, devoted exclusively to the registration and administration of trade-marks, on the first of December, 1893, on which date the Trade-Marks Act of that year came into operation. Formerly trade-mark registrations were effected at the Chancery-Office of the different law-courts (Arrondissements Rechtbanken) and the total number of such registrations in the whole country varied from 200 to 300 per year. It was not bad quarters, in which the newly established Office, to which had been transferred all records of the Courts in connection with the former registrations, commenced its functions; nothing less than the luxurious Hall of the High Council of Nobility, in the Palace of the Department of Justice, was the "milieu" in which the office-duties were performed. However, this favorable situation was of short duration; want of space for the departmental requirements caused the Office to retire and to remove to another part of the Falace and this part could be found nowhere else than in a garret room. Fortunately, business was increasing and in the year 1897 the Office was removed to Heerengracht in a building called "de Kunstkring" (Club of Arts) where some spacious rooms at that time met the requirements of the Service. After a continuous development of the Office functions, more space was again required in the year 1901 and it was then that a splendid and large patricianshouse, situated on the stately Korte Vijverberg No. 3 (near the renowned "Mauritshuis"), having on its front a stone, bearing the inscription "Hier woonde Groen van Prinsterer," here lived Groen van Prinsterer (a prominent politician and historian), was secured. This house offered sufficient room and comfort to allow the further development of the Office till the enactment of the Patent Act 1910. * * * It was a real "puzzle," indeed, that was presented to the authorities during that year the question where to find a building, capable of receiving the newly organized and largely extended service, consisting in the "Patentboard," the "Trade-Marks Department" and "the Administrative Service." On the one hand large buildings, offering the required space, are scarce, and on the other hand it was impossible to form the slightest idea of the amount of business to be expected in consequence of the enactment of the new act and of the room required even for the next few years. For these reasons the erection of a new building remained out of consideration. At last the problem was solved in a provisionally satisfactory way. A large private house, Juliana van Stolberglaan 76, together with three adjacent smaller houses in the Amalia van Solmsstraat were hired and since then two other houses, adjacent to the three latter hae been added to the group occupied by the Office. The rent paid is fl. 5750 per year. These houses contain together nearly seventy rooms, among which the Library, containing after one year's existence 12,000 bound volumes, a lot of technical papers and other material, is growing very rapidly. In addition there is a Hall for conferences and a public reading room. Of course the houses are not of a construction to bear in the long run the heavy load of the mass of books and papers, included in the Library, Records, Sales-Department, etc., and do not offer the facilities, necessary for an important public service. It is very likely that plans for the erection of a building will be presented in the near future. The chief direction of the Office is entrusted to the Director of the Office for Industrial Property and to the President of the Patent Board, which two high functions are vested in Dr. F. W. J. G. Snijder van Wissenkerke, Doctor of Laws and Doctor of Political Science. The direction of the technical service is in the immediate charge of the first THE NETHERLANDS—AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH ΙΟΙ appointed technical member of the Patent Board under supervision of the President. Dr. Snijder van Wissenkerke was appointed provisional Director of the Office for Industrial Property on November 23, 1893, Director on July 1, 1912, and President of the Patent Board on September 1, 1911. Born at Middelburg in 1856, he was graduated at Leyde in 1880 as a Doctor of Laws and in 1881 as a Doctor of Political Science. The next year he entered the Department of Justice as an officer of State, passed through the different grades very rapidly and was appointed in 1885 Director and in 1897 Counselor-Reporter in the said Department. In the meantime he had been appointed Director of the Office for Industrial Property. Dr. Snijder van Wissenkerke is a "congressist" insofar as Industrial and Intellectual Property is concerned. In 1885, 1890, 1897, 1900 and 1911 he represented the Government of the Netherlands at the International Conferences of the Union. In 1908 he was an Associate of the Conference in Berlin for the revision of the Literary and Artistic Convention of Berne. In 1890 he represented the Netherlands in the same city at the Conference for the International Protection of Workmen. His merits were rewarded by his appointment in 1890 as Chevalier of The Netherlands Lion and in 1912 as Commander of the Legion of Honor of France. The Office-staff comprises: One Director-President, three permanent or ordinary members of the Patentboard (including the President of the Patent-board), twenty-six extraordinary members, two secretaries, twelve principal examiners, fifteen assistant examiners, one Chief of the Trade-Marks Department, one Chief of the Administrative Service, seven superior officials and twenty-two clerks and copyists, one Librarian with one assistant and ten employees, all together one hundred one persons. The following figures show the growth of the business, transacted by the Office: The patent applications filed since the June 1st, 1912, reached the number of nearly 4,000. Australian Commonwealth. Patents. Application. International Convention. We are advised from Melbourne, regarding applications under the International Convention, of the following RULING BY THE COMMISSIONER. "In the Patent Application form (under the International Convention) the Countries to be inserted when mentioning British Possessions or Foreign States are those within the Convention only." Chile. Trade-Marks. Proposed New Law. The Commission of Industry and Public Works, oppointed by the Chilean Senate to consider and report on the motion of Senator Don Guillermo Rivera, of Valparaiso, for a trade-mark law to meet present day conditions (see II P. & T. M. Rev., 323), has prepared and presented an elaborate draft, embodying many and important changes. Senator Rivera's motion-the principle that "The use and inscription of a mark are voluntary acts”—is changed to "The inscription of a mark in use is an obligatory act." On this basis the whole of the proposed comprehensive law is based. As before pointed out, fees are largely increased. The measure has already been subjected to much discussion and will undergo further consideration before its passage. Mexico. Patents. Trade-Marks. Conditions. Increased Charges. Advices from Mexico (see II P. & T. M. Rev., 361) indicate that political conditions have not improved, the activity of the insurgents in various parts of the Republic hindering business with the outside world. With the railroad lines cut, access to the capitol from the north is well nigh impossible, and between Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico, we are informed, there is but one mail per week each way. This general paralysis has not, however, extended to the various administrative departments, where matters concerning industrial property have received the immediate attention of the Patent Office, whose personnel and accredited agents and attorneys give assurance of remaining at their posts. As a war measure the government has made a general increase in revenue charges, which in certain matters touching patents, trade-marks, etc., are doubled, while other charges have remained the same. Trade-Marks. Japan. Power of Attorney under New Law. Caswell & Co. v. The case of Caswell & Co. v. Kobayashi Kiju, questioning the sufficiency of agent's power of attorney under the old trade-mark law, without renewal under the new (see 12 P. & T. M. Rev., 9, 68), was decided on Dec. 10th last, in the Osaka Appeal Court, in favor of the appellant, Caswell & Co. The original judgment was cancelled, Kobayashi being ordered to pay a fine of 400 yen. In the civil case, the respondent was ordered to pay to the appellant 500 yen as damages for the infringement (loss in property) and 500 yen for the damage to the reputation of the imported article. These are the amounts alleged in the original complaint. Furthermore, he was ordered to advertise an "Apology" at his own cost three times each in the Asahi and the Oriental Leather and Hide Magazine. This judgment sets at rest the misgivings and fears of a large number of trade-mark owners who feared their rights were in jeopardy and relieves foreign commerce of a disagreeable, threatened inconvenience. |