1897 - The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce

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impossible to obtain, as it is the interest of shippers to ILvail themselves of
the oppcrtunity to lay the Silk down in Hongkong at the lowest terms
obtainable.
(Appendix K.)
Infring·ement of Trade lVIarks.
The reference to this Chamber by the Government of ;t lett.er ft·om
Messrs. MARSLAND, SoN & Co., of Manchester, complaining of an infringement
of their "Horseshoe" label by Belgi1m manufacturers, and suggesting
tllat some general scheme of registration to cover Great Britain and
het· Colonies, led to some correspondence on the local registration of
Traue 1\'Iarh. Your Cotnmittee, i11 reference to the latter suggestion, were
not prepared to advocate any scheme of Imperial registration embracing
both the Colonies and the United Kingdom, on account of the proportio11s
such an undertaking would necessarily attain anu the great attendant cost
of Lgistration, and aecorllingly the Govemmcnt
were requested to ask the Attorney General to give an opinion ou
certain poinls and r;onfirm or otherwise certain concl usious 11amed.
This
was done and the Attornev General, in a minute on the subject, expressed
the opini~n that re gistrati~n in this Colony is only 1J1'im t~ facie evidence of
the right to a trade mark, and evidence of a prior subsisting registration
in En,.la.nll would be admissible to defeat the p1'inu~ facie ~roof of the
0 •
local regiflter, but when application for registration has been made In
Hongkong before the d