Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1906, (In two parts), Part I

Minister Morgan to the Secretary of State.

American Legation,
Habana, Cuba, November 9, 1906.

No. 259.]

Sir: Referring to previous correspondence between the department and this legation regarding the confiscation by Cuban citizens of American registered trade-marks, concerning which representations have been made to the department on several occasions by the Merchants’ Association of New York, I have the honor to inclose, in duplicate, for your information, an article from the Havana Post of to-day’s date, regarding a recent decision of the supreme court of Cuba, by which the owner of a foreign patent is confirmed in the enjoyment of his patent rights in Cuba.

It is not known whether this decision by implication may be interpreted as protecting foreign trade-marks as well as patent rights.

I have, etc.,

Edwin V. Morgan.

[Inclosure.]

court acts on patent frauds.—decides that foreign patentees do not lose out in cuba because others had registered their patents.

[The Havana Post, November 9, 1906.]

The supreme court of the island of Cuba has just rendered a decision of the greatest importance to importers of every kind of patented goods. The decision will mean the preventing in the future of many frauds which have discouraged those interests in this branch of commerce in Cuba.

For years importers of patented articles have been prevented from importing certain classes of machinery and many useful things because some one on the island had stolen the patent. The way the fraud was committed was by obtaining the patented article from the United States, or other countries, and delivering it to the bureau of patents here as their own. In this way they effectually controlled the sale of the article in this market while the real patentees were powerless to help themselves.

The company succeeding in beating this fraud is Gomez & Co., of Santa Clara street, manufacturers and importers of hat bands. Some months ago this company imported a patented hat band and were doing a large business with it when a man by the name of José Vidal y Alvarez obtained in Cuba a patent for the same thing. Then the house of Gomez was compelled to either forego the use of the patent or buy only from Vidal.

The Gomez house took the case to court, and after the usual long wait the trial was held and the decision rendered in favor of the plaintiff. Vidal, however, appealed the case, and it went to a higher court. In the latter Vidal won. Gomez & Co. succeeded finally in appealing the case to the supreme court, where it has been for months.

The case was called for trial four days ago and the decision rendered yesterday in favor of the plaintiff, thus settling once and for all a contention that has not only caused honest importers in Cuba a great deal of trouble, but has also given the island of Cuba a black name with manufacturing interests in several foreign countries.

another similar evil.

It is not known as yet whether the decision of the supreme court will have any effect on another similar evil or not. The other evil, or rather, fraud, is the stealing, not of patents, but of trade-marks. Some men in Cuba upon seeing a shoe or a soap or some drink that happened to be well advertised in the United States or elsewhere have registered the trade-mark here. The result has been that when the real manufacturer arrived on the scene he found that he would either have to change the name of his product or pay a species of blackmail before he could sell his goods under their own name.

As the fraud is so similar to the one of the patents, some of the best legal authorities in the city declare that the first case of the kind carried to the supreme court will be settled in the same way.