ART. IV. The following shall be considered as trade-mark: Any sign, emblem, or especial name that merchants or manufacturers may adopt or apply to their goods or products in order to distinguish them from those of other manufacturers or merchants who manufacture or deal in articles of the same kind. ART. V. The following can not be adopted or used as trade-mark: National, provincial, or municipal flags or coats-of-arms; immoral or scandalous figures; distinctive marks which may have been obtained by others or which may give rise to confusion with other marks; the general classification of articles; pictures or names of persons without their permission; and any design which may have been adopted as an emblem by any fraternal or humanitarian association. The foregoing provisions shall be construed without prejudice to the particular provisions of the laws of each State. ART. VI. All questions which may arise regarding the priority of the deposit or the adoption of a trade-mark shall be decided with due regard to the date of the deposit in the State in which the first application was made therefor. ART. VII. The ownership of a trade-mark includes the right to enjoy the benefits thereof and the right of assignment or transfer in whole or in part of its ownership or its use in accordance with the provisions of the laws of the respective States. ART. VIII. The falsification, imitation, or unauthorized use of a trade-mark, as also the false representation as to the origin of a product, shall be prosecuted by the interested party in accordance with the laws of the State wherein the offense is committed. For the effects of this article, interested parties shall be understood to be any producer, manufacturer, or merchant engaged in the production, manufacture, or traffic of said product, or in the case of false representation of origin, one doing business in the locality falsely indicated as that of origin, or in the territory in which said locality is situated. ART. IX. Any person in any of the signatory States shall have the right to petition and obtain in any of the States, through its competent judicial authority, the annulment of the registration of a trade-mark, when he shall have made application for the registration of that mark, or of any other mark, calculated to be confused, in such State, with the mark in whose annulment he is interested upon proving (a) That the mark the registration whereof he solicits has been employed or used within the country prior to the employment or use of the mark registered by the person registering it or by the persons from whom he has derived title; (b) That the registrant had knowledge of the ownership, employment, or use in any of the signatory States of the mark of the applicant the annulment whereof is sought prior to the use of the registered mark by the registrant or by those from whom he has derived title; (c) That the registrant had no right to the ownership, employment, or use of the registered mark on the date of its deposit; (d) That the registered mark had not been used or employed by the registrant or by his assigns within the term fixed by the laws of the State in which the registration shall have been made. ART. X. Commercial names shall be protected in all the States of the union, without deposit or registration, whether the same form part of a trade-mark or not. ART. XI. For the purposes indicated in the present convention a union of American nations is hereby constituted, which shall act through two international bureaus established one in the city of Habana, Cuba, and the other in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, acting in complete accord with each other. ART. XII. The international bureaus shall have the following duties: 1. To keep a register of the certificates of ownership of trade-mark issued by any of the signatory States. 2. To collect such reports and data as relate to the protection of intellectual and industrial property ard to publish and circulate them among the nations of the union, as well as to furnish them whatever special information they may need upon this subject. 3. To encourage the study and publicity of the questions relating to the protection of intellectual and industrial property; to publish for this purpose one or more official reviews, containing the full texts or digest of all documents forwarded to the bureaus by the authorities of the signatory States. The Governments of said States shall send to the International American Bureaus their official publications which contain the announcements of the registrations of trade-marks, and commercial names, and the grants of patents and privileges as well as the judgments rendered by the respective courts concerning the invalidity of trade-marks and patents. 4. To communicate to the Governments of the union any difficulties or obstacles that may oppose or delay the effective application of this convention. 5. To aid the Governments of the signatory States in the preparations of international conferences for the study of legislation concerning industrial property, and to secure such alterations as it may be proper to propose in the regulations of the union, or in treaties in force to protect industrial property. In case such conferences take place, the directors of the bureaus shall have the right to attend the meetings and there to express their opinions, but not to vote. 6. To present to the Governments of Cuba and of the United States of Brazil, respectively, yearly reports of their labors which shall be communicated at the same time to all the Governments of the other States of the union. 7. To initiate and establish relations with similar bureaus and with the scier tific and industrial associations and institutions for the exchange of publications, information, and data conducive to the progress of the protection of industrial property. 8. To investigate cases where trade-marks, designs, and industrial models have failed to obtain the recognition of registration provided for by this convention, on the part of the authorities of any one of the States forming the union, and to communicate the facts and reasons to the Government of the country of origin and to interested parties. 9. To cooperate as agents for each one of the Governments of the signatory States before the respective authorities for the better performance of any act tending to promote or accomplish the ends of this convention. ART. XIII. The bureau established in the city of Habana, Cuba, shall have charge of the registration of trade-marks coming from the United States of America, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Panama. The bureau established in the city of Rio de Janeiro shall have charge of the registration of trade-marks coming from Brazil, Uruguay, the Argentine Republic, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia. ART. XIV. The two international bureaus shall be considered as one, and for the purpose of the unification of the registrations it is provided: (a) Both shall have the same books and the same accounts kept under an identical system. (b) Copies shall be reciprocally transmitted weekly from one to the other of all applications, registrations, communications, and other documents affecting the recognition of the rights of owners of trade-marks. ART. XV. The international bureaus shall be governed by identical regulations, formed with the concurrence of the Governments of the Republic of Cuba and of the United States of Brazil and approved by all the other signatory States. Their budgets, after being sanctioned by the said Governments, shall be defrayed by all the signatory States in the same proportion as that established for the International Bureau of the American Republics at Washington, and in this particular they shall be placed under the control of those Governments within whose territories they are established. The international bureaus may establish such rules of practice and procedure, not inconsistent with the terms of this convention, as they may deem necessary and proper to give effect to its provisions. ART. XVI. The Governments of the Republic of Cuba and of the United States of Brazil shall proceed with the organization of the Bureaus of the International Union as herein provided, upon the ratification of this convention by at least two-thirds of the nations belonging to each group. The simultaneous establishment of both bureaus shall not be necessary; one only may be established if there be the number of adherent Governments provided for above. ART. XVII. The treaties on trade-marks previously concluded by and between the signatory States shall be substituted by the present convention from the date of its ratification, as far as the relations between the signatory States are concerned. ART. XVIII. The ratifications or adhesion of the American States to the present convention shall be communicated to the Government of the Argentine Republic, which shall lay them before the other States of the union. These communications shall take the place of an exchange of ratifications. ART. XIX. Any signatory State that may see fit to withdraw from the present convention shall so notify the Government of the Argentine Republic, which shall communicate this fact to the other States of the union, and one year after the receipt of such communication this convention shall cease with regard to the State that shall have withdrawn. In witness whereof the plenipotentiaries and delegates sign this convention and affix to it the seal of the Fourth International American Conference. Made and signed in the city of Buenos Aires, on the 20th day of August, in the year 1910, in Spanish, Erglish, Portuguese, and French, and filed in the ministry of foreign affairs of the Argentine Republic in order that certified copies may be made, to be forwarded through appropriate diplomatic channels to each one of the signatory nations: For the United States of America: HENRY WHITE. ENOCH H. CROWDER. JOHN BASSETT MOORE. BERNARD MOSES. LAMAR C. QUINTERO.✔ DAVID KINLEY. For the Argentine Republic: ANTONIO BERMEJO. EDUARDO L. BIDAU. MANUEL A. MONTES DE OCA. José A. TERRY. ESTANISLAO S. ZEBALLOS. For the United States of Brazil: JOAQUIM MURTINHO. DOMICIO DA GAMA. José L. ALMEIDA NORGUEIRA. GASTÃO DA CUNHA. For the Republic of Chile: MIGUEL CRUCHAGA TOCORNAL. For the Republic of Colombia: For the Republic of Costa Rica: For the Republic of Cuba: CARLOS GARCÍA VÉLEZ. RAFAEL MONTORO Y VALDÉS. For the Dominican Republic: For the Republic of Ecuador: HERCULANO DE FREITAS. CONVENTION CONCERNING COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS. The United States of America and being desirous to foster the development of commerce between them and to increase the exchange of commodities by facilitating the work of traveling salesmen, have agreed to conclude a convention for that purpose and to that end appointed as their plenipotentiaries: and the Presi The President of the United States of America, dent of who, having communicated to each other their full powers, which were found to be in duc form, have agreed upon the following articles: ARTICLE I. Manufacturers, merchants, and traders domiciled within the jurisdiction of one of the high contracting parties may operate as commercial travelers either personally or by means of agents or employees within the jurisdiction of the other high contracting party on obtaining from the latter, upon payment of a single fee, a license which shall be valid throughout its entire territorial jurisdiction. In case either of the high contracting parties shall be engaged in war, it reserves to itself the right to prevent from operating within its jurisdiction under the provisions of this convention, or otherwise, enemy nationals or other aliens whose presence it may consider prejudicial to public order and national safety. ART. II. In order to secure the license above mentioned, the applicant must obtain from the country of domicile of the manufacturers, merchants, and traders represented a certificate attesting his character as a commercial traveler. This certificate, which shall be issued by the authority to be designated in each country for the purpose, shall be viséed by the consul of the country in which the applicant proposes to operate, and the authorities of the latter shall, upon the presentation of such certificate, issue to the applicant the national license as provided in Article I. ART. III. A commercial traveler may sell his samples without obtaining a special license as an importer. ART. IV. Samples without commercial value shall be admitted to entry free of duty. Samples marked, stamped, or defaced in such manner that they can not be put to other uses shall be considered as objects without commercial value. ART. V. Samples having commercial value shall be provisionally admitted upon giving bond for the payment of lawful duties if they shall not have been withdrawn from the country within a period of six months. Duties shall be paid on such portion of the samples as shall not have been so withdrawn. ART. VI. All customs formalities shall be simplified as much as possible with a view to avoid delay in the dispatch of samples. ART. VII. Peddlers and other salesmen who vend directly to the consumer, even though they have not an established place of business in the country in which they operate, shall not be considered as commercial travelers, but shall be subject to the license fees levied on business of the kind which they carry on. ART. VIII. No license shall be required of: (a) Persons traveling only to study trade and its needs, even though they initiate commercial relations, provided they do not make sales of merchandise. (b) Persons operating through local agencies which pay the license fee or other imposts to which their business is subject. (c) Travelers who are exclusively buyers. ART. IX. Any concessions affecting any of the provisions of the present convention that may hereafter be granted by either high contracting party, either by law or by treaty or convention, shall immediately be extended to the other party. ART. X. This convention shall be ratified; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at within two years, or sooner if possible. The present convention shall remain in force until the end of six months after either of the high contracting parties shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the same, each of them reserving to itself the right of giving such notice to the other at any time. And it is hereby agreed between the parties that on the expiration of six months after such notice shall have been received by either of them from the other party as above mentioned this convention shall altogether cease and terminate. In testimony whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed these articles and have thereunder affixed their seals. Done in duplicate at [SEAL.] [SEAL.] MEMORANDUM ON PROPOSED TREATY GOVERNING COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS. The purpose of this treaty is to facilitate the operations of commercial travelers and thus to foster trade. The treaty provides for the issue of a certificate attesting the traveler's character so far as concerns the exercise of his particular function. The question of regulations for commercial travelers may be considered with reference, first, to the fees and rules imposed upon the travelers themselves; and, second, to the restrictions imposed upon the importation and sale of their samples. Few of the National Governments in America levy taxes on commercial travelers, but in many cases Provinces and even municipalities assess taxes which range from a mere nominal fee to three or four hundred dollars. It is understood that such taxes are intended not exclusively for revenue but also in order to equalize the conditions of competition. For example, advertising matter carried by commercial travelers is generally taxed, with a view to protect the domestic printing industry. Local business houses wish to be protected at least to the extent of offsetting the occupational taxes which they are required to pay. The objection to this system rests on sound economic theory familiar throughout the commercial world. It is clear that the removal of local restrictions and fees will encourage the presence and activity of the representatives of modern industry and will thus proportionately stimulate the importation and exportation of merchandise. An opportunity will be afforded to the merchant classes to increase their profits through the introduction and sale of new articles, while the customs duties levied thereon will accrue to the benefit of the entire community. The experience of leading commercial nations has shown that the best interests of a country are not served by taxation which strikes at a class merely because it is easily reached. Most nations have found it advantageous to take a national view of the operations of commercial travelers. So long as varying local burdens exist, salesmen will naturally seek only attractive opportunities, and as a result the Provinces which most need to develop their commerce may receive the least attention. If taxes are to be imposed upon commercial travelers for reasons of fiscal necessity, let them be national, and let the National Government distribute the proceeds equitably among the several Provinces. As to the persons entitled to enjoy the benefits of the proposed treaty, the International High Commission unanimously agreed that peddlers and others selling directly to the consumer should be excluded since they enter into direct competition with local retail merchants. For a different reason, travelers who are exclusively buyers and travelers who are studying the means of improving trade do not come within the purview of the treaty, their work not being in any sense that of salesmen. 66 With reference to the samples of commercial travelers the treaty proposes that samples without commercial value shall be admitted to entry free of duty." A definition is included of what is conceived to be a sample having no commercial value, namely, one that has been marked or stamped or defaced in such a way as not to be capable of sale or of other normal use. Occasionally samples without value, the salability of which has previously been destroyed, have been subjected to the ordinary customs duties. It is obvious that samples should not be sold without payment of customs duties within the jurisdiction of the country into which they are brought. The treaty accordingly provides that upon giving bond for the payment of such duties, samples may be admitted free for six months, after which period any part not withdrawn becomes liable to taxation. The treaty does not require the traveler to remove his samples through the same port by which he entered the country, but this and various other details are not expressly dealt with, it being assumed that signatories to the treaty in their regulations will carry it into effect in that spirit of international comity and commercial liberality in which it has been conceived. THE INTERNATIONAL GOLD CLEARANCE FUND CONVENTION. Whereas experience has shown that the payment of debts arising in the course of commercial and financial transactions is often impeded and rendered difficult by reason of circumstances which interfere with and temporarily render impracticable the safe transportation of gold from one country to another, in consequence of which trade is deranged, values are rendered uncertain, and financial loss is incurred, the high contracting parties, being desirous to guard against such grave inconveniences, have decided to conclude a convention for that purpose, and to that end have appointed as their respective plenipotentiaries: The President of the United States of America, -, and the President of the Republic of , who, having exhibited to each other their full powers, which were found to be in due form, have agreed upon the following articles: ARTICLE 1. With a view to stabilize exchange and facilitate the settlement of balances, the high contracting parties agree that all deposits of gold, made in banks designated for the purposes of this convention within the jurisdiction of either of them, for the purpose of paying debts incurred in the jurisdiction of the other, in the course of private commercial and financial transactions, shall be treated by the respective governments as constituting an international fund, to be used for the sole purpose of effecting exchange. To this end the high contracting parties agree never to appropriate any of the moneys included in such fund; and they furthermore engage, each within its own jurisdiction, to guarantee the fund, in any and all circumstances, in war as well as in peace, against seizure by any public authority as well as against impairment by or as the result of any political action or change whatsoever. ART. II. The high contracting parties agree to act as trustees of the fund mentioned in the preceding article, and for this purpose each of them will designate a bank within its own jurisdiction to hold any part of the fund there ex |