sufficient. Failure to work the patent may result in forfeiture or a requirement to grant compulsory license on a royalty basis to others to manufacture the product. In the event that the owner of the patent and the applicant for license to manufacture cannot come to an agreement as to the terms or royalties to be paid, then the designated administrative or judicial authority may fix the terms on such basis as may be deemed appropriate.

PATENT FEES

In addition to the working requirements, the laws of many countries provide for the payment of fees by the owner of the patent each year during the term of the patent. Failure to pay these fees may result in the loss or forfeiture of the patent.

These apparent obstacles in the matter of obtaining foreign patents should not deter the owner of patentable inventions, for which there is a market abroad, from applying for foreign patents if the existing or potential market abroad is such as to warrant the expense incident to the obtention and retention of patents.

A product which has not been patented may be made and sold by anyone. The patent alone insures a legal monopoly therein.

PROTECTION OF DESIGNS ABROAD

The unauthorized simulation of designs has been a problem with which the American manufacturer has been confronted for some time. This unfair trade practice is not limited to this country but is evident throughout the world, especially in those countries where manufacturing forms an important part of industry.

Practically all the commercially important countries of the world have laws for the protection of designs. Most of these provide for protection upon registration and the corresponding certificate or grant. The effect of such a registration being very important, much depends on whether it is accomplished after an examination of existing registrations to determine whether or not the design possesses novelty.

CONCEPT OF DESIGN RIGHTS

The basic concept of the property right in designs is in many respects different from that of trade-marks. Prior publication and use of a trade-mark will not result in a forfeiture of the property right therein. In fact, use of a mark may be necessary before the property right attaches thereto. Publication of a design, on the other hand, prior to filing an application for registration, may be sufficient to cause the design to be considered as not novel according to the law of some countries.

PROMPT REGISTRATION NECESSARY

The laws contain the provisions regarding the manner of obtaining and safeguarding exclusive rights in designs. The procedure is far from uniform in all countries. As a general rule, certain documents must be filed; examination of these and search of existing registrations may be made before the certificate will be granted. Since designs often have a short period of usefulness or value in trade, it is

imperative that their protection be facilitated. If the foreign market for a product (possessing a distinctive design) is likely to be affected by the simulation of the design by competitors, it is urged that protection for the design be acquired before the product has been shipped abroad and before publícation of the subject matter of the design.

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

There are a number of international conventions which have been entered into from time to time by the various countries and groups of countries throughout the world. In general, under these conventions, a country agrees to grant to nationals of the other country, under the provisions of the respective law, the same rights as it grants to its own nationals.

Periods of priority in which to apply for registration of marks and patents are usually provided for, as well as the time in which to commence working the patent.

INTERNATIONAL UNION CONVENTION

Perhaps the most universal and one of the most important of these international conventions is that which established the Union for the Protection of Industrial Property. This convention was signed in Paris on March 20, 1883, and is referred to as the International Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. It was revised in Brussels on December 14, 1900; at Washington, June 2, 1911; at The Hague, November 6, 1925; and at London, June 2, 1934.

Important provisions of this convention include an undertaking on the part of the countries of the union to prohibit false indication of origin and to grant effective remedies against unfair competition. Certain priority rights of inventors in the matter of applying for patents and of the owners of trade-marks in applying for registration of such marks in other countries are granted in accordance with its

terms.

In addition to the priority period in which to file application for patents in member countries, the time in which to commence working or manufacturing a patent is stipulated to be not less than 3 years from the date of the first application in a member company.

In addition to the foregoing there are provisions regarding the unregistrability of trade-marks which contain flags, national insignia, emblems, commonly used or generic terms, and material which is of an immoral or scandalous nature or which is contrary to public order. Provisions are also made regarding the prohibition of entry of goods which infringe industrial property rights.

The following countries have ratified or adhered to the original convention or to one or more of its revisions: Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Austria, Canada, Spain, Netherlands (Netherland India, Surinam, and Curacao), Spanish Morocco, Portugal, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Turkey, France, Algiers and colonies, Morocco (French), Tunis, Brazil, Syria and Lebanon, United States of America, New Zealand (including Western Samoa), Palestine, Poland, Eritrea, Aegean Islands (Italian), Libya, Australia (including Papua and the New Guinea territory under mandate), Czechoslovakia, Liechtenstein, Bulgaria,

Cuba, Denmark, and Faroe Islands, Danzig (Free City of), Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, Ceylon, Greece, Irish Free State, Japan, Latvia, Luxemburg, Norway, Rumania, and Sweden.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION

The United States is not a party to the Agreement of Madrid, 1891, which provided for the international registration of trade-marks through the Berne Bureau. The United States has, however, ratified the Inter-American Trade-Mark Convention, signed at Washington February 20, 1929. To date this convention has been ratified by only five other countries-Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Peru. The protocol of this convention provides for inter-American registration of trade-marks, through the Habana Bureau, in those countries which have ratified this protocol.

ATTORNEYS SHOULD BE CONSULTED

It is very desirable, before selling or undertaking to sell American goods in foreign markets, that the owners confer with their attorneys with a view to obtaining the protection hereinbefore referred to, with the least possible delay. There is a tendency abroad to simulate and thereby to profit by the goodwill in American products. Attorneys specializing in patent and trade-mark practice have associates in foreign countries and are able to facilitate the protection.

COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR AMERICAN WORKS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES

Copyright is the exclusive right granted the creator of an intellectual or artistic work, to publish and dispose of such work for a limited time. By acquiring an exclusive right to reproduce his work through the monopoly grant in copyright, the author is rewarded for his intellectual and artistic effort and genius in contributing to the public welfare.

Artistic and intellectual creations may very often become the objects of foreign commerce, and, as such, their protection under the laws of foreign countries is a matter which should be given appropriate consideration.

WHAT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED

The laws of foreign countries are far from uniform in defining the subject matter of intellectual and artistic property. However, as a matter of general information, it may be said to include all productions in the literary, scientific, and artistic domain, whatever the mode or form of expression, such as books, pamphlets, and other writings; lectures, addresses, sermons, and other works of like nature; dramatic or dramatico-musical works; choreographic works and pantomimes, the stage directions (mise en scene) of which are fixed in writing or otherwise; musical compositions with or without words; drawings, paintings; works of architecture and sculpture; engravings and lithographs; illustrations; geographical charts; plans, sketches, and plastic works relating to geography, topography, architecture, or the sciences; translations, adaptations, arrangements

of music, and other reproductions transformed from a literary or artistic work, as well as compilations from different works; photographic works and works obtained by any process analogous to photography.

COPYRIGHT RELATIONS WITH INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES

With a view to enabling American authors to obtain copyright protection for their works, the United States has entered into bilateral treaties with a number of countries. In these treaties, the countries reciprocally agree to extend similar copyright protection to the nationals of the other contracting party as is extended to those entitled to copyright within their own respective jurisdictions. As authorized by the Copyright Act of 1909, such agreements have been made with the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Free City of Danzig, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Irish Free State, Italy, Luxemburg, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunis, and the Union of South Africa.

In addition, the United States is a party to a number of treaties and agreements with other countries, treating in varying degrees of copyright; and some provisions on the subject are found in treaties dealing primarily with other subjects. Copyright protection is thus obtained in China, Japan, Chosen, and Siam.

TREATIES DO NOT GUARANTEE PROTECTION

A mere reliance on these reciprocal treaties is not sufficient to obtain copyright protection. They provide only for reciprocity, and, therefore, if an American author wishes to obtain copyright protection in any one country, it is necessary that he comply fully with the formalities provided by the copyright law of that particular country.

The United States has no reciprocal copyright relations with the following countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russia), Persia, Egypt, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Bulgaria, Estonia, Haiti, India, Liechtenstein. The last 5 countries are members of the Bern Copyright Union, and Americans can obtain copyright protection by what is often called the "backdoor" method, which will be explained later. In the case of the other countries, any protection for literary and artistic works must be obtained entirely on the basis of the municipal or national legislation of those countries.

INTER-AMERICAN COPYRIGHT PROTECTION

The United States has established copyright relations with certain Latin American countries through inter-American conventions. One of the earliest conventions was signed at Mexico City on January 27, 1902, and has been ratified by the United States, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Uruguay. This convention did not dispense with the usual formalities which might be required by the national law as a condition

for obtaining copyright protection. It provided, however, that any person who was the subject of one of the signatory countries could obtain copyright protection in any or all of the countries belonging to the convention by first obtaining protection in his own country and by filing with the copyright office of his country two copies of the work intended for each convention country in which protection was to be claimed. The copyright office in the country of origin was then required to transmit the copies of the work to the other convention countries, in this manner relieving the author of the necessity of going specially to each country. At the present time, this convention is in effect on the part of the United States only with El Salvador.

The copyright convention signed at Buenos Aires on August 11, 1910, has been ratified by the United States, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

Article 3 of this convention establishes so-called automatic copyright in all of the member countries without any formality, except that there shall appear in the work a statement that indicates the reservation of the property right. It is understood that it is advisable to include, in addition to the statement "All rights reserved,” the country and the date of publication.

INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT UNION

With the exception of the United States, practically all the commercially important countries are members of the Bern Copyright Union. The text of the Bern Convention of 1886, upon which this union was founded, was revised at Berlin in 1908 and was revised further at a conference held in Rome in 1928. Article 4 of the Rome Convention provides "that authors within the jurisdiction of one of the countries of the union enjoy for their works such rights, in the countries other than the country of origin of the work, as the respective laws accorded nationals." It further provides that the enjoyment of such rights are not subject to any formality.

Under this convention (art. 8) authors also enjoy in the countries of the union the exclusive right to make or to authorize the translation of their works during the entire term of the right in the original work.

PROTECTION FOR UNITED STATES WORKS IN CONVENTION COUNTRIES

The Bern Convention and all subsequent revisions (art. 6) provide that "authors not within the jurisdiction of any one of the countries of the union, who publish their works for the first time in one of the union countries, enjoy in such union country the same rights as national authors, and in the other countries of the union the rights accorded by the present convention." Under this provision, American authors can procure protection in all of the convention countries by first publishing their works in one of the member countries, or simultaneously in the United States and in a convention country, which is often referred to as the back-door method of obtaining international copyright protection.