The registration of your trade mark should be attended to as soon as possible if it is your intention to enter the Latin American field with the article which you manufacture. In many of these countries the laxity of the laws governing this important commercial protection work great hardship on legitimately established enterprises. I regret to state that in nearly every one of these lands, it is legally permissible for anyone to register any trade mark on fulfilling certain simple conditions and the payment of a small fee. The result is that a class of men without scruples are continually on the lookout for articles which are being well advertised in this country, knowing the probabilities are that sooner or later there will be a demand for them throughout the world and especially in the place wherein they reside. Magazines and periodicals of all classes are watched with care and as soon as extensive publicity campaigns are launched in the United States or Europe, the chances are that the trade name of the article being exploited will be simultaneously registered by a native in many Latin American Patent Offices. The next step in the technique of these rogues is to wait until some shipment of the goods in question arrives, a fact easily ascertained by noting the shipping news from the States and reading the invoices and the names of consignees, data which is eagerly sought after and published with great detail by all the papers of the port. An injunction is then immediately obtained and the entire shipment is either prohibited from landing or held in the custom house pending wearying and tiresome legal complications, with the result that the quasi owner of the trade-mark in question is always victorious and the shipment either excluded from the country in toto or awarded to the unlawful owner of the brand, in lieu of court costs and legal fees. In the latter event they are then sold, and the money derived therefrom goes of course to the pirates who had the foresight to register the name. These men often wait for years before accomplishing their purpose and with the idea of ultimately making money from their venture have been known to renew repeatedly the trade-mark, when it expired owing to legal limitations.

Of course on attaching a shipment of goods bearing one of these stolen and registered trade-marks, the native owner always offers to sell out his interest in the same, invariably asking a price absurdly excessive, particularly so when one stops to consider that he is asked to pay a sum for the right to use his own name. Knowing that he holds the whip hand in the controversy, and that you must meet his terms and conditions, if you wish to do business in the country, and further that he has you at a decided disadvantage in many ways, the situation which develops is trying in the extreme. Then follows a period of conferences, time-wasting interviews during which much patience must be exhibited until ultimately practically the original sum of money asked must be paid. This has been the general experience of almost every one who has been so unfortunate as to be confronted by such a situation.

Good business judgment therefore dictates that when you register your trade-mark in the United States, you should also protect yourself by registering it in the principal countries of Latin America. The easiest way to do this is through your patent attorney or legal adviser. If however you have failed to take this precaution, the first duty of your representative on arriving in each of the countries in question should be the registration of your trade name in the proper department of the government.

In order to give this his personal attention he should have a power of attorney authorizing him to act in this capacity. This paper may be prepared by your attorney, and should be in Spanish for all countries excepting Brazil, where the language is Portuguese. This document should be signed with the firm name by the individual having the right to do so and in the case of corporations by the proper officer, and the corporate seal attached. The signature should then be sworn to before a notary public, whose name and seal should be certified to by the Secretary of State for the State wherein the firm or corporation does business or is chartered. The notarial oath and the certificate of the Secretary of State may be in English. These papers should then be sent to the Secretary of State of the United States at Washington, D. C., who will in turn certify to the fact that the signature of the Secretary of State for the State in question is correct and they should then be forwarded to the Ambassador or Minister or proper representative of the Latin American country, wherein it is desired to register the power of attorney, who will in turn certify to the signature of the Secretary of State of the United States. Armed with this much verified and sealed document, your representative is then in a position to sign your name to the application for the trade mark on his arrival, and to conduct any further business before the local government arising therefrom. A separate legal document of this nature is required for each country in which you propose to protect your trade name.

In case your mark is not registered prior to the departure of your representative for Latin America, it is wise to pursue the course above outlined and have him take the matter up personally. It often happens that by the exercise of judgment and through acquaintances which will be made, or the prestige of the local attorney whom your agent will retain, many objections which might seem unsurmountable can be easily overcome by the man on the ground. Oftentimes too, the mark can be altered in word or design, so as to evade one already registered without in any manner affecting your rights.

When one stops to consider that much over 80 per cent. of the population of these countries are unable to either read or write, and that they are therefore forced to recognize an article by some distinguishing sign or character, the great value of an easily discernible, prominent and effective trade-mark becomes obvious. As a matter of fact the Indians who make up the greater portion of the purchasing public of these countries know goods only by brands and ask the storekeeper for them by their distinguishing names.

Another feature to be most seriously considered in selecting a name for your article in Latin America is that the Spanish alphabet contains no “W.” This letter is formed, when it is necessary to use a word employing it, by combining two V’s,—thus VV. Even to the educated native this letter is unpronounceable. It is therefore quite obvious that no word containing it should ever be used for distinguishing any brand. Such a trade mark, for instance, as “White Wings” instead of attracting custom, would act otherwise, owing to the extreme sensitiveness of the native in fearing criticism in pronouncing the words.

Once your trade mark is established, no matter how crude it may be, never change it. I know of a firm in Baltimore who formerly did an enormous business in lard with Brazil. The cans which they used for export purposes were a gaudy blue color and decorated with a pig of elephantine proportions. For economic reasons they decided to use plain tin cans, stamping the porker in relief thereon, but preserving his pachyderm proportions. The result was a package equally as good, as far as shipping purposes were concerned, with a saving of about two cents on each one. As a consequence of the alteration the merchant was absolutely unable to sell the goods shipped in the new container, and when later on the manufacturers tried to regain the field which they lost, by sending their former tins, the natives were sure that they were being deceived and refused to buy these goods also. Competitors who had eagerly sought this market took advantage of the situation and the Maryland house was completely shut out of the territory and absolutely lost their business.

Another illustration may serve to impress the importance of maintaining your trade mark in its entire originality. The Chinese are great consumers of canned salmon, and our Western fisheries supply much of the article. One firm in San Francisco had a brand well liked and very famous among the Celestials. The label on the tin showed a highly colored salmon having the wrong number of fins, with tail elevated in the act of leaping over a waterfall down stream, while the background was filled with tropical palms and cocoanut trees. The trade mark was simplicity itself, and was recognized with favor all over the Flowery Kingdom. Higher education however completely removed the brand from the map. The head of the house had a son just from college, who had been recently admitted to the firm. He started to clean up things—to be 100 per cent. efficient. His Æsthetic and educated eye at once saw that the label on the brand which had made the firm’s fortune was a living lie. Salmon were not colored like the rainbow; leaped up stream only; had less fins and depressed their tails when doing acrobatic feats. And horror of horrors—no tropical palms or cocoanut trees grew in the vicinity of the salmon’s habitat. So the label was reconstructed and made a work of art, scientifically and piscatorially correct, and not a mere illegitimate combination of wrong details. Then goods with the new and authentic label were shipped. When they got to China no Chinaman could be induced to buy them. They became dubious at once of the changed label. Living in a land of suspicion they knew intuitively that some designing schemer was falsifying their favorite trade mark. “No samee chop” was the laconic reply when told that these were the old and well known goods in a new dress. Argument was useless. The brand was completely lost to the market. I know one merchant in Hong-Kong who was forced to throw two car-loads of this salmon into the sea, because space in his “go-down” or warehouse was worth more than that occupied by unsaleable stock.

Should you for some reason contemplate altering your trade mark or the color or shape or size of your container, always take the wise precaution of consulting the merchant handling your goods abroad and if possible adopt or be guided by his suggestions. He is on the firing line and has his finger on the pulse of the buyers, therefore his opinion is worthy of the most serious attention.

As typical of the high-handed hold ups of the local Dick Turpins, who have registered trade marks under their own names in Latin America let me state that I know of two American patent medicine men whose products have been extensively advertised and are almost household words in the United States, paying $28,000 and $25,000 respectively for the privilege of using their own names in one country of South America. Both of these concerns had been doing business in the United States for forty years and they afterwards ascertained that the gentlemen (?) who had registered their names had been waiting patiently for their coming all the time. A well known mineral water, within the past two years, paid according to my positive knowledge $2500 for their trade-mark and considered that they got off remarkably cheap. The price originally asked was $20,000 and their representative spent three months on the ground using every possible means to reduce the figures of the original demand. In the meantime nearly 500 cases of the water in question were held up by the authorities, who refused to allow them to be landed until they had the written consent of the native holding the registration papers. A prominent typewriter company flatly refused to pay the excessively high sum demanded by the party holding the right to use their trade mark, reversed its name, and now sells its machine by this unpronounceable designation. Pages could be filled with similar illustrations, showing the great importance of properly protecting your trade mark at the start.