§ MR. FISHER (Fulham)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade by whose instructions the Comptroller General of Patents refuses to recognise the fourth paragraph of the Final Protocol in the International Convention 325 entered into between Her Majesty's Government and the United States of America; and whether he will take such steps as shall ensure applications for the registration of trade marks by foreign citizens being registered in this country according to the terms of the Convention?
§ MR. MUNDELLAThe Comptroller has statutory discretion under the Patents, &c, Acts of 1883 and 1888 to deline to register trade marks which he does not consider to come within the terms of those Acts, but an appeal lies from his decision to the Board of Trade or the Court, and if any applicant is aggrieved he can have no difficulty in obtaining the decision of the Court. There is no refusal on the part of the Comptroller to recognise the paragraph referred to by the hon. Member; but, having regard to the decisions of Mr. Justice Stirling in the Syrup of Figs case, and of Mr. Justice North in the Carter's Little Liver Pills case, I am considering whether any and, if so, what steps are necessary to bring the English law and the Convention into complete harmony.