No. 421.] Mr. Blaine to Mr. Phelps. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have received your No. 434, of the 29th ultimo, further relating to the passport No. 1202 issued October 10, 1891, by your legation, to Alexander Block. The correspondence inclosed with your dispatch answers the object the Department had in view in writing its instruction No. 404. It appears that the father, who is understood to have died in the United States in 1881, abandoned his family in 1879, and that the friends of young Block's mother brought her and her son to Germany in 1880; that she died in 1882, and that about 1889 the son was appren ticed by one Julius Heilbronner, a leading leather merchant of Nuremberg, Bavaria; that in consequence of the decision of the royal district government application was made to you for a passport in the youth's behalf. "The passport, after some hesitation," you say to Consul Black, "is issued upon the ground that Block, who was born in the United States, is not personally responsible for his coming to this country (Germany) as a young child, and upon the supposition that he will definitely return to the United States on or before the attainment of his majority." Your caution appears a wise one that he should return to the United States before attaining the age of 21 years. While the granting of a passport is, under the circumstances, approved, it is well to say frankly that should a claim be made by the German authorities for military duty, the case of this young man, who has not been in the United States since 1880, knows absolutely nothing about his father, comparatively little about himself, and does not even speak the English language, affords doubtful grounds for hopeful appeal in his behalf. I am, etc., JAMES G. BLAINE. No. 447.] Mr. Phelps to Mr. Blaine. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Berlin, May 22, 1892. (Received June 9.) SIR: Referring to your instruction No. 409, of the 28th ultimo, directing that certain representations be made to the German Government respecting the rights of American inventors in Germany, I beg to transmit herewith copies, with the necessary translation, of the correspondence on the subject that has ensued between this legation and the foreign office. I have, etc., WM. WALTER PHELPS. [Inclosure 1 in No. 447.] Mr. Phelps to Baron Marschall. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, The undersigned, envoy, etc., of the United States of America, is instructed by his Government to inform his excellency Freiherr Marschall von Bieberstein, imperial secretary of state for foreign affairs, that complaints are constantly being made by American citizens who are seeking patents for their inventions in Germany that the patents when issued are invalid because no notice of reciprocal rights has yet been published in the Imperial Official Gazette. Such a notice is thought to be essential to the validity of such patents as are issued to American citizens under the provisions of the imperial laws relating to patents and the protection of model designs, and a right to the publication of this notice seems also to have been secured from the moment that the United States law gave corresponding privileges to German subjects seeking patents in the United States. Such privileges, as his excellency is aware, have been granted to subjects of Germany, and they are now availing themselves of them. Under these circumstances, the undersigned is instructed to ask if there is any necessary cause for delay, and if there is not, that the notice may be speedily published, as was the understanding and agreement. The undersigned avails, etc., WM. WALTER PHELPS. [Inclosure 2 in No. 447.-Translation.] Baron Marschall to Mr. Phelps. FOREIGN OFFICE, Replying to the communication of the 12th instant, F. O., No. 331, the undersigned has the honor to inform the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, Mr. William Walter Phelps, that in consequence of the envoy's note of April 22 last, F. O., No. 214, the imperial legation in Washington, as communicated under the 7th of November last, has been instructed to enter into negotiations with the Government of the United States for the purpose of regulating the mutual protection of patents, designs, and trade-marks. These negotiations have not yet been brought to a conclusion; but, judging by the proceedings which have hitherto ensued, an agreement between the two countries may be hoped for. As in such case the wishes of American citizens, with respect to patents and designs, would be disposed of, the undersigned believes it will be proper to abstain for the present from a separate consideration of these points. The undersigned at the same time avails, etc., Mr. Wharton to Mr. Phelps. MARSCHALL. No. 433.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 447, of the 22d ultimo, concerning the protection of American inventors in Germany. The Department's No. 420, of May 19, 1892, sufficiently answers the further statements of the imperial secretary of state for foreign affairs, in relation to the nonpublication of the notification in question, pending the conclusion of a trade-mark treaty which will definitely adjust the matter. I am, sir, WILLIAM F. WHARTON, No. 435.] Mr. Wharton to Mr. Phelps. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: In connection with the Department's recent instructions concerning the nonpublication for the benefit of American inventors in the Imperial Gazette as required by the German patent law of October 1, 1891, I have now to inclose for your information a copy of a letter from Messrs. Richards & Co., international patent solicitors, dated New York, the 11th instant, in relation to the injustice experienced by our citizens in consequence of the necessary publication not having been made. They very justly observe: This privilege of three months' priority being offered to countries granting a reciprocal privilege to Germans, and it being a fact that the United States grants two years after the introduction of an invention into the United States within which to apply for patent, thus granting more than the Germans demand, there would appear to be no good reason why the privileges granted by this law should not be enjoyed by citizens of the United States. If before the arrival of this instruction the required publication in order to secure our citizens the advantages of this law has not been made, you will take early opportunity to impress upon the German Government the desirability of its immediately doing so. I am, etc., WILLIAM F. WHARTON, Acting Secretary. [Inclosure in No. 435.] Messrs. Richards & Co. to Mr. Wharton. NEW YORK, June 11, 1892. (Received June 13.) SIR: We have the honor to bring to your notice a matter of injustice suffered by American inventors applying for patents in Germany. The facts are as follows: On October 1, 1891, a new German patent law came into force, in which it is provided (Art. 1, sec. 2.): # "That an invention shall not be considered new if at the date of filing the same has been described in public prints within the last century, ** The official foreign patent specifications are only considered equal to public prints after the lapse of three months from the date of publication, in so far as the patent is applied for by the foreign patentee or his legal successor. "This exception refers, however, only to the official publications of those States in which, according to a publication of the Imperial chancellor in the Imperial Gazette, reciprocity is guaranteed." From the above it will appear that the privilege of three months after official publication here within which to file an application for German patent will only be granted after an official publication in the German Gazette of the names of the States to which this privilege is accorded. So far as we can learn there has as yet been no publication to secure to citizens of the United States the advantages of this law, and we are informed by an agent in Berlin that the Imperial German patent office has recently declared that "United States citizens do not enjoy the privilege offered by paragraph 2 of the new law.". This privilege of three months' priority being offered to countries granting a reciprocal privilege to Germans, and it being a fact that the United States grants two years after the introduction of an invention into the United States within which to apply for patent, thus granting more than the Germans demand, there would appear to be no good reason why the privileges granted by this law should not be enjoyed by citizens of the United States. Respectfully, FR 92-13 RICHARDS & Co. No. 460] Mr. Phelps to Mr. Wharton. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, BERLIN, June 30, 1892. (Received July 22.) SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt to-day of your instruction No. 435, of the 15th instant, and to inclose herewith a copy of the communication which, in obedience to this instruction, I have addressed to the foreign office, relative to the publication in the Imperial Gazette necessary to give protection to American inventors, as required by the German patent law of October 1, 1891. I have, etc., [Inclosure in No. 460.] WM. WALTER PHELPS. Mr. Phelps to Baron Marschall. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, The undersigned envoy, etc., of the United States of America had the honor, under date of 12th of May last, to address a communication to his excellency, Marschall von Bieberstein, Imperial secretary of state for foreign affairs, asking that a notice should be published in the Imperial Gazette that American citizens seeking patents for their inventions in Germany were entitled to receive them. Under date of the 21st of the same month his excellency informed the undersigned that because negotiations connected generally with this subject and intended to fully regulate the mutual protection of patents were pending at Washington, his excellency preferred to abstain for the present from a separate consideration of the question of this notice. In the meantime the complaints of American inventors reach the State Department to which it is impossible to give a satisfactory answer. These complaints recite the German patent law which went into operation October 1, 1891. They call attention to the fact that under this law an American or any other foreign inventor is entitled to the publication of this notice and to the rights of patent mentioned in it, whenever the United States or that other foreign country has conceded the same rights to German citizens. These complaints truthfully add that the United States has given not only the same rights, but larger ones, viz, the right to apply for a patent within two years, and speak with some bitterness of the fact that these rights are not only given by the United States Government, but are now being used by German subjects in the United States. In view of these facts, so well stated in the complaints, the undersigned is requested to ask why a privilege granted by German law to American citizens upon a condition precedent which has been so fully complied with should be withheld and made conditional upon the results of other negotiations which are not mentioned in the German law, and which have no actual connection with this matter of fact or practice. And he is also requested again to urge upon the Imperial Government that fair reciprocity would seem to require the immediate publication of the notice spoken of. The undersigned avails, etc., WM. WALTER PHELPS. No. 477.] Mr. Phelps to Mr. Foster. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Berlin, August 28, 1892. (Received September 13.) SIR: Referring to my dispatch No. 460, of the 30th of June last, with which I inclosed a copy of my note relating to the protection of American inventors in Germany, addressed to Baron von Marschall on that date, I have the honor to now transmit a copy, with translation, of a reply thereto received to-day from the foreign office. From the inclosed note it appears that the German Government is not of the opinion that the privileges granted German inventors in the United States are of a character to justify the publication in the Imperial Gazette necessary under the German patent law to give protection to American inventors. The inclosed note also informs the legation that the German chargé d'affaires at Washington has been instructed to present to the American Government in a detailed manner the grounds upon which this opinion is based. I have, etc., WM. WALTER PHELPS. [Inclosure in No, 477.-Translation.] Baron von Rotenhau to Mr. Phelps. FOREIGN OFFICE, Berlin, August 26, 1892. Replying to the esteemed communication of June 30, last, the undersigned has the honor to inform the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, Mr. William Walter Phelps, that the question as to whether the laws of the German Empire and the United States extend full reciprocity, with respect to the period of application for patents which have already been published in foreign patent documents, has been made the subject of close examination. After this examination the Imperial Government finds itself unable to concur in the views set forth in the communication of the 30th of June, according to which equal or even greater privileges are accorded to German applicants for patents in the United States than are granted to foreign applicants by section 2, subdivision 2, of the German patent law. To its regret it finds itself now still unable to cause the insertion in the Imperial Gazette of a notice recognizing that reciprocity is granted by America, and extending to United States citizens the privilege of the German provision of law above cited. The Imperial Government participates entirely in the wish that an agreement may be reached with the United States with respect to the matter to which the envoy reverts. It must, however, desire that this take place in the framework of an agreement which shall at the same time regulate other matters relating to patents, to bring about which, as is known to the envoy, negotiations were instituted some time ago. While the undersigned permits himself to add that the Imperial chargé d'affaires at Washington has been instructed to communicate in a detailed manner to the Government of the United States the grounds upon which the Imperial Government bases its views with respect to this question, he at the same time avails, etc., ROTENHAU. No. 465.] Mr. Adee to Mr. Phelps. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I am constrained to again invite your attention to the Department's Nos. 420, of May 19, and 435, of June 15, 1892, in the matter of the discrimination practiced against United States patentees by the German Government, and to inclose for your information a copy of a letter from Mr. Henry Connett, of New York, of the 8th ultimo, which seems to indicate a total discrimination in Germany against citizens of this country in such matters. The Department has frequently received complaints from private citizens, as well as from official sources, against this action by Germany, and regrets that a different course should not be adopted. |