16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



COMMERCIAL MATTERS. 



' Patents an<J Ti'ade-marks in Cuba. 



Some years ago the attention of the au- 

 thorities and of the merchants of Cuba was 

 called to extortions by individuals who had 

 registered trade-marks which had not been 

 registered, or which had lapsed, and 

 through negligence had not been renewed. 

 Many merchants and manufacturers were 

 forced to pay large sums to these unscru- 

 pulous people, many of whom had grown 

 rich in the business, without being able 

 to procure a remedy within the law. 



\The Cuban trade-mark law does not pro- 

 vide for notice of expiration to the bene- 

 ficiary, and the patent law, without inves- 

 tigating whether prior rights exist before 

 giving the concession is the cause of costly 

 lawsuits, for anyone without labor and al- 

 most without cost, can patent an article 

 that another manufactures, or which is in 

 general use, and with it secure the right to 

 prevent its manufacture and even to prose- 

 cute all those who handle it, obliging the 

 real owners to adopt expensive legal meas- 

 ures before they can sell their own goods. 

 It may be said, however, that on proving 

 a' prior right justice is secured, but all peo- 

 ple do not like lawsuits, no matter 

 how righteous their cause, and they avoid 

 litigation by paying large sums to those who 

 have stolen their trade-marks or infringed 

 their patents. 



To reform these laws so as to prevent 

 abuse of this kind, it would be desirable 

 to create a government commission to ex- 

 amine all petitions for patents and trade- 

 njarks, and advertise them in order that 

 those who have prior rights may be in- 

 formed and have time to present their own 

 claims. The patent law should grant regis- 

 tration only to the rightful claimants. To 

 ayoid lawsuits originating from the false 

 registry of trade-marks, names, etc., an in- 

 telligence office examining all petitions for 

 registration and recording all trade-marks. 

 There is no association better adapted for 

 this work than the Chamber of Commerce, 

 Industry and Navigation of Cuba. — Avisa- 

 dor Comercial, Havana. 



New Post-ofBces. 



On September 15 a post-office was opened 

 at . Campo Florido, in the province of 

 Havana. 



A new money order station has been 

 established at Mayajigua, Santa Clara 

 province. 



A new post-office has been established in 

 the province of Camaguey, at San Miguel. 



A new telegraph office was opened July 

 16 at Santa Cruz del Norte. 



A money order department has been 

 added to the post office at Arcos de Canasi 

 in the same province. 



Further new offices have been estab- 

 lished at Managua, Arroyo Arenas and 

 Caimito, all in Havana province. The 



two former have been eciuipped for lim- 

 ited telegraph service. 



Travelers and Their Samples. 



Under Spanish laws commercial trav- 

 elers on entering Cuba were licensed to 

 transact business. During the first in- 

 tervention the matter was decided by the 

 different municipal councils, who on the 

 payment of a prescribed fee, were al- 

 lowed to do business for one month. 

 Although there has been no repeal there 

 is now no fee charged or collected. 



Certain samples are admitted free un- 

 der the Cuba tarifif and these are: 



Sec. 326. Samples of felt, wall paper, and 

 tissues, when : 



(a) They do not exceed 40 centimeters in 

 length, measured in the warp or length of the 

 piece, even when such samples have the entire 

 width of the piece. The width shall, for tissues, 

 be determined by the list, and for felts and wall 

 paper by the narrow border which has not passed 

 through the press. 



(b) Samples not having these indications shall 

 only be admitted free of duty when they do not 

 exceed 40 centiineters in any dimension. 



(c) In order to avoid abuse, the samples de- 

 clared for free entry must have cuts at every 20 

 centimeters of their width, so as to render them 

 unfit for any other purpose. 



Sec. 327. Samples of trimmings in small pieces 

 of no commercial value or possible application. 



In the case of other samples only a 

 partial remission of the duty is provided 

 for in the following note to Section 327 

 of the tariff: 



Note. — No other samples than those provided 

 for in Sec. 326 and Sec. 327 are admitted free of 

 duty; provided that ordinary and usual commer- 

 cial samples, imported by bona fide commercial 

 travelers in their baggage, after examination and 

 identification by the customhouse, upon re-expor- 

 tation within three months after the date of their 

 importation, are entitled to a refund of 75 per 

 cent, of the duties paid thereon, if upon^ presen- 

 tation at the customhouse for re-exportation said 

 samples shall be positively recognized and iden- 

 tified as being those upon which duty has been 

 paid, and provided further that the appraised 

 value of said samples shall not exceed $500. — 

 U. S. Consular Report. 



The First Textile Factory. 



The first textile factory to be installed 

 in Cuba is to be opened within a short 

 time in Matanzas. The owner, an Ameri- 

 can, proposes at first to manufacture stock- 

 ings and later import cotton for the manu- 

 facture of cloth. 



Manv Texas farmers who raise hogs re- 

 port excellent results in feeding peanuts. 

 Very little if any of the crop is ever 

 threshed, the general practice being to bale 

 the vine and nut together. 



Cable Money Transfers. 



The Postal Telegraph- Cable Company 

 announces that the company will accept 

 money to be transferred to the following 

 places in Cuba via New York-Havana 

 cable : Havana, Caibarien, Camaguey, 

 Cardenas, Cienfuegos, Manzanillo, Matan- 

 zas, Mayari, Sagua and Santiago. 



