Am.  jour.  Pharm. |        -pile  Trade-M ark  Act  of  1020.  30 
January,  1921.    J  3      ?  yJ? 
prior  to  the  enactment  of  the  1920  Trade-Mark  law,  Commissioner  of 
Patents  Newton  drew  attention  to  the  ease  with  which  well-known 
American  trade-marks  are  pirated  in  some  foreign  countries. 
He  told  of  an  experience  of  the  Eagle  Pencil  Company.  This 
company  has  its  trade-mark,  the  word  "Eagle"  with  a  picture  of 
an  eagle,  registered  all  over  the  world. 
The  company  shipped  some  of  its  pencils  to  one  of  the  South 
American  countries  before  registering  its  trade-mark  there. 
A  man  who  knew  the  good  will  value  of  the  company's 
emblem  had  gone  to  that  country  and  registered  the  trade-mark 
for  himself. 
When  the'  Eagle  Pencil  Company's  cargo  of  pencils  arrived, 
it  was  confiscated.  Under  the  trade-mark  laws  of  various  lands, 
no  trade-mark  which  is  an  infringement  of  a  trade-mark  already 
registered  in  the  country  is  allowed  to  pass  the  customs.  For  more 
than  twenty  years,  the  Eagle  Pencil  Company  was  in  litigation 
over  the  matter  without  gaining  the  slightest  degree  of  redress. 
Frequently,  the  good  will  betokened  by  a  trade-mark— and 
often  inseparable  from  it — is  estimated  in  terms  of  millions  of 
dollars. 
Although  the  Trade-Mark  Act  of  1920  affords  legal  protection 
for  the  good  will  embodied  in  a  trade-mark  and  opens  the  way  to 
foreign  registration  thereof,  it  is  beyond  the  province  of  the  act  to 
stop  the  turning  of  domestic  good  will  into  ridicule  or  gibberish  or 
ill  will  in  a  foreign  market. 
In  other  words,  a  trade  emblem  which  is  graphic  and  per- 
suasive in  this  country  may  be  obscure,  repellent,  or  a  laughing 
stock  in  another  country.  This  may  come  to  pass  as  a  consequence 
of  difference  of  language  or  clash  of  racial  custom  or  religious  be- 
liefs. For  example,  in  the  tailoring  industry  there  is  a  prosperous 
American  firm  bearing  the  name  of  "Bobo  and  Company."  It  is 
conceivable  that  this  firm  might  want  to  use  the  name  "Bobo"  as  a 
trade-mark  for  its  goods  in  Latin  America.  No  difficulty  would 
be  encountered  in  securing  Federal  registration  for  the  name  in 
this  country  after  it  had  been  used  in  interstate  commerce  for  one 
year.  Nevertheless,  it  would  not  be  advisable  to  register  the  name 
as  a  trade-mark  in  any  of  the  Spanish-speaking  republics,  because 
"Bobo"  in  Spanish  means  dunce,  dolt,  fool,  simpleton. 
Furthermore,  a  particular  trade-mark  may  be  free  from  every- 
thing which  would  militate  against  its  prestige  in  foreign  markets 
