TRADE MAEKS PIRACY.

Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 62, 10 September 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

TRADE MAEKS PIRACY.

Sir William Manning is to be congratulated on the energetic manner in which, by his settlement of the aaso of Wolfe v. Tidswell, he has ' ' pnt down counterfeit wares. The lawful proprietors of Wolfe's well known aromatic cordial, had obtained solo right to sell those square bottles without which no housewife thinks her shelves complete, and it was scarcoly to be supposed that rivals would strive by dishonest means to oust them from tho general favour. But apparently the motto that " all is fair " is pot restricted to love and war. Trade claims exemption also' from ordinary rules of honour, and certain rivals, represented by Messrs. Tidswell, Wilson & Co., elected to try and seize upon Mr. Wolfe's domestio laurels. Trusting alike to tho weakness of the law and tho gullibility of tho publio, they sold cunningly devised bottles, fillei with a spurious compound whioh also passea for Schiedam Schnapps, and in which labels, colour, shapo, wore so exactly imitated that only the sharp eyes detecting the namo of H. Marcellus in tho place of that 'of Wolfe, would guess that they were not gazing at the genuine article. We do not know what the value of the Maroellus Schnapps may be ; possibly it has its own merits ; possibly it is an unwholesome mixture, but in either oase it is that contemptible article a sham. It patently pretends to bo that whioh it is not, and as suoh deserves the scorn of all honest dealers. This was Sir William Manning's opinion, and, therefore, disdaining to argue as to the right of trade-mark, waiving all the quibbles beneath whioh the defendants had hoped to shelter themselves, he went straight to the root of the matter and pronounced the Marcellus Schnapps a colourable imitation of Wolfe's preparation, and as such not to be allowed. We trust that his decision will affoot many other apparently irmocont, bnt practically misleading trademarks. Thoso who resort to such devices are doing double injury to their rivals ; not only do they withdraw part of their trade — a proceeding allowable in commerce, howover unpleasant to the sufferers— but they further spoil that trade by taking away an established good name ; the confiding public finding itself cheated in the quality of an article, does not examino the brand, but loses faith iv the supposed maker. We trust, however, that the '" Marcellus " mark has not been sufficiently patronised to injure in any way the sato of the genuine Wolte's " Schiedam Aromatic Schnapps." We would remind our readers that to most people this cordial is not only a pleasant drink but a household medicine, and as such, any attempt to tamper with it becomes doubly unjustifiable. — Bailey's Sunday News, Sydney, 21st August, 1887.