Protection Against Use of Name Already Well-known A House of Commons Standing Committee recently considered an amendment Bill dealing with trade marks, Sir Terence O'Connor, K.C., Solicifor-General, replying to Labour opposition to a clause, said) that if he invented a trade mark to represent a particular kind of cough mixture, for example, called "the Solicitor-General's soothing balm," there was nothing to prevent anyone else making that balm and selling it. What was suggested was that the other person ought not to be allowed to take his (the Solicitor-General's) name to enable him to sell the balm.
There ought to be some protection against the abstraction of a name which had made a goodwill, and the use of that name in a way which was not very far from fraud.
On a division, the clause was allowed to stand part of the Bill by 19 votes to 12; Mr. A. Barnes (East Ham, S., Lab.) contended that the whole of the Bill went to strengthen the position of a proprietor of a trade mark, and to extend the practice that was growing very rapidly of trying to give the Owners of trade marks and patents not only the right of their trade marks and patents but the right of ihe market to a particular commodity.
"Goodwill"
On another clause, which stipulated that a trade mark, when? registered, should be assignable and transmissible. either in connection with the goodwill of a business or not, the Solicitor-General submitted an amendment which extended the provision to unregistered trade marks.
e were, he suggetited, clearly cases in which it would be advisable to allow unregistered trade marks ie be assigned without assigning the goodwill of the business.
The amendment was carried by 17 io 12, and the clause was added to the Bill, which was ordered to be reported, with amendments, to the House.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.