Berlin, June 13.
Rumours of German troop movements toward Slovakia circulated in the past few days were increased today after the landing of three Slovak planes in Poland.
Official German quarters, without confirming the reports, admitted the possibility of such movements as part of the German military occupation of the mountainous border zone between Stating that the defendant firm, desiring to give its name a foreign aspect, had unfortunately chosen their family name, Dr. Aurel Gouda and his brother M. Charles Henry Gouda appeared as plaintiffs in the First Special District Court yesterday in an action against the Gouda Trading Ca., a Chinese firm dealing in export and import business at 9B Central Arcade, 119 Nanking Road.
Represented by M. Paul Premet, plaintiffs alleged that the Chinese name of the firm was "Kong Dah" but that they appeared as "The Gouda Trading Ca." both in the Hong List and the Telephone directory. Through their attorney they contended that according to the foreign custom as well as Chinese law (Art, 19 of the Chinese Civil Code) anyone is the proprietor -of his family name and alone is entitled to use it.
M. Premet contended that anyone who borrowed another person's name infringed the right to the use of the name and that the real owner could apply to the court for an order stopping such an abuse. In this case, he said, the Chinese characters expressing Kong Dah could not be translated as Gouda and owing to the liberal professions of plaintifis—one was a doctor and the other an architect—their name and4reputation might be seriously damaged.
Stating that the public might think that the plaintiffs carried on another business they asked for an order restraining the defendants from using the name "Gouda," the erasing of the name from the Hong List and Telephone directory, and $1 damages and costs, The defendants contended that there was no actual similarity between a business such as their own and that of the plaintiffs. Furthermore, they stated that anyone could use the name "Gouda" and they quoted examples where several firms were using the same name. After hearing the arguments the court invited the parties to try to reach a compromise. This was declared impossible and the hearing was then adjourned.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.