§ 585. In the interests of commerce and industry three Unions are in existence:—
(1) On July 5, 1890, the Convention of Brussels was signed for the purpose of creating an international Union for the Publication of Customs Tariffs.[976] The Union has an International Office[977] at Brussels, which publishes the customs tariffs of the various States of the globe. The members of the Union are at present the following States:—Great Britain, Germany, Argentina, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chili, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, San Domingo, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Holland, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Persia, Peru, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Salvador, Servia, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
[976] See Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. XVIII. p. 558.
(2) On March 20, 1883, the Convention of Paris[978] was signed for the purpose of creating an international Union for the Protection of Industrial Property. The original members were:—Belgium, Brazil, San Domingo, France, Holland, Guatemala, Italy, Portugal, Salvador, Servia, Spain, and Switzerland. Great Britain, Japan, Denmark, Mexico, the United States of America, Sweden-Norway, Germany, Cuba, and Austria-Hungary acceded later. This Union has an International Office[979] at Berne. The object of the Union is the protection of patents, trade-marks, and the like. On April 14, 1891, at Madrid, this Union agreed to arrangements concerning false indications of origin and the registration of trade-marks[980]; and an additional Act[981] was signed at Brussels on December 14, 1900. These later arrangements, however, are accepted only by certain States of the Union; Great Britain, for instance, is a party to the former but not to the latter.
[978] See Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. X. p. 133.
[980] See Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. XXII. p. 208, and Pelletier et Vidal-Noguet, "La convention d'union pour la protection de la propriété industrielle du 20 mars 1883 et les conférences de révision postérieures" (1902).
[981] See Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. XXX. p. 475.
(3) On March 5, 1902, the Convention of Brussels[982] was signed concerning the abolition of bounties on the production and exportation of sugar. The original parties were:—Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, and Sweden; but Spain has never ratified. Luxemburg, Peru, and Russia acceded later. A Permanent Commission[983] was established at Brussels for the purpose of supervising the execution of the convention. An additional Act[984] was signed at Brussels on August 28, 1907.