A registered trade-mark and a mark for the registration of which an application has been made, together with the registration; shall be assignable "in connection with the good will of the business in which the mark is used" by an instrument in writing, duly acknowledged, which assignment shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser for value without notice unless recorded in the patent office within three months from its date.
A certificate of registration remains in force for 20 years, except that trade-marks previously registered abroad shall cease to be in force on the day on which they cease to be protected abroad. They may be re newed from time to time upon payment of fees.
The registration is made prima facie evi dence of ownership. Infringers are made liable to an action for damages and upon a verdict for the plaintiff the court may enter judgment for any amount in excess of the amount of the verdict not exceeding three times the amount of such verdict, together with the costs.
Under the judiciary act of March 3, 1911, the district court has original jurisdiction of all suits at law or in equity arising under the trade-mark laws. Courts may grant in junctions in equity and the plaintiff shall be entitled to recover, in addition to the profits, the damages which he has sustained, which the court may increase as above stated. No action shall be maintained where the trade mark is used in unlawful business or on any article injurious in itself or on a mark which has been used with the design of deceiving the public or has been abandoned or upon any registration fraudulently obtained. The act
does not prevent any remedy at law or in equity which any party aggrieved might have had before the act.
Registrants shall give notice of their trade marks by affixing the words "Registered in U.- S. Patent Office," or abbreviated thus, "Reg. Pat. Off.," or, if this cannot be done, then by affixing a label containing a like notice on the package. In the absence of such notice, no damages can be recovered except on proof of notice of infringement and continued infringement after such notice.
In a suit in the circuit court under the trade-mark act, where diverse citizenship does not exist, the jurisdiction extends only to the use of the registered trade-mark in commerce between the states, with foreign nations and the Indian tribes. A final de 6ision of the circuit court of appeals can only be reviewed by the supreme court upon certiorari ; Hutchinson, Pierce & Co. v. Loewy, 217 U. S. 457, 30 Sup. Ct. 613, 54 L. Ed. 838.
The International Convention for the Pro tection of Industrial Property was held at Paris in 1883. The signatories agreed that the citizens of each should in the other states enjoy as registered trade-marks the ad vantages of their respective laws.
As to accounting in trade-mark cases, see 20 Harv. L. Rev. 620 ; as to the difference between trade-mark and unfair trade cases, see 10 id. 275; 12 id. 243 ; See Nims, Unfair Business Competition ; Paul, Trade-Marks ; Hopkins, Trade-Marks.