The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1911)

24 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. FROM OUR LONDON HEADQUARTERS— (Continued.) acquired by Carl Lindstrom. The turnover of Beka Record Co. in discs and the Puppel Co. in machines during 1909 amounted to 1,200,000 marks each; their joint turnover during 1910 amounts to 4,500,000 marks, which shows tremendous progress. The gross profit is 1,522,318 marks, from which has been written ofif for buildings, machinery, matrices, patents, etc., 173,889 marks; general working expenses, 816,920 marks, leaving a net profit of 531,509 marks. A dividend of 8 per cent, has been paid, a portion of the remainder being allocated to writing off further amounts againsl depreciation, which, by the way, leaves the value of certain property in the balance sheet at the nominal amount of one mark. They further provide for reserve 100,000 marks, bringing a balance of 23,848 marks forward to the next account. House of Lords Dismisses Gramophone Co. Appeal. In the House of Lords, February 13, judgment was given in the appeal of the Gramophone Co., Ltd., against the Magazine Holder Co. (now trading under the title of Perfectophone, Ltd.), which raised a question as to the infringement of patent rights in the design of a gramophone cabinet machine. The Gramophone Co. had registered a certain design, and contending that the Magazine Holder Co. had infringed it by a design registered on a later date, brought an action for an injunction. This action was dismissed by Justice Warrington, who held that respondent's cabinet was not an infringement. The court of appeal were of the same opinion, and dismissed the appeal with costs. Against this decision the Gramophone Co. now appealed to the House of Lords. The case for appellants was that their registered design was new and original, while respondents contended that their design only resembled that of the appellants in details which were not new at the time the earlier design was registered. The Lord Chancellor moved that the appeal be dismissed. In his opinion there had not been an infringement of appellant's design. The Earl of Halsbury and Lords Atkinson and Shaw concurring, the appeal was accordingly dismissed with costs. The Latest Klingsor Record. The Regimental Band of H. M. Irish Guards again figure in the current list of Klingsor records with some pleasing selections, of which the following are good examples : "Musical Snapshots" Nos. 1 and 2, ''Reminiscences of Wales," "Samson and Delilah," "The Mouse," "Gaily Through the World," and "Land of Hope and Glory." Harry Bluff is well represented; he sings "Our Wedding," "The Whist Drive," "Just for a Girl," and "There's Another Fellow Just Like Me." Four good songs go to the credit of Harry Trevor : 'The Sailor's Dance," "The Old Side Car," "My Old Shako, ' and "The Rebel." All are up to the usual excellent standard of recording, and should be in good demand. Dealers can have lists complete upon application. National Phonograph Co. Win on Appeal to House of Lords. Before Lords Macnaughton, Atkinson, Shaw and Robson, and Sir Arthur Wilson, February 4, the National Phonograph Co. of Australia prosecuted their appeal against an Australian dealer of the name of Menck, to restrain him from acting in breach of a contract between them and from infringing their patent rights. The High Court had dismissed the company's action with costs. The company own three patents for improvements in phonographs, sound records, or blanks granted under the patents act (Australia), 1903. In the course of their business the company sold Edison phonographs, records and blanks made under the protection of the patents. They sold to jobbers under jobbers' contracts. Jobbers had power to sell to dealers, but the dealers' contracts were made direct with the companj-. The respondent (Mr. Menck) was a dealer, and had various dealers' agreements in 1906, and the company entered him on their dealers' list — a position, it was said, of commercial importance. By the ninth head of the dealers' agreement it was provided that "deal ers violating any of the foregoing conditions of sale or any other reasonable conditions that may from time to. time be imposed by the company may be at once withdrawn from the dealers' list." On the dealer's part it was promised that in case of his name being so removed he would in no way "handle, sell or deal in, or use, either directly or indirectly, Edison phonographs and parts thereof, etc., unless authorized to do so in writing by the company." It was alleged by the company that Mr. Menck had acted in breach of this contract, and also in breach of their rights as patentees. The Australian court decided generally in regard to the alleged breach of contract that no special damage was proved, and none of the alleged breaches was substantiated, but that there had been, in regard to one clause, a trivial violation which technically justified Mr. Menck's removal from the dealer's list. As to the alleged violation of the company's rights as patentees, the High Court thought that there had been no violation. Lord Shaw, in giving their lordships' judgment, said the main objects of the agreements was to secure that there should be no selling of the company's production at less than their standard prices to the public. Commissions were paid to jobbers and dealers, but no undercutting of prices was permitted. As the High Court found, Mr. Menck never even contemplated such a thing, nor did he ever engage in that method of business, either before or after his name was deleted from the dealers' list. A second object of the agreements was to secure, by the prevention of exchange, that the articles of rival manufacturers should not, by the assistance of jobbers or dealers •be, so to speak, put into circulation. It was found as a fact that Mr. Menck, in one solitary and small transaction, exchanged a Gem phonograph of the company's make for another of the company's phonographs, and twenty-one records also of their make. Their lordships thought that such a transaction, apparently perfectly reasonable from the point of view of business, did not constitute a con 99 ROVAU APPRECIATION "HIS MASTER'S VOICE THE GENUINE GRAMOPHONE To H. M. the KING OF ITALY .You know it tytkis. .NO INSTRUMENT ORRBOORD IS MANUFACTURED A>a3 SOLD BY THE GXAMOPHONE CQ L™ THAT DOES NOT if ARTHIS TRADE MARX To T. M. the KING and QUEEN OF SPAIN BY APPOINTMENT To H. M. QUEEN ALEXANDRA HIS MASTER'S VOICE To H. H. the KHEDIVE OF EGYPT THE GRAMOPHONE 21 CITY ROAD, COMPANY, Ltd. LONDON To H. M. the SHAH OF PERSIA FRANCE . . Cle. Francaise dn Gramophone, IS Rue Blene, Paris GERMANY Deutsche Grammophon-Aktien Gesellschaft, 36 Ritterstrasse, Berlin ITALY . . . Compagnia Italiana del Grammofono, Via S. Prospero 5, Milan EGYPT . . The Gramophone Co., Ltd,, 13 Rue Stamboul, Alexandria SCANDINAVIA Skandinavisk Grammophon Aktieselskab, Frihavnen, Copenhajen Appelberg^sgatan 52, Stockholm RUSSIA . SPAIN INDIA The Gramophone Co., Ltd., Krasnaja Plotchjad ; Mittlere Handelt Reihen 312-322, Moscow Fontanka 58, Petersburg: Also branches at Rig'a, Kharkoff, Rostoff, Omsk, Tiflls Cie. Francaise do Gramophone, 56 Balmes, Barcelona The Gramophone Co., Ltd., 139 Belleafhatta Road, Calcutta