THE MERCHANDISE MARKS ACT In some cases, however, the local origin still bears some significance, say London Gin, and then, if the product is made elsewhere, it must bear in words as equally conspicuous as the name of the product itself, the name of the place where it was actually made or produced. Sometimes a fancy name, which is also a place name, is used, e.g. "Pic- cadilly" for cigarettes, and here no offence is caused because it has never had any local signification. The use of French terms on perfumes may be offensive under the Act if the name and English address of the manufacturer are not clearly shown. A perfume made in this country by the English factory of a French company might bear a false trade description if the label omitted the English name and address, and thereby gave an impression of French origin. Under the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty the terms "port" and "madeira" may not be applied to any liquor or wine other than the produce of Portugal or Madeira. If one of these terms is falsely applied, it is a false trade descrip- tion and is treated as an offence under the Merchandise Marks Acts. Even evasive descriptions like "Tarragona Port" or "South African Port" are not allowed, although, of course, the description "Port Type" is now permitted. The fifth definition concerns the mode of manufacturing or producing goods. There is no need, of course, for any person to disclose his method of manufacture, but if he does choose to place such a statement on his goods it must be accurate. It is not enough for him to show that his product is just as good as if it had been made in the way he says it was. In a leading case on this point cigarettes were sold under a label bearing the words "guaranteed hand-made by experienced workmen." They were in fact made by machine and the manufacturer was merely being economical in using up old labels. The magistrate expressed himself satisfied that the machine-made cigarettes were as good in construction as if they had been hand made, but the divisional court on appeal held that it was a false description, and that the fact that they were as good as hand-made goods was no defence. This is an instance of the principle I have mentioned, that actual deception of the purchaser is not essential either to create or to prove the offence. A modern case, to which I shall refer again, concerned dilute acetic acid which was sold under the title of "non-brewed vinegar." The Courts held that "vinegar" means a product obtained by a process of double fermenta- tion the use of the term "vinegar" therefore implied a mode of manufacture, which was not in fact true in this case. As an extension of this rule it can be taken that a synthetic substance must not be described as if it were produced by a natural process. The sixth definition concerns the material of which goods are composed. In practice it has often been difficult to decide whether a variation between the description and the actual composition of the article is such as to make the description false in a material respect, i.e., substantially. The law holds 219

JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS that the words "linen," "woolien," "silk," "Egyptian cotton," to take but a few instances, mean exactly what they say. But is it false in a material respect to mark goods as woollen if they contain a small percentage of cotton? In practice it is a question of fact for the magistrate or jury to decide whether the percentage is great enough to make the description false or misleading, and, as an example, a conviction was obtained for describing gabardine raincoats as wool, when in fact they contained less than 60 per cent wool. The Retail Trading Standards Association concerns itself mainly with the textile trade, and has obtained convictions in cases where rayon goods were described as cotton, and where cotton articles were described as linen. It may be a matter of interest, if not of surprise, to know that this Association has decided that the expression "camel hair" means hair from a camel, and not from any other beast, or source. The British Standards Institution also lays down standards in the textile trade when they are accepted by the whole trade they are binding on all manufacturers. Pictorial representations can, of course, be false or misleading. A man was therefore convicted for attaching a label bearing a picture of two sheep to blankets not made of pure wool, but of a mixture of wool and rayon this picture, of course, gave the impression that the blankets were made of wool alone. The Act does not lay down standards for materials used in the manu- facture of goods, but even if, within the trade, a particular standard is applied, and the goods are undoubtedly up to that standard, that fact will not be conclusive evidence that the description is not false in a material respect. In the vinegar case to which I have referred, the expression "non- brewed vinegar" was recognised to some extent as a synonym for dilute acetic acid, and the Ministry of Food had in fact issued numerous licences to make the product under that name. None the less the Courts held that it was a false trade description as the preparation was not true vinegar. In many cases, however, a statutory as opposed to a mere customary standard has been laid down, and then, of course, the Courts will uphold that standard. For example, the Food and Drugs Act and its regulations set out certain rigid standards of material composition and to deviate from them is to court disaster. If no standard of any sort is available the magistrate will fix his own. In 1936 a manufacturer sold soap as "Medicated Lysol Soap" which in fact contained 0.1 per cent of lysol. The magistrate upheld a submission by the prosecution that to qualify for the description of lysol soap there must be not less than 1 per cent of lysol. On appeal the divisional court held that although there was no statutory or other standard to serve as a guide, the magistrate had power to fix the standard at 1 per cent, and the manufacturer was accordingly convicted of a false description. False descriptions about material composition are now dealt with, in the 220