English Trade Mark Law in the Eighteenth Century - the Fate of Thomas Hill

摘要

On 18 December 1742, Thomas Hill, defendant in the Chancery proceedings in the leading trade mark case, Blanchard v Hill, won a celebrated victory against a representative of the Worshipful Company of the Makers of Playing Cards in the City of London. On 7 December 1743, he was convicted of a revenue offence against the Crown and sentenced to death. No mercy was shown, and on 17 February 1744 he was removed from Newgate prison to Tyburn, where he was hanged. This short note, a postscript to a paper published in 2003, explores the connection between Hill's success in Chancery and his trial and execution.