H.—l2.

Sess. 11.—1891. NEW ZEALAND.

PATENTS, DESIGNS, AND TRADE-MARKS. (SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE REGISTRAR.)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly pursuant to Section 128 of " The Patents, Designs, and Trade-marks Act, 1889."

In compliance with the provisions of " The Patents, Designs, and Trade-marks Act, 1889," I have the honour to report as follows on the business of the Patent Office during the year 1890:— 2. The Appendix to this report contains the following returns: — A. Statement of moneys received and paid in connection with the office during 1890. B. List of the staff aud salaries. C. Number of applications for patents in each year to 1889. D. Number of provisional and number of complete specifications received during 1890. E. Number of applications to register trade-marks during 1890. F. Nature of inventions for which letters patent applied for during 1890. G. List of applications for letters patent during 1890. H. List of applications for letters patent for which complete specifications havebeen lodged from Ist January, 1891, to 13th March, 1891. I. List of registered Patent Agents. 3. Only one appeal has been made to the Supreme Court, and in that my decision was upheld. 4. Five designs were registered during 1890. 5. During the year 862 type-written letters and about 1,200 printed letters and memoranda were despatched. In connection with this, I may mention that a large amount of correspondence might be avoided and time saved if inventors and others would ascertain what are the requirements of the Act and regulations before preparing and forwarding their applications for letters patent or to register trade-marks. Manufacturers and others would frequently save themselves expense, delay, and vexation by ascertaining, before adopting trade-marks, whether their proposed marks are such as can legally be registered. 6. In accordance with a suggestion in my report of last year the publication, fortnightly, of a special supplement to the New Zealand Gazette was commenced on the 2nd April last. This supplement is entirely devoted to the business of this office, and contains, in addition to the various notices required by law to be gazetted, many others of interest and use to inventors and business men. The publication fortnightly of such information renders it unnecessary to attach to this report some details such as were furnished in last year's report, and in future no information which has been published already in the Patent Office supplement to the Gazette will be repeated in the annual report. 7. Eeferring to paragraph 11 of last year's report, I again urge the advantage that would accrue to the working-men of the colony from the prompt publication, in a cheap form, of specifications of inventions, and I venture to think that part of the surplus revenue of the department might well be spent in thus diffusing knowledge which would of necessity be beneficial to the colony as a whole. 8. Steps have been taken to make this colony a party to the International Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the office of which is at Berne. This will afford considerable advantage to New Zealand colonists who desire to protect their inventions, designs, or trade-marks in other parts of the world. Fuller information on this subject may be obtained on personal application at this office, or by reference to a good text-book on the law of patents, &c. 9. Proposals from the Associated Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom for a scheme by which protection granted to inventions or trade-marks in one portion of the British Empire would include similar protection throughout the Empire have been carefully considered, but the obstacles to such a boon appear to be, for the present at any rate, insurmountable. 10. The Patent Office library is still in an upper room at the Museum. It contains about 2,180 volumes of specifications and other publications of the various patent offices of Europe, Canada, United States, Australia, &c. Since the services of the Museum Assistant and Librarian were dispensed with, no record has been kept of the periodical additions to the library, nor of the number of readers. To be thoroughly useful the library should be attached to and be under I—H. 12.