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1929. NEW ZEALAND.

PATENTS, DESIGNS, AND TRADE-MARKS. FORTIETH 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, 1921-22.

I have the honour, in pursuance of section 128 of the Act, to submit my report on the operations thereunder for the past year. A total of 3,434 applications for grant of letters patent and for the registration of designs and trade-marks was received during the year. A slight increase is shown in the case of patent and design applications, while a decrease has occurred in applications for registration of trade-marks, 124 less being received than in 1927. The number of applications for patents received from countries beyond New Zealand shows a satisfactory increase, 1,040 being received during the year, as compared with 871 in 1927. This figure is also 190 in excess of the average number of applications from overseas for the years 1922 to 1927 (inclusive). Applications for patents by applicants resident in New Zealand totalled 1,032. The total revenue of the Office for the year in respect of patents, designs, and trade-marks was £13,302 10s. lid., being an increase of £660 Bs. sd. over that for 1927, and the highest yet received for any one year except 1925, when the receipts from all sources was slightly in excess of that for 1928. The surplus of receipts over payments for the year amounted to £7,931 Bs. Id., an increase of £676 12s. Bd. over the surplus for the previous year. The expenditure, which has been carefully controlled, totalled £5,371 2s. 10d., a figure which compares favourably with those of former years. The total surplus of receipts over expenditure since the Ist January, 1890, is now £150,029 19s. 7d. Comparison of Number op Letters Patent issued and Registrations op Trade-marks and Designs effected in New Zealand and other Convention Countries. The number of letters patent sealed and the number of designs and trade-marks registered in New Zealand, form the subject of an interesting comparison with corresponding activities in other States belonging to the International Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. The information set out below is published in the issue for January, 1929, of La Propriete Industrielle, the official organ of the Union, the numbers given immediately after the names of the countries being for the year stated, while the number of transactions for the previous year is shown in parentheses. Referring first to letters patent, the United States of America heads the list for 1927 with 42,057, as against 45,025 for the preceding year. The order of the remaining countries is as follows : Great Britain, 17,624 (17,333) ; France, 17,500 (18,200) ; Germany, 15,265 (15,000) ; Canada, 9,502 (11,151) ; Belgium, 8,569 (6,854); Switzerland, 5,548 (5,175); Italy, 5,160 (6,468); Spain, 4,801 (5,250); Japan, 4,371 (3,520) ; Czecho-Slovakia, 3,300 (3,000) ; Austria, 3,200 (3,000) ; Australia, 2,638 (3,943) ; Hungary, 2,506 (2,487) ; Sweden, 2,163 (2,176) ; Netherlands, 1,759 (1,625) ; Poland, 1,550 (2,818) ; Denmark, 1,320 (1,517); Norway, 1,193 (1,218); Rumania, 1,188 (1,095); New Zealand, 1,165 (1,267) ; Ireland, 910 ( ) ; Brazil, 817 (577) ; Serbia, 813 (553) ; Luxemburg, 762 (493) ; Finland, 402 (391) ; Portugal, 318 (280) ; Greece, 215 (292) ; Bulgaria, 207 (180) ; Danzig, 193 (169) ; Lettonia, 187 (208); Morocco, 133 (140); Esthonia, 132 (195); Tunis, 123 (126); Turkey, 115 (130); Ceylon, 56 (73) ; Trinidad and Tobago, 25 (11) ; Syria, 17 (15). In the matter of designs, Switzerland continues to leave all the other countries behind, with 217,750 registrations for 1927, compared with 202,142 in 1926. Germany ranked second in 1927, with 77,591 (78,021) ; France third, with 45,566 (38,721) ; Great Britain fourth, with 21,009 (21,874) ; then follow, Czecho-Slovakia, 7,772 (7,129) ; Austria, 5,937 (6,697) ; Japan, 4,691 (3,774) ; United States of America, 2,387 (2,602) ; Belgium, 2,168 (1,665) ; Denmark, 1,671 (1,497) ; Spain, 648 (493) ; Hungary, 564 (647); Australia, 546 (539); Norway, 497 (520) ; Canada, 453 (347) ; Poland, 450 (311) ; Italy, 430 (370) ; New Zealand, 157 (158); Sweden, 107 (81) ; Syria, 101 (85); Portugal, 84 (71) ; Mexico, 79 (65) ; Serbia, 61 (36); Lettonia, 47 (35); Tunis, 18 (12); Morocco, 12 (14); Ceylon, 5( ); Danzig, 4 ( ) ; Esthonia, 3 (10).

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