H.—lo.

1937. NEW ZEALAND.

PATENTS, DESIGNS, AND TRADE-MARKS. FORTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly pursuant to Section 128 of the Patents, Designs, and Trade-marks Act, 1921-22.

REPORT.

I have the honour, in accordance with section 128, to submit my report on the administration of the Act during the year 1936. The total number of proceedings instituted during the year for the grant of letters patent and for the registration of designs and trade-marks was 3,056. This is the highest total since 1932, and it is encouraging to note that the steady rise that has occurred in the last five years shows signs of being satisfactorily maintained. The fees received by the Office during the year in respect of patents, designs, and trade-marks reached a total of £13,276 Is. 4d., which exceeds the receipts in any year since 1931. The corresponding amount for 1935 was £12,868 19s. 4., being £407 2s. less than was received in 1936. The expenditure during the year amounted to £5,221 19s. Id., and the excess of receipts over expenditure was £8,054 2s. 3d. This surplus exceeds that obtained in any year since 1930, with the exception of 1935, which year constituted a record in the whole history of the Patent Office. The total surplus of the Office since Ist January, 1890, is £213,191 16s. lOd. Patents. During the year there was an increase in the number of proceedings for the grant of letters patent, the total being 1,836 as against 1,730 for the previous year. An increase has also occurred in the cases in which a complete specification was lodged at the commencement of the proceedings, there having been 1,080 of such cases, as compared with 843 in 1935. Similarly, a greater number of complete specifications was lodged in 1936 than in 1935, in respect of proceedings for which a provisional specification only had previously been lodged, the figures being 261 and 233 respectively. The total number of applications received up to the 31st December, 1936, was 77,238, and the number of patents in force at that date was 8,248, made up as follows : Patents sealed and third-year fees paid from 31st December, 1933, to 31st December, 1936, 2,811 and 1,879 respectively ; sixth-year fees paid from 31st December, 1925, to 31st December, 1936, 3,558 ; and one patent in respect of which an extension of its term has been granted by order of the Supreme Court. Trend op Invention. Another large increase has been noted in the number of applications received in connection with tefephony and telegraphy (including phonographs, &c..), 488 (319). Increases were also recorded in the number of applications filed in the classes relating to building construction, 83 (52) ; chemicals, 22 (12) ; electricity and magnetism, 85 (76) ; heating and fuel-manufacture, 53 (49) ; milkingmachines, 39 (27) ; oils and lubricators, 23 (14) ; railways and tramways, 17 (9) ; bottles, bottling, and glass-working, 42 (33) ; medicines and surgical appliances, 28 (21) ; and seed-sowers, 21 (12) ; while decreases in the number of applications received occurred in the following classes : Amusements, 36 (50) ; boxes, cans, and casks, 47 (62) ; cultivating and tilling, 28 (40) ; dairying, 30 (50) ; and vehicles, 53 (61). I.—H. 10.