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1938. NEW ZEALAND.

PATENTS, DESIGNS, AND TRADE-MARKS. FORTY-NINTH 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 1937. 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 2,914, which is higher than any total since 1932 with the exception of 1936, when special circumstances contributed towards unusual activity in certain branches of the work of the Office. The fees received by the Patent Office during the year in respect of patents, designs, and trademarks reached a total of £13,407 3s. 7d., which, it is satisfactory to note, exceeds the receipts in any year since 1930. The corresponding amount for 1936 was £13,276 Is. 4d., being £131 2s. 3d. less than was received in 1937. The expenditure during the year amounted to £5,623 9s. Id., and the excess of receipts over expenditure was £7,783 14s. 6d. The total surplus of the Office since Ist January, 1890, is £220,975 lis. 4d. Patents. Very little variation occurred in the number of proceedings for the grant of letters patent as compared with the number for the year 1936 ; the totals were 1,836 for 1936 and 1,832 for last year. There was, however, an increase in the number of cases in which a complete specification was lodged at the commencement of the proceedings, the number being 1,121, as against 1,080 in 1936. The number of complete specifications lodged in 1937 in respect of proceedings for which a provisional specification only had previously been lodged was fewer by 32 than the number for the previous year. The total number of applications received up to the 31st December, 1937, was 79,073, and the number of patents in force at that date was 7,749, made up as follows : Patents sealed and third-year fees paid from 31st December, 1934, to 31st December, 1937, 2,057 and 2,024 respectively ; sixth-year fees paid from 31st December, 1927, to 31st December,- 1937, 3,667 ; and 1 patent in respect of which an extension of its term has been granted by order of the Supreme Court. Trend of Invention. During the. year increases have occurred in the number of proceedings instituted for the grant of letters patent in respect of inventions relating to many of the patent-classification classes, including cultivating and tilling, 40 (28)* ; drains and sewers, 8 (1) ; drying, 15 (9) ; fencing, 17 (13) ; harvesting and grading, 26 (15) ; illuminating (except gas-manufacture), 95 (73) ; locks, latches, and hinges, 29 (19) ; medicines and surgical appliances (including ear-instruments, dental work, &c.), 35 (28) ; oils and lubricators, 39 (23) ; pipes, tubes, and hose, 23 (14) ; sheep shearing and clipping, 6 (2) ; telephony and telegraphy (including phonographs), 520 (488) ; and vehicles, 63 (53).

* The figures in parentheses are for 1936.

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