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1939. NEW ZEALAND.

PATENTS, DESIGNS, AND TRADE-MARKS. FIFTIETH 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 1938. The proceedings instituted during the year for the grant of letters patent and for the registration of designs and trade-marks reached a total of 2,980. This figure is higher than any total since 1932, excepting that for the year 1936, when there were special circumstances which contributed towards activity above the average in certain branches of Patent Office work. During the year the total fees received by the Patent Office in respect of proceedings relating to patents, designs, and trade-marks reached the sum of £14,754 2s. Bd., which, it is satisfactory to note, exceeds the receipts in any year since the inception of the Office. The previous record year was in 1930, when the total fees received amounted to £14,195 15s. 7d. The expenditure during the year totalled £6,790 Bs. 3d., the excess of receipts over expenditure being £7,963 14s. sd. The total surplus of the Office since Ist January, 1890, is £228,939 ss. 9d. Patents. The year 1938 showed an increase of 128 in the number of proceedings for the grant of letters patent as compared with the number for 1937, there being 1,960 as against 1,832 for the previous year. There was again last year a noticeable increase in the number of cases in which a complete specification was lodged at the commencement of the proceedings, 1,285 of such cases having been filed, as against 1,121 in 1937. . . The number of complete specifications lodged in 1938 m respect of proceedings for which a provisional specification onjy had been previously lodged was 24 less than that for 1937, the numbers being 205 for 1938 and 229 for 1937. The total number of proceedings instituted up to 31st December, 1938, was 81,033, and the number of patents in force at that date was 7,830, made up as follows : Patents sealed and third-year fees paid from 31st December, 1935, to 31st December, 1938, 1,910 and 2,156 respectively , sixth-yea., fees paid from 31st December, 1928, to 31st December, 1938, 3,764, and 1 patent in respect of which an extension of term has been granted by order of the Supreme Court. Trend oe Invention. A still further increase is to be noted in the number of proceedings instituted for the grant of letters patent in connection with telephony and telegraphy (including phonographs, &c.), the number being 578, as against 520 for 1937. Increases have also occurred in a large number of the classes in

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