LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS
203
The Registrar of Companies keeps a list of all persons and firms authorized for appointment as auditors of locally incorpo- rated companies. The list is divided into two parts. Part I has the names of persons or firms who are authorized to audit accounts kept in English and Part II the names of persons or firms authorized to audit accounts in Chinese. At the end of 1960 there were 123 names in Part I of the list and 97 names in Part II.
Trade Marks and Patents Registries. The Hong Kong Trade Marks Registry is responsible for the original registration of Trade Marks in Hong Kong, with the same functions in this respect as the Patent Office in the UK. It is an entirely independent Registry and there is no automatic registration in this Colony of Trade Marks registered in the UK or other countries. Every Trade Mark registration in Hong Kong is an original registration, and the mark must satisfy all the requirements of the Hong Kong Trade Marks Ordinance, (No 47 of 1954).
Although a trade mark registered in the UK or any other country is not by that registration alone protected in the Colony, section 23 of the Ordinance provides that registration of any trade mark may be refused if it is proved to the satisfaction of the Registrar that such mark is identical with, or confusingly resembles, a trade mark which is already registered for the same goods in a country or place from which they originate, unless the person applying for registration can prove that his mark has been used continuously in Hong Kong since before the registration of the conflicting Trade Mark in its country of origin. A, trade mark may also be removed from the register under such circumstances if application is made to the Court within seven years of its registration.
The importance of the registration of trade marks in the protec- tion of commercial rights is being more widely recognized as the rapid development of the Colony's manufacturing industries con- tinues. This is evident from the sustained increase in the number of applications: during 1960 1,761 applications for registration were filed, as against 1,749 in 1959, and 1,633 in 1958.
During the year 1,153 marks were registered, bringing the total number of marks on the register on 31st December 1960 to 17,350. The number of marks registered is rather less than one would expect from the number of applications filed. The reason is that