LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS
161
Companies incorporated outside the Colony are required to register certain documents with the Companies Registry within one month of establishing a place of business in Hong Kong. Only small filing fees are payable in such cases. During the year 56 foreign companies were registered, and 23 ceased to operate. By the end of the year there were 544 foreign companies registered as compared with 511 in 1963. Usually for tax reasons, many foreign companies incorporate subsidiaries in Hong Kong in preference to operating a branch office.
Local and foreign insurance companies which wish to transact life, fire or marine insurance business in Hong Kong must comply with the provisions of the Life Insurance and Fire and Marine Insurance Companies Ordinances respectively. In addition to the filing of annual accounts, these Ordinances require deposits to be made with the Registrar of Companies unless the company qualifies for exemption by complying with the Insurance Companies Act, 1958, in Great Britain, or-in the case of fire and marine insurance- by maintaining similar deposits elsewhere in the Commonwealth. An immense amount of insurance business is transacted annually, and altogether there are 206 companies engaged in it. The approval of the Governor in Council must be obtained for transacting motor vehicle third party insurance business.
Trade marks are registered under the Trade Marks Ordinance, 1954, which is based on the Trade Marks Act, 1938, of the United Kingdom. During the year 2,070 applications for registration were received and 1,429 (including many made in previous years) were accepted and allowed to proceed to advertisement. A total of 1,408 marks were registered, the principal countries of origin being: Hong Kong 344, United States of America 303, United Kingdom 241, Japan 125, Germany 125, Switzerland 49, Australia 45, Italy 37, Netherlands 26, China 21 and France 20. The total number of marks on the register on 31st December 1964 was 19,973.
Hong Kong law does not provide for the original grant of patents, but patents registered in the United Kingdom are registrable. The grantee of a United Kingdom patent may, within five years from the date of its issue, apply to have it registered in Hong Kong. Registration confers the same rights as though the patent had been issued in the United Kingdom with an extension to Hong Kong;
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