SUB EN
LOSURE
to Encl: 2.
465
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11779
OF TRADE
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MEMORANDUM ON THE TRADE MARKS ORDINANCE, 1898, BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, (MR. GOODMAN).
Since the Ordinance to provide for the Registration of Trade Marks (No. 16 of 1873) was passed, a consider- able developnient has occurred in the demand for regis- tration not only in England but in Hongkong. The Mer- chandise Marks Ordinance, 1863, referred to in the Ordinance of 1878, has been replaced by The Merchandise Marks Ordinance, 1890. Moreover, The Patents, Designs, and Trade Mark Acts, 1888 and 1888, and the Rules thereunder have considerably modified the English practice, while the local Ordinance of 1873, as amended by Ordinance 20 of 1895, was very imperfect. It contained no definition of a Trade Mark, liad no Forms, made no provision for the classi- fication of goods, the assignment anil transmission of trade marks, the removal of trade marks after fourteen years registration in default of extended registration upon pay- ment of an additional fee, and some other matters duly provided for in England.
Patents are not granted in this Colony, unless they have been previously granted in England, (See Ordinance 2 of 1892), but, although a similar provision, requiring the registration of a Trade Mark in England before regis- tration in this Colony, would prevent some ubuses, such requirement is not feasible in Hongkong, because many applicants desire the registration, here, of Trade Marks used only locally and many of sneh applicants are foreigners.
It is the practice in this Colony for the Colonial Secre- tory to refer every application to the Attorney General, who used, until my appointment, to receive a fee of $25 for his report. This fee was abolished some years ago, and, as the number of applications has greatly increased during the last few years, à considerable amount of gro- tuitous extra work has been thrown upon the Attorney General, while the task of the clerk in the Coloniul Secrc- tary's Office of searching the Register to see whether similar marks have been already registered, is daily increas- ing as the Register grows in bulk. It was therefore very desirable to make provision for the removal from the Register of marks which are no longer used and which no longer require registration, and liave been more than fourteen years on the Register.
fitherto, many narks have been submitted for registra- tion which are not Trade Marks, according to the English definition, at all; and in the absence, under the 1870 Ordinance, of any definition, the Attorney General has endeavoured to follow the English practice in deciding whether a Trade Mark should be allowed registration anil has often been obliged to apply for the "essential partion- lars" and a "disclaimer" of added matter. Questions, which are easily answered by the Comptroller in Eugland aided by a competent staff, occasionally require much consideration by the Attorney General in this Colony who has, practically, no assistance whatever, while the absence of any Rules has made his task more difficult.
C. 0.
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RIC (Rear 3 OCT 38