Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1955-1956 — Page 28

History

PART V

TRADE MARKS REGISTRY

39. The Trade Marks Registry was first established by Ordinance No. 16 of 1873, which disposed of the subject in nine brief sections. The pre-war Register and all the pre-war records were lost during the Japanese occupation of the Colony, but the Trade Marks (Reconstruction) Ordinance (Cap. 262), enabled proprietors of marks on the old Register to re-register them in the new Register, and by 8th December, 1955, when the period allowed for such re-registration expired, a total of 3,294 old Register marks had been re-registered in the new Register.

Explanatory

40. The present Ordinance, the Trade Marks Ordinance, 1954, is based generally on the U.K. Trade Marks Act, 1938. The Register is now divided into two Parts, Part A consisting of distinctive marks, and Part B of marks which are not regis- trable in Part A but are capable of distinguishing the goods of the applicant and have been used in Hong Kong for not less than two years. Registration in Part A gives full rights of protection, in Part B, modified rights. Registrations are valid for 7 years, (14 if registered prior to 1st January, 1955), but may be renewed indefinitely for further periods of 14 years. Defensive and certification trade marks may be registered, and a person other than the proprietor of a mark may be registered as a registered user. The procedure and forms to be used are laid down in the Trade Marks Rules, 1954.

Searches and Inspections of the Register of Trade Marks

41. During the year, 313 searches were made under Rule 108 on requests of members of the public to ascertain whether there were any marks on the Register which resembled marks

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