Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1964-1965 — Page 37

a hearing before the Registrar; usually one side or the other withdraws, or the parties arrive at some compromise arrangement acceptable to the Registrar.

Statistics

99. Part I of Table XX gives statistics of applications, registrations, renewals, removals and cancellations, for the ten years 1955–56 to 1964–65, and Part II gives statistics of miscellaneous other work done during the year with the corresponding figures for the previous year. It will be seen from Part I that there have been reductions in the numbers of renewals and removals, the former having dropped from 1,540 to 1,428 and the latter from 872 to 718. The renewals effected were in respect of marks registered in 1950-51 under the old Ordinance and therefore valid for 14 years and of marks registered in 1957-58 under the new Ordinance valid for 7 years. The drop in renewals was due to there being fewer 1950-51 registrations renewed this year than 1949-50 registra- tions renewed last year.

Fees

100. Fees collected rose by $150,745 over the 1963-64 figure to the new record total of $403,215. This increase is attributable to the higher fees chargeable under the Trade Marks (Amendment) Rules 1964, which came into force on 1st March 1964. Particulars of fees collected are given in Table XXI.

Patents Registrable

PART V

PATENTS REGISTRY

101. There is no original registration of patents in Hong Kong, but patents granted in the United Kingdom may be registered under the Registration of United Kingdom Patents Ordinance. This provides that the grantee of a patent in the United Kingdom, or any person deriving his right from the grantee may, within five years from the date of issue of the patent, apply to have it registered here, and that such registration shall confer the same rights as though the patent had been issued in the United Kingdom with an extension to Hong Kong. Applications must be accompanied by a certified copy of the United Kingdom speci- fication and a certificate from the Comptroller General of the United Kingdom Patent Office giving full particulars of the issue of the patent.

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