INSURANCE AND

INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY NOTES

DANISH LIFE INSURANCE STATISTICS FOR 1936

The report of the Insurance Council for the year 1936 indicates that at the end of that year there was a total of 2,379 million crowns of life insurance in force in Denmark divided among 1,427,000 policies as compared with a volume of 2,255 million crowns and 1,371,000 policies at the end of 1935. This means that 38.6 percent of the population carry life insurance, if the fact that a number of people have more than one policy is overlooked, or in other words the life of about one out of every third person in Denmark is insured.

The average amount of the policy is 1,667 crowns, but if group insurance numbering 873,000 policies totaling 536 million crowns is excepted, the average rises to about 3,330 crowns.

Premium payments on life insurance aggregated 116.1 million crowns in 1936 as compared with 104.6 million crowns in 1935.

As respects annuities there were at the close of 1936 a total of 74,800 policies in force representing annuities totaling 54.8 million crowns yearly. Comparative figures for 1935 were 68,700 policies and 47.3 million crowns respectively.

The assets of Danish life insurance companies, with the exception of Statsanstalten for Livsforsikring and Arbejdernes Livsforsikring, neither of which is under the supervision of the Insurance Council, rose from 585 million crowns in 1935 to 642 million crowns in 1936, a gain of 9.7 percent. The increase fell chiefly on holdings of mortgage company and municipal bonds, the first named mounting from 273 million crowns to 311 million crowns, and the latter from 143 million to 159 million crowns, gains of 13.6 percent and 11.4 percent respectively. These two groups at the end of 1936 represented respectively 48.4 percent and 24.8 percent of the total assets.

SUMMARY OF IRISH INSURANCE FOR 1936

The insurance companies' statements of business for the year 1936, as registered with the Department of Industry and Commerce in Ireland show that the number of companies submitting life insurance returns between 1923 and 1936 has increased from one to five and the number of outside concerns from 27 to 37.

The number of policies issued in ordinary business by the Irish companies also increased from 720 to 3,871, this being the highest figure on record, and the sums assured, after a steep drop from £131,075 in 1923 to £58,260, increased to £604,866 in 1936.

In industrial business the number of policies issued increased from 11,985 to 107,427, and the sums assured from £107,865 to £1,960,611. The peak year was 1930, when 161,304 policies were issued in respect of £3,099,455.

For companies established outside Ireland, 37 companies submitted returns in 1936, compared with 27 in 1923. The number of policies issued in 1936 was 13,738, as against 6,516 in 1923, and the sums assured £4,937,098 in 1936, compared with £2,145,409 in 1923. In industrial business, 85,510 policies were issued in 1923 covering 2,469,718, while in 1936, 261,492 policies were issued in respect

UNITED STATES LIFE INSURANCE FOR AUGUST 1938

New Life Insurance for August was 21.6 percent below the amount for August of last year, while the total for the first eight months of this year was 23.3 percent less than for the first eight months of 1937.

This was reported by The Association of Life Insurance Presidents to the United States Department of Commerce, September 15, 1938. The report aggregates the new paid-for business - exclusive of revivals, increases and dividend additions - of 40 companies having 82 percent of the total life insurance outstanding in all United States legal reserve companies.

For August, the total new business of these companies was $550,960,000 against $703,123,000 during August 1937 a decrease of 21.6 percent. New Ordinary insurance amounted to $361,213,000 against $430,040,000 a decrease of 16.0 percent. Industrial insurance was $156,304,000 against $210,898,000 - a decrease of 25.9 percent. was $33,443,000 against $62,185,000

Group insurance a decrease of 46.2 percent. For the first eight months of the year, the total new business of the 40 companies was $4,764,181,000 against $6,208,106,000 – a decrease of 23.3 percent. New Ordinary insurance amounted to $3,063,111,000 against $3,880,979,000 - a decrease of 21.1 percent. Industrial insurance was $1,416,879,000 against $1,791,177,000 - a decrease of 20.9 percent. Group insurance was $284,191,000 against $535,950,000 a decrease of 47.0 percent.

Argentina - The Bureau of Patents and Trade Marks, which operates under the Ministry of Agriculture, has reported on its activities for the first six months of 1938. The general level of activity is reported to be at least equal to that of 1937. During the first semester, a total of 1,198 patents were requested. Of these, 891 were granted, 41 denied, 126 withdrawn, 47 abandoned, and 10, of a precautionary or provisional nature, were granted. 52 transfers of patent registrations were made.

In trade marks, the request totaled 4,337. Of these, plus the carry-over of the preceding year, 4,330 were granted, 121 denied, 292 withdrawn, and 124 abandoned.

Total

A total of 188 commercial names were also registered. income of the Bureau for the services above-mentioned amounted to 520,509.25 pesos.

Czechoslovakia According to statistical data which have been released recently regarding the activities of the Czechoslovak Patent Office during the calendar year 1937, the number of patent applications was 8,406, as compared with 8,062 in the preceding year, representing an increase of 344 applications. The number of grants issued decreased from 3,650 in 1936 to 3,100 in 1937, or by 550.

According to the office of the American Consul General, Prague, of the patent applications received by the Czechoslovak Patent Office in 1937, 46.6 percent originated in Czechoslovakia, and 53.4 percent in other countries. Of the foreign applications received, 45 percent originated in Germany, 8 percent in the United States, 7 percent in Austria, 7 percent in Great Britain, 6 percent in France, 6 percent in Switzerland, et cetera.

Of the total number of inventors to whom patents were granted in 1937, 28 percent resided in Czechoslovakia, and 72 percent in other countries. As in previous years, German citizens ranked first in number (1,037, or 46 percent) as owners of patents issued by the Czechoslovak Patent Office, followed by citizens of Czechoslovakia (871, or 28 percent), the United States (239, or 10 percent), Switzerland (175, or 7 percent), France and Monaco (144, or 6 percent), and Austria (136, or 6 percent).

The largest number of patents applied for and granted covered electro-technical apparatus and appliances, chemical processes and apparatus, construction of automotive vehicles and bicycles, dyes, lacquers, varnishes and glue, combustion and gas pressure motors, machine parts, machine tools, firearms and ammunition, bone, ivory, rubber and other plastics, and earthenware. In the electro-technical

field along, 965 patents were applied for, and 408 patents were granted in 1937.

As of December 31, 1937, the number of patents in force totaled 18,767, as compared with 18,307 in the preceding year, of which the largest number (9,930) were in the second year of protection. The number of patents expired at the close of 1937 was 2,635, as compared with 2,843 at the end of 1936.

As of December 21, 1937, Czechoslovak patents were divided into the following groups:

During the period under review, 7,280 persons visited the Patent Office Library, which, in the course of the year, received 204,294 letters patent for its files, namely, from Great Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Poland, and various other countries.

According to Law No. 130 of the Collection of Laws and Decrees, dated May 13, 1936, regarding changes in and additions to the Law for the Protection of the Republic, any patent application pertaining to any item in which the Ministry of National Defense has expressed an interest must be sent directly to this Ministry. In such cases, the Patent Office is instructed to issue a secret patent, which differs from the regular patents granted by the Patent Office. The Ministry of National Defense has priority rights to purchase or otherwise acquire ownership and control of such inventions. This applies Only to applications filed by Czechoslovak citizens or aliens permaently residing in Czechoslovakia. Patents of a military character ust be kept out of public view, and no information concerning them ay be published.

Venezuela A total of 426 trade marks (including industrial, commercial and agricultural) were granted during the year 1937, as compared with 411 during 1936 and 473 during 1935. Figures for patents granted during 1937 are not yet available, but during 1936, a total of 86 and during 1935, 52 patents (including patents and patent improvements) were granted. A recapitulation of patent and trade mark statistics by country of origin is at present being prepared in the Ministry of Fomento, and will be made available within one month. Following is a table, meanwhile, of the total number of patents, Venezuelan and foreign, granted since 1919:

PATENTS, VENEZUELAN AND FOREIGN, GRANTED IN VENEZUELA 1919-1936

TO THE SUBSCRIBERS OF COMPARATIVE LAW SERIES there are still available a limited number of valuable monographs on various phases of foreign commercial law. The publications listed below by Trade Promotion Series number, title, and price, may be obtained by addressing the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.

137. Legal Aspects of Collection of Accounts in Cuba.... 10 142. Trading Under the Laws of Colombia....

147.

10€

Company Law and Business Taxes in Great Britain.... 15

150. Trading Under the Laws of Germany.

.... 156

152. Trading Under the Laws of Mexico, Rev. Dec. 1, 1934 15

BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE

Analysis of Functions and Services X

THE DIVISION OF BUSINESS REVIEW

The Division of Business Review was established recently through the consolidation of certain sections of the Bureau whose functions and duties were closely related. This action does not involve any change in the major functions of the Bureau or the addition of any new personnel. It was designed to strengthen and to improve the services to business being rendered by the existing facilities.

The "Survey of Current Business" henceforth will be published by the Division of Business Review, and the Bureau's periodical "Domestic Commerce" will in the future also be issued by this Division. This publication furnishes a flow of current information designed to keep businessmen and those servicing business informed of plans for and the results of current research by Government and private agencies, and of significant developments relating to the production and distribution of goods.

Through the medium of a business information service, the Division is in a position to provide promptly, in response to requests, a body of carefully selected data on general and specific business problems.