Patent Applications

Patent Searches

Patent Prosecution

Drafting & Preparing of Patent Specifications

Filing & Prosecuting Patent Applications

International Patent Applications

Patent Litigation

High Court Litigation

Industrial Design Patents

Advice on Licensing and Assigning Patents

Inventions & Patent Law in South Africa

Inventions

If your invention is new, inventive and useful, then you might qualify for a patent. If your invention is all of the above, there may be similar inventions that already have patents known as "prior art". To test for inventiveness under the patent law, someone skilled in the field of the invention will qualify it as obvious or not. This test is highly subjective, and therefore the decision to file a South African patent application is often dictated more by business strategy than by considerations of the inventiveness of the invention.

Abstract inventions with no application in trade, industry or agriculture cannot be the subject of a patent in terms of South African patent law. Inventions that encourage offensive or immoral behavior cannot qualify for a patent. Inventions which are frivolous to the known laws of nature, such as perpetual motion machines, are excluded from patentability. Inventions relating to methods of treatment, therapy or diagnosis to be performed on the human or animal body, as such, are not considered patentable, but compounds or compositions for use in such methods may be patented. A patent cannot be granted for products of biological processes which are not essentially microbiological in nature.

Patents

Obtaining a patent is a two-step process spaced 12 months apart. The first step is to file a provisional patent application for your invention in South Africa. This is done to obtain the earliest possible date from which to claim rights to your invention. The second step is to file a complete patent application in each country where you wish to obtain patent protection. The complete patent application will claim a first date from your provisional patent application. You are protecting from the filing date of your South African provisional patent application.

During the initial 12 month patent grace period, your rights are kept open.

Filing a Patent Application

Steps to protect your invention by way of a patent:

1. Keep your invention a SECRET - Do not market, or sell it until a patent application has been filed.
2. Contact us to discuss patent or other protection for your invention in detail.
3. We can also discuss the possibility of conducting cursory, fixed cost patent searches to provide you with background information of what has been patented before in your field. These searches need not be very expensive in order to provide you with an indication for what has been patented before.
4. Should you wish to proceed with the patenting process, we shall, upon receipt of a deposit, prepare a patent specification for the invention.
5. The patent specification will, upon completion, be forwarded to you for approval.
6. When you are satisfied that the patent specification is complete, we shall file a patent application containing the patent specification at the South African Patent Office in Pretoria

Smit & Van Wyk, Inc will supply you with an outline which can be used to set the information described below for patenting purposes.

Details of the invention

We need a full, detailed technical description of the invention in order to draft a patent specification. If you have a prototype or drawings of your invention, this would also suffice, together with a description of the functions it performs and the distinguishing features of your invention. It is of critical importance that we include as much detail in the patent specification as possible, to ensure that all embodiments and features of the invention are protected in the patent application.

Details of the inventors

In terms of the South African Patents Act, we need the full names and residential address of the inventor or inventors that contributed inventively to the invention.

Details of our client

In terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, we need to identify who our client is. Therefore, you need to supply us with your full contact details. If you contact us, we shall let you have a description of what the requirements are.

International Patents

A patent granted in South Africa can be enforced in South Africa only. However, you may, within 12 months of filing your South African provisional patent application, file foreign patent applications based on your provisional patent application. Only once each foreign patent application has proceeded to grant will you have an enforceable patent right in those countries. This does not mean that you cannot start marketing your invention in those countries, but you cannot obtain a patent right if you do not file and prosecute each patent to completion in each of your target markets.

There is no such thing as a worldwide patent. You have to file a patent application in each country you wish to protect your invention. Smit & Van Wyk, Inc. can file foreign patent applications in your countries of interest.