Diagnostics Patents

Patent Applications AFRICA

March 1, 2012
Biotechnological Patents, Chemical Sciences Patents, Diagnostics Patents, Genetic Engineering Patents, Inventions, Medical Sciences Patents, Microbiological Sciences Patents, Patents

Smit & Van Wyk, Inc. is an intellectual property law firm that specialize in obtaining and protecting your patent and design rights. Our focus is to provide legal services for intellectual property throughout Africa. We assist overseas agents and individual applicants with patent searches, patent filings, patent renewals and prosecution of patent infringement cases. Smit & Van Wyk, Inc. also provide legal advice on commercial rights attached to patents and designs.

Intellectual property is treated as business assets on the balance sheet and has a monetary value associated with it. It is most likely that your business has already generated intellectual property of value through the creativity of the individuals in the business. Once the intellectual property of a business has been identified, it is possible to protect it by means of registered, unregistered, contractual agreements or non-statutory forms of protection.

Smit & Van Wyk, Inc. patent services for inventions from the following fields Biotechnology, Business Methods, Electrical, Electronic, Mechanical, Mining, Nanotechnology and Software.

• Patent applications, filings and registrations
• Patent novelty search
• Patent maintenance and renewals
• Patent licensing

The Smit & Van Wyk, Inc. head office is located in Pretoria, South Africa providing our international and local clients with patent and design services in most countries on the African continent.

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Patent Protection for my Invention

September 29, 2011
Biotechnological Patents, Chemical Sciences Patents, Diagnostics Patents, Genetic Engineering Patents, Inventions, Medical Sciences Patents, Microbiological Sciences Patents, Patents

Inventions

To protect your rights as the owner of an invention, you need to file a patent application for the invention in each country, where protection is sought.

If your invention is new, inventive and useful, then it might qualify for patent protection.

Always keep the INVENTION a SECRET.

Do not market or sell the invention until a patent application has been filed at the South African Patent Office.

Obtaining a patent is a two-step process spaced 12 months apart.

Patent Applications

The 1st 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 2nd step is to file a complete patent application within 12 months of filing the provisional patent application in South Africa, and/or in each country where you wish to obtain patent protection.

Initial steps to Patent your invention

Step 1
Contact the patent attorneys at Smit & Van Wyk, Inc. regarding your invention at enquiries@svw.co.za, or complete the form below.
This is not an official booking, just a contact request.

Any information or images supplied will be protected under the attorney-client privilege with strict confidentiality, whether you decide to continue with the application or not.

Step 2
We will contact you regarding a consultation. This will be done either at our offices in Pretoria or telephonic. We accommodate national and international clients.

Step 3
An optional fixed cost preliminary novelty search can be conducted to find similar or identical patents.

The costs of conducting a fixed cost novelty search in respect of one patent, inclusive of all fees, official expenses and VAT is limited to approximately R 2500.

Step 4
Once you decide to instruct us to proceed with the patenting process, you pay the requested deposit for the patent attorney to start working on a specification for your patent application.

Step 5
The patent attorney will start writing a patent specification for the invention. This could take 2 to 5 weeks, depending on the complexity of your invention. The attorney will then return the specification to you.

Step 6
Once the approval has been given, the patent attorney will submit your provisional patent application at the South African Patent Office in Pretoria.

Once the provisional patent has been submitted, additional steps has to be taken within 12 months to complete the application.

Feel free to contact us should you have questions or require assistance with any patent related matter.

PLEASE NOTE THAT PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE. PRICES ARE ONLY AN INDICATION. PLEASE CONTACT OUR OFFICE FOR A FORMAL QUOTATION.

Contact Details for Smit & Van Wyk:

Tel:
+27 (0) 12 349 7800

Fax:
+27 (0) 86 619 0493

E-mail:
enquiries@svw.co.za

Physical Address / Courier
Block A Apex Corporate Park
Quintin Brand Street
Persequor Technopark
Meiring Naudé Avenue
Pretoria
0184
South Africa

Image source: www.freedigitalphotos.net

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How to protect my Invention?

August 17, 2011
Biotechnological Patents, Chemical Sciences Patents, Diagnostics Patents, Genetic Engineering Patents, Inventions, Inventors, Medical Sciences Patents, Microbiological Sciences Patents, Patents

How do I protect my invention? Do I need a patent, trade mark, or copyright?

For public disclosure and protection of an invention, the inventor needs to apply for a patent.

A patent is an exclusive right granted to an inventor for a limited period of time.

A patent application must define the invention as new, non-obvious, useful or industrially applicable.

This exclusive right granted to an inventor prevents others from making, using, selling, or distributing the patented invention without permission.

In most countries, both people and corporate entities may apply for a patent but in the United States only the inventor may apply for a patent.

A written patent application is filed at the relevant patent office by a patent attorney representing the applicant. The person or company filing the application is referred to as the applicant. The applicant may be the inventor or its assignee.

The application contains a description of how to make and use the invention. In some countries there are requirements for providing specific information. Drawings illustrating the invention may also be provided.

The application also includes one or more claims. The claims define what a patent covers or the scope of protection.

After filing the patent application, it is referred to as patent pending. This term does not confer legal protection, and a patent cannot be enforced until granted.

For a patent to be granted and take legal effect, the patent application must meet the requirements of that country. Once a patent is granted it is subject to renewal fees which are payable on a yearly basis.

A patent is not a right to use your invention but right to exclude others from using it.

The patented invention is usually protected for 20 years from the filing date subject to the payment of fees.

Patent rights may be sold, licensed, mortgaged, assigned or transferred, given away, or simply abandoned.

Many inventions are improvements of other inventions that may still be protected by a patent. If an inventor takes an existing, patented design, adds a new feature to make an improvement, and obtains a patent on the improvement, he can only legally build his improved design with permission from the patent holder of the original design.

Will I need an Intellectual Property Attorney?

Filing a patent application is very complex. Patent offices will not assist you in the preparation of applications, however, they do provide you with some instruction and guides. If you are ready conduct any intellectual property activity as a beginner you are strongly advised to contact a registered patent attorney or agent.

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Biotech Patents

August 8, 2011
Biotechnological Patents, Chemical Sciences Patents, Diagnostics Patents, Genetic Engineering Patents, Medical Sciences Patents, Microbiological Sciences Patents

The biotechnological patent will afford patent monopolies to inventors who have invested in new or better solutions to existing problems.

The patent system stimulates innovation, as competitors advance the field. Biotech patents have been instrumental in fostering advances in technology.

All inventions must be novel, inventive and useful in order to be eligible for patent protection.

Biotechnological or life sciences inventions are no exception and it is the manner in which these requirements are addressed that can curb or extend the biotech patent protection you acquire.

Certain sections of the patent legislation deal specifically with inventions relating to biological processes.

Only inventions and not discoveries are eligible for biotech patent protection. (an invention goes further than a discovery, as it provides a practical application of the discovery.)

Genetic Engineering Patents

Isolated DNA sequences and other metabolites are usually viewed in patent terms as chemical compounds, much like a new organic drug molecule.

The unique sequence of the nucleotides or amino acids that you have uncovered constitutes a novel biological molecule and may thus be patentable.

Vectors containing your nucleotide sequence and cells containing the vector / DNA may also be patented, provided they are new.

Microbiological Sciences Patents

The South African patent law provides specifically for the patenting of microbiological processes.This includes genetically modified organisms.

New microbes that you have isolated, purified and cultured are generally considered patentable, provided they can fulfill the usefulness patent requirements.

Diagnostics Patents

Primers used for diagnostic purposes and kits containing such primers may be protected by way of patents.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms and expressed sequence tags may under certain strict conditions be considered patentable and of use in diagnostics.

Novel antigens and receptors that you have located may also be protected by way of a patent, provided you have ascribed a function to them.

Novel monoclonal antibodies and immunological tests, such as ELISA tests, using novel antibodies are also worthy of biotechnological patent protection.

Pharmaceutical & Chemical Sciences Patents

Novel purified chemical or pharmaceutical compounds are patentable, as well as their pharmaceutically acceptable isomers and salts.

Crude extracts in which a compound is enriched may also be patentable, depending on the level of enrichment relative to the natural, unfractionated state. Importantly, novel pharmaceutical carriers may also be patented.

Patent protection may also be obtained for pharmaceutical compositions containing your novel pharmaceutical compound.

Medical Sciences Patents

Due to the medical patent restriction on methods of treatment, diagnosis or surgery, surgical techniques are specifically excluded from patent protection in these regions.

Instruments for use in surgery, diagnosis or therapy may be patented.

Plant & Animal Sciences Patents

You cannot obtain biotechnological patent protection for plant or animal varieties, or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals.

It appears from the European Biotech Directive and the UK Patent Office practice manual that patent claims to genetically modified plants are allowable in a biotechnological patent application.

Should you have originated a new plant variety by conventional breeding, this may be protected by way of a Plant Breeders’ Rights application in South Africa, and not a patent.

Biotech patent claims to animals obtained by traditional breeding methods are not allowable at most Patent Offices, but a genetically modified animal is considered patentable in the UK, Europe and USA.

There is currently no equivalent in the animal sciences field to the protection offered by Plant Breeders’ Rights.

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