Patent Registrations In South Africa

August 29, 2011
Patents

In South Africa two types of patent registrations can be made:

1. Provisional
2. Complete Specification

Provisional Patent Registrations

A provisional patent application can be lodged without the assistance of an intellectual property attorney.

If you have developed an invention, but still need to modify it or improve it, you can get protection against copying, usage, distribution and commercial exploitation thereof by other parties by filing the provisional application.

It will award you a period of 12 months protection. For it to stay valid, you need to file the complete specification application within 12 months with the South African Patents Office.

The benefits of first filing a provisional application are:

1. It gives you the opportunity to further develop the invention ensuring that it will be protected during the development stage.
2. You can test the marketability of the invention during the 12 month period.
3. It also affords you the opportunity to get finance for which you will need to disclose information to other parties. You can disclose the information because the parties will not be able to decline assistance and then develop the invention.
4. It is cheaper than the complete specification application.
5. The provisional application is not as comprehensive as the complete specification application.
6. You get the earliest possible filing date which will be important should a dispute arise about the priority of patent applications.

Complete Specification Patent Registrations

As stated earlier, you must file the complete specification within 12 months from initial application. You can file for such directly if you are happy with the invention and are sure that it is marketable. For this step you must make use of an intellectual property attorney.

The invention must meet the requirements for patentability including that of absolute novelty, inventive step, and not being obvious to someone skilled in the trade as well as originality and usefulness in industry, agriculture or commerce.

Contact us at Smit & Van Wyk Attorneys for assistance regarding patent registrations in South Africa and abroad.

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Provisional Patent Registrations

August 26, 2011
Inventions, Patents

Benefits of Provisional Patent Registrations

In South Africa, one can in addition to complete specification registrations also apply for provisional patent registrations.

When are Provisional Patent Registrations used?

If an inventor wants to get the earliest possible filing date, the best route is to file a provisional application as soon as possible.

The filing date becomes the priority date which is used to determine which application has been filed first should a dispute arise because of similar patents.

In many instances and inventor may still need to make some modifications to the invention to ensure that it passes all requirements for complete patent registration and that it works properly.

During this time the inventor may need to get additional expert assistance for the development of the invention. Without some form of protection against infringement and complete stealing of the idea, the inventor will not be able to approach potential experts and investors for assistance.

By first filing a provisional patent registration application, the inventor gets immediate protection against infringement.

Since one of the requirements for patentability is that the invention must be novel and thus no information about it disclosed to the public in any form before the filing date, it is important to get the earliest possible filing date as this will minimize the risk of information disclosure that will render it invalid for a patent registration.

What is the Next Step?

With provisional patent registrations, the inventor only gets 12 month protection. The inventor must within this period apply for the complete patent registration.

Although one doesn’t need to make use of an intellectual property attorney to assist with the provisional patent application, one does need such an attorney’s help with the complete application.

The provisional application is less formal and thus not as complete as the permanent application. With the complete application, the required documentation, specifications, claims, drawings, photos and where relevant, models must be supplied.

Let us help you with provisional patent registrations as well the complete patent applications.

Contact us at Smit & Van Wyk Intellectual Property Attorneys for assistance today.

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