Patent registration in South Africa. South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is an upper-middle power in international affairs; it maintains significant regional influence and is a member of both the Commonwealth of Nations and the G20. It is a developing country, ranking 114th on the Human Development Index. It has been classified by the World Bank as a newly industrialized country, with the second-largest economy in Africa, and the 33rd-largest in the world. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in South Africa.
Patent in South Africa
According to South African law, a patent in this country is a grant of a property right given by the Government to an inventor. With a patent, the inventor, or the patentee will have the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling the invention in a country, or importing the invention into a country, along with other rights to protect their best interests.
To be patentable in South Africa, an invention must satisfy the requirement of new, inventive, and industrially applicability.
As South Africa is a special region, there is no stipulated novelty grace period for this jurisdiction.
In addition, an invention that is patentable can also be an improvement on existing items or methods.
On the other hand, the subjects that are patentable in South Africa are:
- Discoveries, laws of nature, and mathematical methods;
- Aesthetic designs;
- Systems, rules, and methods for the performance of mental labor, games or management, computer programs;
- Presentation of data and abstract ideas.
Necessary documents for patent registration in South Africa
The necessary documents for patent registration in South Africa include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s names, addresses, etc.;
- A description of the invention;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The official language of the South African IP Office is English. The patent application may be filed in other languages but a translation of the necessary documents must be provided to the IP Office within a set time period.
The procedure for patent registration in South Africa
To obtain a patent in South Africa, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the IP Office of South Africa – Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC).
Once the patent application has been submitted, additional steps have to be taken within 12 months to complete the application.
It should be noted that there is no substantive examination in South Africa. The patent application will only go through the formal examination.
If there are no problems, the patent will be granted to the applicant and will have a validity of 20 years from the filing date.
The patentee has to pay the maintenance fee from the 3rd anniversary of the filing date. However, unlike in some countries, if the examination process took too long, the applicant won’t have to pay the maintenance fee during the pending status. They only have to pay it when the patent has been granted.
You can see a list of South Africa’s IP Firms here.