Archive for the ‘Berne Convention’ Category
South Africa Patent Laws favour the usage of attorneys Even though it is possible to file a patent application directly without the usage of a patent lawyer or attorney, it cannot be recommended. The reason is simple. The South Africa patent laws favour the usage of an attorney. The South African Patent Office is a non-investigating office. This means that you can complete the application, file it and even receive the patent right upon payment of the required fees without the invention complying with all the requirements. It is not a loophole in the system. It simply means that the responsibility lies with the applicant to ensure that the invention is indeed patentable and that the application will be done correctly. The snag comes in when another applicant or company questions the patentability of the invention down the line or argues that the idea was not original at all. Lawsuits may follow and all the money already spent in the commercial development of the patent may be lost forever. You will need the help of a patent lawyer who knows the South Africa patent laws and will conduct the novelty searches and apply in the correct manner right from the word go.
Click here for more information regarding the LESI Conference 2010
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The Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO) will be closed from 24 December 2009 to 3 January 2010 inclusive. The days will be regarded as dies non.
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Each new technology for creative work has led to debates over the protection that should be accorded to such works, as has been the case most recently for software copyright and database rights: similar debates occurred over the copyright protection of photographs. The Berne Convention allows a shorter period of protection than for other works (twenty-five years from creation rather than fifty years post mortem), and many countries apply a different period of copyright protection to photographs than to other works.
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Copyright protection on the international level began by about the middle of the nineteenth century on the basis of bilateral treaties. A number of such treaties providing for mutual recognition of rights were concluded but they were neither comprehensive enough nor of a uniform pattern. The need for a uniform system led to the formulation and adoption on September 9, 1886, of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. The Berne Convention is the oldest international treaty in the field of copyright. It is open to all States. Instruments of accession or ratification are deposited with the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
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