Patent Law

January 14, 2010 | Attorneys

The Patent Law in South Africa requires that an invention meets three important conditions:

•    Novelty
•    Usefulness
•    Inventiveness

Under the Patent Law the invention must be completely new. As such the patent lawyers will conduct a novelty search in trade magazines, online, through databases, and newspapers around the world to establish whether any reporting was done on the invention prior to filing for patent rights. In addition the Patent Law requires that the invention must not be obvious to someone skilled in the specific subject area and it must be useful. Inventing something that cannot be used in commerce, medicine or for instance agriculture will thus not constitute the right to a patent. Under the Patent Law something that can be useful will be considered. The best way to ensure successful filing and granting of a patent is to go through patent attorneys when applying for patent rights.