Patent Laws

September 25, 2008
Intellectual Property News and Interesting Facts

The Patents Act of 1978 governs Patent Law in South Africa and lays out the rules for the granting of patents.

Through this act Letters Patent may be issued to an applicant conferring monopoly rights to him or her in respect of a new invention. Patents are the exclusive rights granted to an inventor for an invention.

The invention must show novelty, that is to say that it must be a product or process that provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new solution to a technical problem.

When granted a patent gives the patent holder an exclusive right to commercially exploit the invention for a certain period of time, in the case of South Africa this is 20 years from the date of the first application to the Patents Office.

The onus is upon the patent holder to prevent others from using or copying the invention.