Patent Office

The South African Patent Office is situated at 77 Meintjies Street, Sunnyside in Pretoria. It forms part of CIPRO, the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office. This office is responsible for the Registration of Companies and Close Corporations, and the Registration of Designs, Patents and Trade Marks. It is here that one must file an application for a patent, and in terms of the South African Patents Act 57 of 1978, individuals may file their own provisional patent applications, and the cost of this application, if filed by an individual, is a small fee. However, a patent application involves a complicated legal and drafting procedure, and it is advisable to seek the assistance of a qualified patent attorney when making any application to the Patent Office.

The Patent Office has laid down the advisable route to follow when applying for a new patent. The first thing an applicant should do is to conduct a search on existing patents. This search can be undertaken by the applicant, but preferably by his patent attorney or agent, and is to ensure that no existing patents are being infringed upon and that the invention is new or novel in terms of section 25 of the South African Patents Act 57 if 1978. Although this initial search is not essential, it is advisable.

To apply for a provisional patent, the following forms have to be completed:

P1: Application for a Patent and Acknowledgement of Receipt (duplicate)
P2: Register of Patents (duplicate)
P3: Declaration of Power of Attorney
P6: Provisional Specification

All documents should preferably be printed. It is important that the description of the specification is comprehensive and clear, and where applicable, drawings must be attached. On receipt of the provisional patent application the Patent Office will open a file and issue a receipt to the applicant together with a reference number, which is the Provisional Patent Application Number, which is to be placed on all items manufactured in terms of the patent application.

Following the successful application for a provisional patent the applicant has 12 months in which to apply for a full patent. This period is to enable the inventor time to test the market and to assess the viability of the invention before committing himself to incurring the heavy costs involved in a full application. After applying for a complete patent, formal examination commences, and this process usually takes about 9 months. Once all the formalities have been complied with and the application is accepted, the applicant is then required to publish the patent in the Patents Journal, published every month by the government printers. This is usually done for the applicant by his patent attorneys.