South African Patent Office

The South African Patent Office is part of the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO), which is to be found in Pretoria in Meintjies Street. CIPRO is the agency responsible for the registration of Companies and Close Corporations, and Designs, Patents and Trade Marks. All applications for new patents in South Africa must be made on the appropriate forms to CIPRO. CIPRO and the South Africa Patent Office fall within the bounds of the Department of Trade and Industry.

A patent is the exclusive right granted to an inventor for an invention, which is a product or process that provides a new way of doing something, or that offers a new technical solution to a problem. The patent provides protection for the owner, which gives him or her the right to prevent others from making, using, exercising, disposing of the invention, offering to dispose, or importing the invention. In law the patent is regarded as property and is a legal document. The protection is granted for a limited period, normally for 20 years.

The first step in applying for a patent in South Africa is to carry out a Novelty Search. This is done through on-line databases, and Smit & van Wyk can be contacted to conduct such searches. One may also wish to conduct local infringement (also called “freedom to operate” searches) at CIPRO’s offices in their paper based Disclosure Centre. This search is a manual search to make sure that the invention or anything similar has not already been patented in the country. Smit & Van Wyk regularly carry out such searches on behalf of their clients, as we have the experience of carrying out these searches and know what to look for and where.

Once an indication of the novelty of the invention has been obtained, the next step is to file an application for a provisional patent. The wording of any patent application is very important and it is advisable to have a patent attorney draw up the application. The provisional patent is valid for a period of 12 months during which the inventor should evaluate his invention to determine the commercial viability thereof.

The next step is for the application of a complete patent, and this is done at any time up to the validity period of the provisional patent (i.e. 12 months from the date of filing the provisional application). The complete application may either be filed with the South Africa Patent Office or with the PCT (Patent Co-operation Treaty System) international filing system. South African complete applications must be drawn up by a qualified patent attorney. Once granted, and if renewed every year, the patent is valid for 20 years from the first application date.