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New designs should be registered with the Registrar of Designs at CIPRO as soon as possible. The Designs Act No. 195 of 1993 and its amendments govern the registration of new designs in South Africa.
Once information has been disclosed about a design or the design made public, a person only has a six months grace period within to apply for design rights.
It is imperative to keep information about new designs secret until confirmation of the filing for design rights has been received to ensure that another company doesn’t file for design rights for the same or a similar article before you have done so. As such if you are an employer and have employees who work on the design, make sure that they have signed a confidentiality agreement to prevent them from leaking information about the design.
Applications for new designs should be accompanied by drawings or pictures of the design without any background or person in the picture.
There should be no other objects in the picture. If there is another object, it should only be for the purpose of indication. If it is the case, you must submit an explanatory letter and a disclaimer for the objects ensuring that the objects don’t form part of the application.
All the forms should be completed and the registration fee paid. One must also provide a drawing or picture for publication in the Patent Journal.
Our experienced intellectual property attorneys will assist in the completion of the relevant application forms in the correct manner and provide you with guidance and assistance regarding application for design rights in the various classes in South Africa, and abroad.
We will also conduct the novelty search and help to assess whether the design meets the requirements for an aesthetic or functional design.
We handle renewals and the fee payments in addition to applications for restoration of design rights in instances where the design rights to an article have lapsed due to the non-payment of renewal fees.
Contact us today for the registration of new designs in South Africa and abroad.
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