Patent Attorneys South Africa

Patent Inventions

Patent Attorneys in South Africa are lawyers who are proficient in the legislation carried in the South African Patents Act.

They have all studied and passed examinations on Patent, Trade Mark, Copyright, and Design law set by the Council of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law. Trademark attorneys also fall under the umbrella of the Institute.

Patent Attorneys in South Africa differ from trademark attorneys in that the must have a degree in either science or engineering in addition to their law degree.

A patent is an exclusive right that is granted by the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO) for an invention. The invention must be an artifact or a process that provides a new way of doing something, or that offers a new technological solution to a problem.

Once granted, a patent provides protection for the invention, giving the patent owner (also called the patentee) the right to exclude anyone else from making, using, exercising, disposing of, offering to dispose, or importing the invention.

Patent Protection

The protection is granted for 20 years. Patent Attorneys in South Africa can assist you in obtaining a patent for a new invention, providing that the invention meets certain criteria. Patent attorneys can also carry out a search on your behalf to ensure that the invention is novel – that is to say that it is really new.

If the same or a similar invention has been registered or made available to the public anywhere in the world, you almost certainly cannot obtain a patent for the exact same invention.

It is most essential that, if you are going to be looking at patenting a device, you do not talk about it anywhere, to your friends, family or, of course, the press. In addition, secret commercial use is also a bar to patentability.

Having established from searches that your invention has novelty, is inventive, and has a use in commerce, industry or agriculture, the next step is to apply for provisional registration. This a patent attorney can do on your behalf in South Africa.

One of the documents that must be submitted in the application is a detailed technical description of the invention, along with drawings.

One of the reasons that patent attorneys have to have a degree in engineering or science is that, in South Africa, they must be able to draft/write, interpret and understand the technical description of your invention.

This is vital, for if the description is lacking then your patent rights may be useless. After lodging, the provisional patent is valid for twelve months, giving the inventor the opportunity to test the market, arrange for manufacture and start commercialization of the invention.

Within the twelve months of the provisional patent, a patent attorney must apply on your behalf for a full patent, should you wish to obtain final patent rights.

If you have any queries regarding the granting of patents in South Africa, one of our highly qualified Patent Attorneys in South Africa will be happy to assist you.