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Importance Of Patent Inspections In South Africa
The South African Patent Office at CIPRO only does formal patent inspections. As such it is the responsibility of the patent applicant to ensure that patent inspections are done to ensure that the patent does indeed meet all the requirements for patentability and that the application is done correctly.
Patent Inspections – Novelty
One of the main requirements for a patent in South Africa is that it must be absolute novel. To establish whether it is the case patent inspections will include novelty searches through patent databases and through relevant literature.
It is of paramount importance to do this part of the patent inspections process extremely well as any prior disclosure of the invention, usage thereof, demonstration or any pending application or existing registered patent will mean that the invention cannot be patented.
Should one still go ahead with such, it will mean lawsuits and challenges down the road. It is best to get in the assistance of patent lawyers to handle the novelty searches as part of patent inspections.
Patent Inspections – Inventiveness
Another one of the essential requirements for patents is that of inventiveness. Any invention to be eligible for patent rights must involve an inventive step and can thus not be similar to another invention anywhere in the world.
Any disclosures already made involving a similar step for such an invention are known as prior art. It also means that the invention should not be obvious to someone skilled in the art or trade.
If the invention is obvious it will not qualify for patent rights. For this purpose patent inspections for inventiveness are carried out by an engineer, technical expert or scientist in a related field.
Patent Inspections – Usefulness
The invention must useful to trade, commerce, industry or agriculture. The invention must be useful. A totally useless invention will hardly be worth the protection
Contact us at Smit & Van Wyk today to assist with patent inspections.
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