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Patents Process In South Africa Explained
The patents process in South Africa entails the provisional patent application and within twelve months from the initial filing date, the complete patent application filing. It is possible to skip the provisional application in the patents process, but it is certainly not recommended.
The provisional application as part of the patents process ensures the earliest possible filing date. In South Africa the filing date of the provisional application is considered the priority date. If a patent dispute arises, the priority date is considered. The patent application filed first is thus the valid one.
The provisional application as part of the patents process is also cheaper than the complete patent application. If there are still some changes that you want to apply or want to test the market before filing the complete patent application, you will be able to do so in the twelve month period between the provisional application and the complete application filing dates.
Although full patent rights are not yet obtained during the provisional phase in as much as that you can only file for rights infringement after the patent has been granted, it does give you a priority date. You will be able to file for damages dated back to the priority date should an infringement take place.
You can already mark your manufactured article with the words “Provisional Patent Application Number” and the application number. This can serve as a notice to potential infringers that the article is protected in terms of the patents process.
Once the complete patent has been granted you will only mark the item with “Patent Number” followed by the allocated number.
It is important to note that one may under no circumstances use any of the above two patent markings on an item if the item is not in the patents process – thus either patented or patent pending. Overseas in the USA patent pending are the words used for an article still in the patents process.
Contact us today for legal advice and assistance regarding the patents process in South Africa and abroad.
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