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Welcome to the Smit & Van Wyk blog, where you’ll find a wealth of expert insights and practical information on trademarks, patents, and copyright. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, inventor, or creative professional, our articles are here to help you navigate the world of intellectual property with clarity and confidence.
Trademark Registration in the U.S
Trade mark rights in the United States are established through use, thus the...
Trademark Registration in India
Trademark Registration in India often feature in the news for the slow...
Trademarking
As an entrepreneur or business owner, trademarking your name and/or logo is...
How to Patent an Idea
Step-by-step guide on how to patent an idea. Qualified patent...
Trade Mark Registrations and Information
Trade Mark registrations provides wide-ranging protection against infringement...
Design Rights: Functionality and Scope of Protection
Wessel van Wyk and Kimberley Rose Smith contributed to the Design Rights:...
International Comparative Legal Guide to Franchise
Smit & Van Wyk contributed to the International Comparative Legal Guide...
Trademark Registration in China
China is a first to file country and whomever first files...
Franchise Operations Manual
What Is a Franchise operations manual? A franchise operations manual is the...
Trademark Colors
How to Trademark Colors in South Africa Is it possible to trademark colors?...
How to Patent Mobile Apps
Traditional Protection of Mobile Apps The source code, on-screen layout and...
Beskerm jou Idees: Patent Registrasie
Beskerm jou idees en uitvindings deur middel van ‘n patent registrasie....
The Peppadew Success Story
The Peppadew story started when Johan Steenkamp first discovered the sweet red...
Franchising
Franchising: When the franchisor grants licensing rights to a...
Logo Trademark Registration
A logo may be registered as a trademark to prevent competitors from using it...
How to File a Trademark
A registered trademark represents the mark...
Trademark Registration in South Africa
A trademark registration in South Africa is filed with the Companies and...
Registered Design vs Patent
A registered design protects the appearance of an article, unlike a patent...
International Trade Mark Search
International Trade mark Search websites for Europe, U.S, Australia, ARIPO,...
Registered Trademark Symbol
® and ™ are the two symbols commonly used to indicate trademarks. ® is used as...
Patent Litigation
When a patent is infringed, the patentee has various options to consider...
Madrid System
The Madrid system is the primary international system for facilitating the...
Trademark Applications
Trademark Applications represent marks which distinguishes your goods or...
Industrial Designs
What is industrial design? An industrial design is the ornamental or aesthetic...
The Trademark Symbol ™ ®
Trade Mark™ (Not registered) The trademark symbol for unregistered...
Copyright Application and Registration in South Africa
In South Africa, any original work created by a qualified person is generally...
How to protect your Copyright
Copyright attorneys will tell you that copyright in South Africa, as in...
Patented
What is Patented? There are several categories of Intellectual Property in...
Copyright Attorneys
Smit & Van Wyk is an intellectual property law firm located in South...
Register a Patent
To register a patent in South Africa is a two-step process, with the two...
Patent Exploitation
A patent grants exclusive rights to an inventor for a fixed period of time in...
Patent an Invention
How to Patent an Invention In order to patent an invention it has to...
Registered Design Renewals
Registered designs (South Africa) must be renewed within the...
Application for Design Registration
Applications for design registrations are filed at the Companies and...
How to Register a Trade Mark
Register a trade mark that uniquely identifies and distinguishes the...
Patent Duration
Patent duration in South Africa has a duration of 20 years from date of filing...
Copyright Protection in South Arica
Copyright is just one of the four divisions that fall under the general...
Filing a Patent
To file a patent for an invention in South AfricaRequirements for the...
What is a Patent?
So what is a Patent and why is it so important? A patent is the sole right...
Trade Mark Registration in South Africa
Trade mark registration is done to ensure that the products for which...
Copyright Films in South Africa
It is possible to copyright films in South Africa under the Copyright Act of...
Aesthetic vs Functional Designs
The difference between aesthetic and functional designs are briefly explained...
Patent Search
The rights of a patent may only be conferred on the inventor if the invention...
How to Copyright Films
What is Copyright? A copyright is an exclusive right granted to an author of...
Copyright Photographs
Copyright does NOT need to be registered in South Africa. It is not possible...
Recipe Patents in South Africa
Is it possible to Patent food recipes in South Africa? According to the...
Omskrywing van ‘n Patent
‘n Patent behels die toekenning van regte deur ‘n regering aan ‘n uitvinder of...
Handelsmerke
Handelsmerke is nie die vrug van die hedendaagse samelewing nie. Dit het...
The way in which Patents are granted to change
The Department of Trade and Industry is to go ahead with a controversial...
When Trademarks overlap with other IP rights
Trademarks overlap with other IP rights everywhere - whether registration,...
Copyright Infringement: File-sharing Online
In December 2013 one of the first arrests were made in South Africa for...
Scott Summit’s breathtaking Prosthetic designs
Industrial designer Scott Summit founded Bespoke Innovations in 2010 in...
Rooibos Trade Mark Dispute
Once again South Africa finds itself in a dispute over the Rooibos...
Patent Trolls
What are Patent Trolls? Patent trolls are people or companies that own patents...
Franchise Attorneys
Franchise attorneys deal with all legal aspects between franchisors and...
Polo Trademarks
Ralph Lauren Polo and South African Polo are two different...
Non-conventional Trademarks
A non-conventional or nontraditional trademark is a type of trademark which...
Trademark Registration in Africa
Our trademark department consists of a team of skilled and...
Patent Requirements in South Africa
Patent requirements in South Africa include novelty, inventive and useful....