Patents
- South Africa
Introduction
A new invention
may be protected by a patent. In order to be patentable, an invention
must be novel, inventive and capable of being used or applied
in trade, industry or agriculture. A valid patent gives the patent
owner the right to exclude others from making, using, exercising,
disposing or offering to dispose of, or importing the invention.
A South African patent is granted without any guarantee of validity
and may be revoked if grounds of invalidity exist.
Duration
of Patent
A patent lasts
for up to 20 years from the filing date. In order to keep a patent
in force, annual renewal fees are payable from the 4th year onwards.
A patent can not be extended beyond its full term.
Novelty
Requirements
Absolute novelty
is required, i.e. the invention must be novel throughout the entire
world. Novelty is destroyed by all matter which has been made
available to the public anywhere by written or oral description,
by use or in any other way before the priority date. Therefore,
the inventor can destroy his own invention's novelty if he publicly
discloses it, prior to filing a patent application. Public disclosure
includes secret use on a commercial scale in South Africa before
the priority date. The following are not regarded as public disclosure:
disclosure
or use which was made without the inventor's / assignee's knowledge
or consent; and
working of the invention in South Africa, by way of reasonable
technical trial or experiment, by the inventor or assignee.
Unpatentable Inventions
The following
are not patentable:
a discovery;
a scientific theory;
a mathematical method;
a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or any other aesthetic
creation;
a scheme, rule or method for performing a mental act, playing
a game or doing business;
a program for a computer;
the presentation of information;
an invention the publication or exploitation of which would generally
be expected to encourage offensive or immoral behaviour;
any variety of animal or plant or any essentially biological process
for the production of animals or plants, not being a microbiological
process or the product of such a process; a method of treatment
of the animal or human body by surgery or therapy.
Foreign Patent Applications
Patents are
territorial in nature. This means that a patent application must
be filed in each country/region where protection is sought. There
are 2 options when filing a foreign patent application, namely:
filing a PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) application or a convention
application.
A PCT application
is preferable when filing multiple foreign applications; and when
the applicant requires a delay (up to 18 months) before filing
the various foreign applications. For more info go to www.wipo.org
. A convention application based on the South African patent application
can be filed in most countries. This must be done within 12 months
of the original application's earliest application date.
