South Africa Chapter of Global Patent GO——Introduction to Patent Application in South Africa

The Southernmost Rainbow Country on Earth

In 1488, when the Portuguese explorer Dias passed through the Cape of Good Hope for the first time, he did not know that this route would become one of the busiest sea passages in the world in the future, let alone that it would be called the "Western Sea Lifeline". . Ships with a load of more than 250,000 tons departing from East Asia cannot pass through the Suez Canal, and must bypass the Cape of Good Hope to reach Western Europe. The route from East Asia and Southeast Asia to East Africa via the Indian Ocean, through the Mozambique Strait, through the Cape of Good Hope, into the Atlantic Ocean, and finally through West Africa to Western Europe has become the route with the largest oil transportation volume in the world. On average, about 4.9 million barrels of crude oil are traded in two directions each year. Passing around the Cape of Good Hope, it accounts for about 9% of global seaborne trade. As a result, the Cape of Good Hope route has become one of the eight major routes that control the global economy, and the country that has mastered this route—South Africa, has therefore become the country with the highest level of development in Africa, has the most modern infrastructure in Africa, and is the only country in Africa that has mastered this route. It has the technology to operate artificial satellites and has the only nuclear power on the African continent. Since 2012, relying on its superior geographical location, South Africa spent 1.5 billion euros to design and build the MeerKAT space telescope with the highest sensitivity and highest image resolution in the world after 10 years.

China and South Africa established diplomatic relations in 1998. Although it was late, they have developed rapidly. In just 10 years, they have achieved a leapfrog upgrade from "partnership" to "strategic partnership" and then to "comprehensive strategic partnership". As of 2020, the total trade volume between China and South Africa has reached 35.836 billion US dollars. China has become South Africa's largest trading partner and mainly exports electrical appliances, electronic products, textiles and metal products to South Africa. China's total investment in South Africa has reached surpassed the United States.

In July 2021, an invention patent created by an artificial intelligence system was granted a patent right by the South African Patent Office. This is the world's first patent that recognizes "artificial intelligence" as the inventor. Dabus" as the inventor's patent application has been rejected in the UK, Europe and the US on the grounds that the inventor is not a natural person, but the South African Patent Office is committed to "encouraging people to manufacture, develop and use AI to produce innovations of social value" Importance", in fact, this also matches the discussion of the South African patent system itself. The South African patent system can be considered as the global patent system in terms of compliance with the TRIPS Agreement, application of the PCT, efficiency and cost of the patent system, etc. One of the most advanced intellectual property systems. In South Africa, patent applications do not need to undergo substantive examination, and patent applications that have passed formality examination can be granted. Any patent can be revoked by anyone during its lifetime, and only in subsequent revocation procedures will issues of novelty and inventive step be dealt with. Today, let's take a look at the patent system in South Africa.

South African patent overview

1. Types of Patent Protection in South Africa

Inventions, Designs.

2. Paths for Chinese applicants to apply for patents in South Africa

The Paris Convention, the via Nationalization of PCT to enter the South African national phase, and direct applications.

3. review unit

South African Companies and Intellectual Property Office, CIPC, established on May 1, 2011, is affiliated to the South African Ministry of Trade and Industry, headquartered in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, with Pretoria Service Center, Johannesburg Service Center, and Open Cape Town Service Center and has partner agencies in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, North West Province, Northern Cape Province and Free State Province.

4. Submit your application

1) Time limit requirement: CIPC accepts priority restoration. The Paris Convention can take 15 months at the latest, and the via Nationalization of PCT needs to enter the South African national phase in 34 months.

2) Submitting the application: paper submission is the main method, and electronic documents are limited to partial submissions. However, you must first register as a user on the CIPC website and obtain the user code before you can make payment to CIPC.

3) Filing Language: English.

5. Formal examination, disclosure and granted

CIPC will conduct a formality examination of the patent application ex officio within 6 months after receiving the patent application. After completing the 18-month publication procedure, the invention patent will be publicized in the patent journal for 3 months, and the publicity date is considered to be the date of granted , the patent certificate will be issued after 2 months after the publicity period expires.

Design Patents in South Africa

South Africa has a unique design patent system in the world. There are two types of design patents: one is an aesthetic design patent, and the other is a functional design patent. The protection periods are also different, 15 years and 10 years respectively. Year.

Aesthetic design patents are designed to protect the features of the pattern, shape, combination or decoration of the article, which can be judged by the eyes, and have nothing to do with the level of aesthetic taste;

Functional design refers to the protection of the features constituted by the pattern, shape, combination or decoration of an article, which can demonstrate the function of the article through demonstration. Integrated circuit topography and mask works are also included, as defined in the functional design category. This type of design protection is more convenient and economical for applicants.

Advantages of South African Patent Application

1. The South African patent system is extremely friendly to patent applicants, including the defendant in the infringement lawsuit who is responsible for proving that the patent is invalid, and the invalidation of a patent in the infringement procedure only has an effect on the counterparty.

2. The judicial system in South Africa has the characteristics of mixed justice, taking into account the characteristics of both the civil law system and the common law system. Therefore, when facing infringement lawsuits, Chinese applicants can learn more about their own lawsuits by referring to past cases.

3. Patent applicants can also request for accelerated examination of patents that do not require substantive examination. The fastest time from application to granted of an invention patent is 3-5 months.

Friendliness to Chinese applicants:

★★★★★

Gold content of patent rights:

★★

The degree of perfection of the rights protection mechanism:

★★★★