Top 5 options to renew a South African patent or trademark

There are many ways to pay a South African patent or trademark renewal, as South African law does not require applicants to pay patent and trademark annuities through the firm that filed the trademark – you are free to use any of these 5 option:

Option 1 – Simplest (Vicennial Renewal)

If the patent was filed within the past 5-6 years, consider paying your patent renewals “to term”, i.e. pre-paying all remaining renewals for the 20-year life of the patent. The GlobalIPCo system offers a “Vicennial Renewal” whereby all remaining renewals for the patent are pre-paid at a fixed price (irrespective of the number of years) at a significant discount.

Benefits of paying a Vicennial Renewal:

1. Significant saving on the lifetime cost of your patent;
2. No further monitoring of patent renewals, renewal reminders or annual renewal payments; and
3. Zero risk that your patent lapsing due to failure to pay a renewal.

There is no cost to register on the GlobalIPCo system. Payment is only made for a renewal instruction.

Option 2 – Best for foreigners

For Non-South African applicants who wish to be quoted and pay in US Dollars, the best option is PayAnnuity. This online patent and trademark renewal system offers both:

• 1-year renewals for patents;
• 10-year renewals for trademarks; and
• “To term” renewals for patents (variable pricing, depending on the number of years to renew).

Choosing the “To term” option pre-pays all remaining patent renewals. We suggest this option where the patent has 2-15 years of life remaining.

There is no cost to register on the PayAnnuity system. Payment is only made for a renewal instruction.

Option 3 – Best for South Africans

The most popular online option for South Africans is the IdeaNav renewal system. This system quotes and receives credit card payment in South African Rand and is the system of choice for many South African universities and multinational companies.

The IdeaNav renewal system also offers 1-year patent renewals, 10-year trademark renewals and (variable pricing) “to term” patent renewals.

There is no cost to register on the IdeaNav system. Payment is only made for a renewal instruction.

Option 4 – “Traditional option”

For applicants who do not wish to use online systems and prefer to send a renewal instruction by email, the options are:

1. continue to use the law firm that file the patent or trademark; or
2. instruct S&Z to renew.

S&Z has sophisticated systems to manage renewal of +13,000 patents.

Paying patent and trademark renewals through law firms is more expensive than online options, but you instruct a human being.

Option 5 – Direct renewal through CIPC

Instead of using online systems or South African law firms, applicants may pay renewals directly with the South African Patents & Trademarks Office (CIPC). To do this, you would need to create an account with CIPC, deposit funds into your account and use the CIPC online system to process renewals.

For support, you will need to contact CIPC.

Unlike the online systems and S&Z, which have automated systems to send renewal reminders, CIPC does not send applicants renewal reminders.

Payment method:

The GlobalIPCo, PayAnnuity and IdeaNav systems by default permit payment by credit card. However, law firms and large approved clients may apply to pay by bank transfer.

S&Z accepts payment by credit card or bank transfer.

CIPC only accepts payment by debiting the user’s pre-paid account.

Renewal process

South African patents are renewed:

• on the third anniversary of the (earlier of) the PCT filing date or the South African filing date (e.g. if the PCT filing date is 1 January 2025, the first renewal falls due on 1 January 2028); and
• annually thereafter (e.g. 1 January 2029, 1 January 2030, etc).

South African trademarks are renewed on each 10th anniversary of the South African filing date (e.g. if the South African filing date is 1 January 2025, renewals fall due on 1 January 2035, 1 January 2045, 1 January 2055, etc.)

Grace period: Although it is better to pay South African patent and trademark renewals before the renewal deadline, the renewals may still be paid during the 6 month grace period (i.e. during the 6 month period after the renewal deadline). However, this will attract additional professional and official fees.

Migrating renewals

Irrespective who filed the patent / trademark or who paid the previous renewal, you are free to instruct future renewals through any of the above channels. For South African patent renewals, nothing more than the renewal instruction is required by the new channel. However, the new channel will require a scanned copy of a signed Power of Attorney (which will be provided) to process a South African trademark renewal.