Accelerated acceptance of patents

By integrating the GlobalIPCo patent management system with the South African Patent Office’s system, the time from FILING to ACCEPTANCE can be reduced to … 1 DAY! This is exceptional. However, during Stage 4 COVID lockdown, the period may be extended to 4 weeks.

Once accepted, the patent is published on the last Wednesday of the month. Thereafter, it takes a few weeks for the registration certificate to be issued.

We are able to courier the registration certificate to you within 3 months of filing.

Previously, acceptance used to take 9 months (at the earliest). We thank the South African Patent Office for making this possible.

How to accelerate acceptance

We offer accelerated acceptance without additional cost. Simply ask us to request it. However, in order to request accelerated acceptance, the patent application must be complete on filing (i.e. all required documents and signed forms must be included). Furthermore, where accelerated acceptance is requested for a South African national phase patent, the PCT application be published.

What about amendments?

South Africa allows patent claims to be amended before and after grant. However, whereas all amendments are permitted before grant (provided they are fairly based), amendments made after grant may not increase the scope of the claims.

Why choose S&Z?

In September 2021, S&Z became the #1 filer of South African patents … thanks to S&Z’s exclusive access to the GlobalIPCo patent management system.