Trademark licence options Engage a trademark attorney with experience in intellectual property commercialisation to draft a trademark licence. Download and use a template trademark licence. Use Licence Direct. Traditionally, both parties to a trademark licence engaged their own trademark attorneys and left it to their attorneys to argue and draft the trademark licence. This is … Read more
Oct 5th, 2026What is a Luxembourg short-term patent? A Luxembourg short-term patent provides the same rights as a Luxembourg patent, but for 6 years instead of 20 years. It is a good option to secure rights in Europe for applicants who: have a limited budget; have received PCT search and examination reports that were not wholly positive; … Read more
Oct 3rd, 2026Do I need a patent attorney to draft a patent licence? Although it is always a good idea to have a patent licence drafted by a patent attorney with licensing experience, this is an expensive option. For a patent attorney to prepare a draft patent licence typically costs +R25,000, and this cost increases as revised … Read more
Sep 29th, 2026Inventors can do a lot themselves without engaging patent attorneys. Here is a summary of the most useful tools available: Software Description S&Z NDA Direct Free extremely customisable confidentiality agreement template. GlobalIPCo Provisional patent filing system The best and most affordable way to file a South African provisional patent. S&Z Patent Direct The easiest and … Read more
Sep 22nd, 2026Want a guide for IP licensing negotiations or to draft a licence? The best option is S&Z’s Licence Direct. The template licence includes a 24 slide questionnaire for a highly customised licence, covering: intellectual property types (patent, trademark, design, copyright, know-how) confidentiality licence types (exclusive, non-exclusive, sole) licensed territory and specific exclusions sub-licensing royalties termination … Read more
Sep 18th, 2026Need to draft your own unique NDA easily? Not every disclosure is the same. The context, sensitivities and risks differ. And, the flexibility required by recipients varies. You can use a “static” NDA, but this means you need to conform to the box. Rather, adjust the box to fit your needs. If you are looking … Read more
Sep 15th, 2026Trademarks covered SimTM identifies newly published South African Word marks that are phonetically similar to registered South African trademarks. Speed and efficiency SimTM is built for speed and efficiency, enabling hundreds of thousands of trademarks to be compared against a database containing tens of thousands of published trademarks in a matter of seconds. This enables … Read more
May 24th, 2026Both the PayAnnuity renewal system and the IdeaNav renewal system have incorporated SimTM trademark monitoring technology into their systems. This enables the PayAnnuity and IdeaNav renewal systems to email select clients trademark watching search reports detailing recently published South African trademarks that are phonetically similar to registered trademarks in their PayAnnuity / IdeaNav renewal portfolios. … Read more
May 20th, 2026GlobalIPCo brings SimTM Technology to South African trademarks. About SimTM Tech SimTM Tech identifies newly published trademarks that are phonetically similar to registered trademarks, based on four levels of sensitivity that incrementally broaden the scope of marks flagged. GlobalIPCo selected SimTM Tech due to its processing speed, which enables GlobalIPCo to: generate tens of thousands … Read more
May 16th, 2026About SimTM trademark monitoring technology SimTM powers the GlobalIPCo South African trademark monitoring service. SimTM Technology alerts owners of registered South African trademarks that a phonetically similar South African trademark has been published (and is open to opposition for the next 3 months). South African trademark monitoring emails To receive monthly trademark monitoring alerts by … Read more
May 10th, 2026The GlobalIPCo South African trademark watch service generates +60,000 watching search reports each month. Options: GlobalIPCo trademark watch email alertsGlobalIPCo trademark watch report webpageGlobalIPCo trademark watch search facility Technology: SimTM technology, which identifies phonetically similar trademarks Cost: Free How to activate: Add trademarks to the PayAnnuity trademark renewal system and ask GlobalIPCo to activate watch … Read more
May 4th, 2026Despite only launching in 2026, SimTM‘s trademark watch service technology has been adopted widely by African trademark service providers. The following IP services providers now rely on SimTM technology to enable their clients timeously to oppose registration of confusingly similar trademark within South Africa, Nigeria and OAPI: GlobalIPCo – the largest online filer of African … Read more
Apr 30th, 2026GlobalIPCo is the largest generator of South African trademark monitoring reports, creating +60,000 monitoring reports monthly. These reports are automatically generated within a day of publication of the South African trademark journal using SimTM Technology, and made available without charge. Each report includes details of phonetically similar marks, grouped into four categories – “Most relevant”, … Read more
Apr 26th, 2026A year ago, I was afraid of private equity-backed IP software companies – they were going to eat me alive. Then, they all got eaten by AI. Now, everyone is using AI to run away from AI. Before 2025, “normal” IP firms lived a precarious life. They had to make profit to survive and keep … Read more
Apr 23rd, 2026GlobalIPCo (powered by SimTM technology) offers a free South African trademark watch service, alerting trademark owners to similar recently published trademarks they may with to oppose. As at 2026, GlobalIPCo monitors +60,000 South African trademarks. Historical trademark watch service results are available for all marks – search for “mark” and “class”. However, you will need … Read more
Apr 22nd, 2026