Obtaining a patent in South Africa

No place is easier or cheaper for obtaining a patent than South Africa. You can within two weeks file a South African provisional patent application for only R9,950 (excl. vat). This will reserve your patent rights worldwide for a year. And, unlike most countries, you need only pay a filing fee of R11,950 (excl. vat) to obtain a granted South African complete patent, i.e. a patent that you can enforce against competitors.

The reason that South Africa is so affordable is that our Patent Office does not examine patents. Provided that your complete patent was properly filed, it will be granted in about 9 months time. And, annual patent renewal fees are only +-R650 (as compared to about R2,500 for most other countries).

This means that you can accurately budget your South African patent costs. It need not empty your pocket.

However, if you do not select a fixed-price patent service provider or reach agreement regarding a capped fee, your patent costs are extremely elastic – anywhere from R9,950 to R30,000 for a provisional patent, from R11,950 to R40,000 for a complete patent, and from R34,000 to R100,000 for a PCT / international patent.

But the biggest saving that you can make is not filing patents if you don’t have anything patentable to start with. You can search patent databases online for free. But, if you would like us to conduct a comprehensive online international patent search, our charge is R4,950. Between vetting inventions over the phone (for free) and conducting patent searches, we typically filter out 90% of inventions that inventors would otherwise have wasted money patenting.

For free, confidential advice over the phone, feel free to contact one of our friendly patent attorneys.