Patent registration in South Africa

Patent registration in South African is affordable and easy. A South African provisional patent costs only R19,950 (excl. vat) and takes less than two weeks to file. It starts off with a simple, confidential phone call to a patent attorney.

In 12 months time, consider filing a PCT patent to reserve your patent rights internationally. This can be done for as little as R45,000.

If you are a foreigner selecting countries in which to extend your patent at the end of the PCT phase, South Africa should be a default selection (costing US$585 – our all-inclusive fee; or costing only $399 to file via GlobalIPCo). The deadline for lodging South African national phase patent applications is 31 months from the earliest priority, extendible on payment of late lodging fee by a further 3 months. There are no additional charges for multiple priority claims, excess pages, surplus claims or translations if the specification is in English.

Furthermore, the South African Patent Office is a non-examining Patent Office and will allow a patent application to proceed to grant as long as the formal requirements have been complied with. In the absence of voluntary amendment, a patent application will in most cases be accepted and granted with the original specification within about 12 months from the date of entering the national phase in South Africa.

South Africa remains the commercial gateway to the rest of Africa. And, to obtain patent protection in 34 African countries, you need only file three patents – South Africa, ARIPO and OAPI. There is no simpler or more cost effective way to secure patent coverage in such a large emerging market.