Renew Direct – South African Patents

How to renew South African patents

Renew Direct allows you to choose whether to renew, one, all or select years of a South African patent – the more years you choose, the lower the annual renewal cost.

How it works:

Step 1 – enter South African patent number

After entering your South African patent number, Renew Direct obtains up-to-date renewal information for the patent. If the renewal cannot be paid, the system will not permit you to proceed.

The Renew Direct system then checks if the patent renewal is already managed by S&Z. If so, Renew Direct only permits single and “to term” renewals. However, if the patent is not currently managed by S&Z, Renew Direct permits renewal of any number of years.

Step 2 – select the number of renewals to pay

In the highlighted “year row”, click the first cell to pay the patent renewal for 1 year. The cheapest (per renewal) option is to click the cell at the end of the row – this will renew the patent “to term” (i.e. all remaining years) for only $25 per year). Alternatively, click any other cell in the row to pay any number of patent renewals.

If the renewal is paid late (i.e. during the 6-month grace period), $50 is added to the first renewal to cover late-payment penalties. This surcharge is fixed, irrespective whether the renewal incurs a 1 month or 6 month late-payment penalty.

Renew Direct pricing covers all costs: professional fees, official fees, payment fees, disbursements. If the applicant is a South African, VAT is added.

Step 3 – click “Proceed to payment”

Enter your email, name, address and country and pay by credit card.

The system will process the renewal and send you the renewal receipt within a couple of hours of instruction (during a South African business day).

Why pay multi-renewals?

Apart from the cost saving when paying more than one renewal simultaneously, pre-paying South African patent renewals also shields you against the anticipated significant increase in official South African patent renewal fees – the South African Patent Office has indicated its intention to increase official patent renewal fees and to base renewal costs on the applicant’s status.

Pre-paying renewals also reduces future admin and the risk of missing a future renewal payment.

Future renewal reminders

Thereafter, your patent will be added to the PayAnnuity system – a system that manages +17,000 South African patent renewals. PayAnnuity will send future renewal reminders, which can be processed via PayAnnuity or Renew Direct.

All renewals are processed by S&Z Patent Attorneys.