3 ways to patent an idea in south africa [Excellent Tips]

Last updated : Sept 20, 2022

What are the 3 criteria for a patent in South Africa?

• Novelty. This means that your invention must not have been made public – not even by yourself – before the date of the application.
• Inventive step. This means that your product or process must be an inventive solution.
• Industrial applicability.

What are 3 different types of patents?

There are three types of patents: utility patents, design patents, and plant patents.

What are the 3 criteria for patentable invention?

Usually, Novelty, Inventive Step/Non-Obviousness and Industrial Applicability are the common criteria for judging an invention.

What are the three 3 basic requirements of a utility patent?

The invention must be statutory (subject matter eligible) The invention must be new. The invention must be useful. The invention must be non-obvious.

How do I patent an idea?

1. Step 1 – Verify the Idea is Eligible For a Patent.
2. Step 2 – Keep a Detailed Record of Everything.
3. Step 3 – Make a Prototype.
4. Step 4 – Apply For a Provisional Patent.
5. Step 5 – Hire a Patent Attorney.
6. Step 6 – File Your Patent Application.

How can I patent my idea for free?

There are two ways you can actually patent an invention for free, sort of. If you cannot afford an agent or attorney, look to the Patent Pro Bono Program or the Law School Clinic Certification Program, both provided by the USPTO. The Patent Pro Bono Program pairs registered patent agents or attorneys with inventors.

What are the 4 types of patent?

• Utility patent. This is what most people think of when they think about a patent.
• Provisional patent.
• Design patent.
• Plant patent.

How do I register a patent in South Africa?

Complete patent ‐ South African or PCT Within 12 months of filing a provisional patent, you will need to either: file a South African complete patent for R22,950 plus vat, in which case you will secure patent rights in South Africa only; or. file a PCT patent application, which can be filed for just under R45,000.

What are examples of patents?

Examples of inventions protected by utility patents are a microwave oven, genetically engineered bacteria for cleaning up oil spills, a computerized method of running cash management accounts, and a method for curing rubber.

What are the 5 requirements of a patent?

• The innovation is patentable subject matter. Patentable.
• The innovation is new (called 'novelty')
• The innovation is inventive.
• The innovation is useful (called 'utility')
• The innovation must not have prior use.

What makes an idea patentable?

To be patentable, the invention must be statutory, novel, useful, and nonobvious. Certain requirements, such as novelty and non-obviousness, may involve conducting a preliminary patent search with the assistance of an attorney or agent.

When can you patent an idea?

Under U.S. patent law, you must file your patent application within one year of the first offer to sell your invention, or within one year of your first public use or disclosure of your invention.

What are the key parts of a patent?

• Front page(s)
• Drawings.
• Specification. A background section. A list of drawings. A detailed description.
• Claims.

How much is it to patent an idea in South Africa?

It only costs R19,950 (exclusive of vat) to file a provisional patent in South Africa through a patent attorney. An alternative is to file your own provisional patent application online for only $199.

How do you sell an idea to a company without them stealing it?

You can sell an idea to a company without a patent. You need a way to stop them from stealing the idea from you. One way to do that without a patent is with a nondisclosure agreement, aka NDA. The NDA would limit the company's ability to use your idea without paying you for it.

Can I file a patent myself?

You can file a patent application on behalf of yourself or your co-inventors. Alternatively, you can hire a registered patent agent or attorney to file your application for you. Patent applications require both legal and technical expertise and even small mistakes can dramatically compromise the value of the patent.

What are the two types of patent?

The three types of patents are utility patents, design patents, and plant patents. Utility patents are issued for inventions that are novel and useful. Design patents protect the design or image of a product. Plant patents are issued to applicants for plants that can reproduce.

How do patents work in South Africa?

Patent protection means that someone else cannot commercially make, use, distribute or sell your invention without your permission for a limited period of 20 years. Find out more about patents from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) or contact CIPC on 086 100 2472.

How long does a patent take in South Africa?

South Africa has a non-examining patent system, which means that once the formal requirements are complied with, a South African patent application will generally be accepted within nine to twelve months from the filing date of the application.

How long is a patent valid in South Africa?

Protection is granted for twenty years from the filing date of the non-provisional patent application.

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hi my name is Marcie and welcome to my channel today we are talking about how to protect your ideas right now when it comes to ideas and protection you are now stepping into the realm of what is called intellectual property IP for sure so now when talking intellectual property there is there are four main ways of protecting whatever idea that you have way number one is copyright when it comes to copyright it's all it's more mostly involves content so if you're writing a book you're writing an article or you wrote in a song or a video made or committed of something so with content then then you go for copyright now we copyright it you don't necessarily have to make any registrations as soon as you put it out there into the public you automatically get copyright but that that is for South Africa now in some countries you actually have to make some revisions we have to make some registration in order for you to qualify for copyright but in South Africa you automatically get it but there are a few industries where you might need to register for instance if you if you created a song you're going to have to make a registration example just to say okay this tract belongs to whoever this is the person who's making the distribution and all of it and then with trademarks trademarks our about symbols so the trademark is all about the symbol that you put into your product or services to get your customers or to let everyone know that you that you are the one who owns that particular item for our instance the jacket that I'm wearing it has the Nike swoosh on they put this switch inside neurons which target to let customers know that this jacket belongs to Nike so the jacket itself could have been designed by anyone it could have we've had three stocks of it and that way you would have identified it as an editor's jacket but the jacket is still the same the only thing that changes is this the symbol that they put as symbol is a trademark it's normally depicted by TM at the small TM at the end or an R with a circle around it companies put these as right lessor with the trademark is still relatively new people don't know about it much in the industry you also have number three here painted with patrons it's all about new things so if you have a new design or something or a new way of doing something you can register it picton father for he said the coca-cola bottle the shape of the bottle coca-cola head the patent on it so that because of how they design the board even if you remove the label for away from the bottom you could see it from a distance just from looking at the shape you can tell it no that's a curveball right day put patience also we find things like a instead if you create a new creative exceed the formula for that vaccine Kate could can be patented and say ok this is a new drug and then you get up apply for a patent for that it's an expensive affair but it's a profitable one if watch it watch it doing something that is something that society needs a number for trade secrets the train tickets it's all about what it is secrets for instance the KFC recipe the KFC recipe is a trade secret it's not necessarily registered anywhere it says that they keep it a secret inside the KFC headquarters the same same thing goes for the recipe it's also a creatively so they know it's somewhere in the US and few people know that is the exact formula for for coca-cola this you can work with this you could protect your idea that's already now the patient with trade secret is you have to trust people to not speak about it so you find that your high-level executive basically just actually has to sign contracts stipulating that this trick that they are not going to say anything to anyone including their lives about how coke is video or the recipe for the case for a KFC there can see the eleven spices and all of it but this is just a basic rundown of what you need to protect your ideas so for more information please go to see IPC toasty on Thursday if you are in South Africa go to see IPC Joe Chiodo it that's why you're going to find most of the information relating to how to protect your ideas in this country but not all countries have something similar so in the u.s. you have your US Patent Office I think it's USPTO calm and soil and so forth or for each country um so now to wrap up thank you for watching this video melody by be releasing one two three videos per week please subscribe and I will see you on the next one hi my name is moody no hi my name is movie now when it comes to protecting ideas

Thanks for your comment Sam Weick, have a nice day.
- Ahmed Galeoto, Staff Member

hi guys and welcome to another episode of IP drive this is my good friend and fighting attorney hey Jeremy yes I and this is luis kita cut my good buddy and engineer and entrepreneur today we're going to talk about patents what is a pattern what is patentable and what is not and what are we required to patent an invention let's try a G you know as South Africans we just love standing around the fire and talking about different schemes and inventions an idea that's going to change the world and make us Millions yep if I had a penny for all those thoughts I'd be a millionaire although some of those conversations could actually have some merit right yep yeah sure definitely somewhere along the line that Tim Peyton comes up and then at least for me the picture gets a bit cloudy with uncertainty and where that goes all the excitement I could imagine perhaps you could demystify the term Titans for us what is a beta basically a patent is at winning a monopoly so here's the inventor get a license for 20 years in exchange at the end of those 20 years the information becomes everyone's the property owner one so it's a it's a given thing kind of deal yeah yeah it's a summation of technology it's like you have something new and in exchange therefore you might exploit it solely for 20 years but ultimately it's for the gain of the whole or human rights so the first question Louie that meats asking is war is not patentable you'll find in Section 25 two of the patents Act but things like mathematical formulas or source code of a computer or business method for example is things that are outright not patentable okay what is patentable these three key points that we need to look at novelty inventiveness and utility so in terms of novelty if I see a product in the US and I would like to bring it to South Africa and fighting the deer is that possible no Louie that is not possible it's a very good question I often get asked that someone's overseas and I bring in a new product the realities in South Africa we have absolute novelty what I mean by that is if it's been used or shown or disclosed any way in the world he cannot obtain a patent again it's a novelty destroying incident idea you also mentioned the word inventiveness could you maybe explain the term inventiveness and novelty using some kind of example surely perhaps you can give me that bright tongue there Langly let's imagine that this is the prior art this is the only bright tongue indulge me guys in existence yes sir this is what you're working with okay okay and in essence sage 1 elongated member it's it's bent and it's biased for example towards a disengaged position and it's got engaging formations in the front ok so and in use we use our hand and we clasp a choppy I should actually be saying an object you know but let's say it's lost Penelope and sometimes it falls on the ground but that happens that's not let's say user number 2 approaches me and says I have developed this new droid on mm-hmm it was a fantastic invention around the fire we had a couple of beers and anyway the client comes and he says this is my invention and asked me can we patent pride on number two yes ok ok so now we look at it and I tell client ok this is bright dong-won Thank You Louie Brighton - what's different in Brighton - versus Brighton one so I definitely see two elongated members on metal rods I see a pivoting means for pivoting between an engaging a disengaged position I see receiving formations which I don't notice here because you need to have receiving further motions because you need to use your fingers to open and close this near item so I would answer the client yes it's novel its new over this one I would also answer that in my opinion if this was the only existing bottom that its inventive because it uses totally different mechanism and I don't think it's obvious for someone seeing this to necessarily you know jump to the conclusion that you know this bro this song can be made from this one yes so since it's not obvious that would be the inventiveness yes that's that that's the inventiveness action step two I J we also have this brighter let's say bright on number three yeah would I be able to fight in this one if bright on number two is already plated okay let me say in view of brighter number one and write down number two I would say brighter on number two is the closest prior art resembling bright on number three yes they both have a pivotable means they're both of receiving formations they both have engaging formations immediately the only difference to me it seems is this is maybe made from aluminium and this is made from metal so even though it's novel because it's aluminium and this is metal I would say this one is novel over this one I would I ever not think that it will succeed in the inventiveness States because it's I think it's obvious this there's no radical or improvement that you know I would say it's obvious if you know this one it'll be obvious to make this one so this one would not be patentable in light of this one has to be novel and it has to be inventor yeah and then there's a small last third one utility which basically says it must be mass-produced but I mean that's obviously we want to make money Thank You AJ that was an excellent explanation and thank you for demystifying Pythons for me i understand it much better now sure they just guys remember this is educational purposes speaking off-the-cuff and if you guys do you feel that you've got an invention that is novel and inventive please contact us and we can take it further or even edges will be in the descriptions below and if you are an entrepreneur wanting to know more about the legal stuff in running your own business subscribe below and don't miss our next episode bye

Thanks terhapusc your participation is very much appreciated
- Ahmed Galeoto

About the author

Ahmed Galeoto

I've studied finance at Willamette University in Salem and I am an expert in marine biology. I usually feel cold. My previous job was insurance underwriter I held this position for 4 years, I love talking about storm chasing and playing. Huge fan of Jon Stewart I practice rafting and collect barbie dolls.