Search Country List

Regional Groups

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa ceased to be a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations and became an independent republic in 1961. After 1994 it rejoined the Commonwealth. South Africa lies at the extreme southern tip of the African continent, bordered to the north by Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and on the northeast by Mozambique.

  • Capital: Pretoria
  • Currency: South African Rand
  • Population: 54 956 900 million
  • Area: 1 219 090 km²
  • GDP $ : $742.461 billion (2016)
  • Internet domain: .za
  • Languages: English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, North Sotho, Sesotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu (official language)
  • Exports: Gold; other minerals and metals; foods; chemicals; manufactured goods
  • Imports: Machinery; transport equipment; chemicals; textiles; scientific instruments; petroleum products
International and regional arrangements

South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention.

Trademarks

South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention and the WTO/TRIPS. South Africa is expected to accede to the Madrid Protocol within the near future.

The Act provides for the registration of trade marks in respect of goods and services. It is important to note that registration of a trade mark does not necessarily confer an absolute right to use the mark. Prior rights, recognised by law, to a mark may have been secured in ways other than by registration, eg by use.

The protection afforded by a trade mark registration extends to the use of an identical mark or a mark so nearly resembling it as to be likely to deceive or cause confusion, in relation to identical goods or services, or goods or services which are so similar that a likelihood of deception or confusion exists.

South Africa a “Single-Class” registration system (A separate application is required for each class). There is no provision for SERIES MARKS or DEFENSIVE MARKS.

Documents required for trademark registration

  1. Details of the applicant
  2. List of goods or services
  3. A duly signed Power of Attorney/Authorization of Agent
  4. Prints of the mark
  5. If convention priority is to be claimed details of same as well as the priority document – to be filed within three months of the South African filing date.

Renewals

Trademarks are valid for a period of 10 years from date of filing
Renewable for further 10 year periods. Provision is made for late renewal (1 year).

Documents required for Renewals

Power of Attorney, simply signed.

Documents required for assignment/mergers

  1. Power of Attorney, simply signed.
  2. Deed of Assignment or other instrument of title, with verified English translation

Documents required for change of address

Power of Attorney, simply signed.

Documents required for change of name

  1. Power of Attorney, simply signed.
  2. Certificate of Change of Name, with verified English translation

Documents required for licenses/registered user

  1. Powers of Attorney, simply signed, from proprietor and licensee.
  2. License Agreement, with verified English translation.
Patents

South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention, the Budapest Treaty, the PCT and the WTO/TRIPS.

Patent protection is obtainable by way of a national filing, or via a PCT filing. A national filing can be in the form of a provisional application or a complete application, and the complete application can be a non-convention or a convention application.

A patent confers on the patentee for the duration of the patent (ie as long as it is maintained in force by the payment of renewal fees), the right to exclude all other persons in South Africa from making, using, exercising, disposing of or offering to dispose of, or importing the patented invention, so that the patentee shall have and enjoy the whole profit and advantage accruing by reason of the invention.

The sale in South Africa of a patented article by or on behalf of the patentee gives the purchaser the right to use and dispose of that article.

PATENTS

Filing Requirements

Documents required for Non-PCT Patent Registration

  1. An application letter requesting for the grant of a patent
  2. An application form
  3. A description of the invention
  4. All particulars of the applicant and those of the inventor
  5. Power of Attorney
  6. An abstract of the invention with their prospective claims

Documents required for PCT Patent Registration

  1. A copy of the communication received by the applicant concerning results of any search or examination carried out in respect of a foreign application
  2. A certified or ordinary copy of the patent or title of protection granted on the basis of the foreign application
  3. A copy of a final decision rejecting the foreign application and/ or refusing the grant required in the foreign application
  4. A copy of the final decision validating the patent granted on the basis of the foreign application.

Duration and Renewal

the term of a South African patent is 20 years from the date of filing, in the case of ordinary patent applications, or from the international filing date in the case of national phase applications, subject to the payment of annual renewal fees from the third year following filing.

Designs

South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention and the WTO/TRIPS. It is expected to accede to the Hague Agreement in the near future.

Design protection is obtained by the filing of an application for the registration of a design.

The effect of a design registration is to grant to the registered proprietor the right, for the duration of the registration, to exclude other persons from making, importing, using or disposing of any article included in the class in which the design is registered and embodying the registered design, or a design not substantially different therefrom, so that the registered proprietor shall have and enjoy the whole profit and advantage accruing by reason of the registration.

The disposing (in South Africa) of an article embodying a registered design by or on behalf of the registered proprietor gives the purchaser the right to use and dispose of that article.

Filing Requirements

  1. Power of attorney
  2. Assignment of design
  3. Drawings or photographs of the design
  4. Certified copy of priority document, if priority is claimed, with verified English translation
  5. Description of the kind of products for which the industrial design is to be used
Copyrights

South Africa is a member of the Berne Convention and the WTO/TRIPS.

The following works, if they are original, are eligible for copyright:

  • literary works
  • musical works
  • artistic works
  • cinematograph films
  • sound recordings
  • broadcasts
  • programme-carrying signals
  • published editions
  • computer programs.

A work (except a broadcast or programme-carrying signal) is not eligible for copyright unless it has been written down, recorded, represented in digital data or signals, or otherwise reduced to material form.

The requirement of originality has been interpreted by the courts to mean that the author must have expended creative effort, labour and skill in creating the work.