Online Patent Application

Before we get started, we need to please onboard you as a client. Kindly download the Bergenthuin Law New Client Form here, fill it out, then upload it using this button:

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  • Applicant details

    *Applicant Type

    Are you individual(s) (i.e. natural person(s)) or do you represent a company or an organisation (i.e. a juristic person)?

    Proof of Identity

    In order to comply with South African anti money laundering legislation (also known as FICA), please may you provide us with the following:

    * 

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    Proof of Identity

    In order to comply with South African anti money laundering legislation (also known as FICA), please may you provide us with the following:

    Copy of RSA identity document or RSA Passport

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    Proof of address, not older than 3 months

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    Now we can get started. This is just a reminder that a patent protects ideas, concepts and inventions and it refers to a monopoly right that provides this protection. It is issued by the South African Patent Office to prevent inventions from being copied and/or reproduced. The document that describes the invention is referred to as a patent specification. It describes the invention in detail and outlines the specific features of the invention that enjoy protection.

    There are multiple routes to obtaining patent protection in South Africa.

    1) Provisional South African Patent:

    This is also known as a “temporary South African patent application”. Upon the filing of the South African provisional patent specification, the patentee is given 12 months before he or she has to lodge the complete patent specification. This route is often followed where a patentee has a concept that is not in its final form.

    In the 12-month period, the Applicant has time to finalise the invention and can freely discuss the idea with investors, see the commercial potential of the idea etc. before incurring further costs regarding the patenting process.

    Please note that after the 12 months have passed from the filing of the provisional patent specification, a complete patent application must be filed, either in South Africa or internationally, in order to secure full patent rights. This application can claim priority from an earlier foreign patent application, if filed within 12 months of the earlier patent filing. A provisional patent will lapse after the 12 month period, if no further applications are filed within that time.

    2) Complete South African Patent:

    This route involves filing a complete patent application in the first instance (or otherwise 12 months after the filing of provisional patent application).

    This form of patent protection provides full patent protection in South Africa for a period of up to 20 years from the date of filing.  This is usually recommended to inventors who have their invention in a form which is ready to be manufactured and ready to enter the market

    This is also the right form of patent protection for an international client seeking to enter the South African market (aside from the PCT route discussed below). This application can claim priority from an earlier local or foreign patent application, if filed within 12 months of the earlier patent filing.

    3) PCT National Phase Filing in South Africa

    South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention and the PCT. The deadline for filing PCT national phase applications is 31 months from the earliest priority date. The South African Registrar of Patents has discretion to extend the national phase entry deadline by 3 months on request.

    It is worth noting that South Africa has a depository patent filing system. South African patent applications are not subjected to substantive examination. As a result, the cost of obtaining a granted patent in South Africa is relatively low and no examination or final grant fees are payable. In addition, it may be possible to obtain a granted South African patent within as little as 3 – 6 months from the filing date, if expedited acceptance is requested at the time of filing.

    *Form of South African patent protection

    Please choose which form of South African patent protection you would like to apply for:

    Please note that the costs quoted above relate to the preparation and filing of your patent application only. Additional costs will apply in respect of the prosecution of your patent to grant before the Patent Office as well as in respect of keeping your registration in-force by way of the annual renewal fees that are payable. Additional costs will also apply in couriering any documents to you.

    If you are filing a provisional or complete South African patent application, please note that the following online application is for the submission of all documentation and information needed for Bergenthuin Law to draft a South African Patent Application for your invention/concept (if applicable). Upon receipt of the required documentation and information, Bergenthuin Law will begin drafting your specification and will email you same for your review and/or comment prior to filing the application with the South African Patent Office. Please allow 2 – 3 weeks from submitting your information online for receipt of a first draft of your patent specification.

    If you are filing a National Phase application in South Africa, we will lodge your application with the South African Patent Office within 1 - 2 Business Days from receipt of the requested documentation and payment. We will subsequently email you the filing receipt, as confirmation that the filing has been attended to, upon receipt thereof from the South African Patent Office. Please allow 3 – 4 business from submitting your application online for receipt of the filing receipt.

    Number of Applicant and Inventors

    Please select the number of applicants and inventors you would like to include in this application, then complete the details for each one below.

    Number of Applicants

    Number of Inventors

    *Title

    Use a title that hints at benefit

    Applicant 1 Details

    In a patent application, the Applicant is the owner of the invention. This may or may not be the inventor, may be a company and may be more than one person or company. Kindly complete the below information regarding the Applicant.

    *Applicant name

    *Applicant type

    *Applicant's physical address

    *Country

    Applicant 2 Details

    In a patent application, the Applicant is the owner of the invention. This may or may not be the inventor, may be a company and may be more than one person or company. Kindly complete the below information regarding the Applicant.

    *Applicant name

    *Applicant type

    *Applicant's physical address

    *Country

    Inventor 1 Details

    The inventor is the person/ persons who took part in the conception of the idea in the patent claims of the patent application. It may be more than one person and may be the same as the applicant.

    *Inventor name

    *Inventor type

    *Inventor's physical address

    *Inventor's country

    Inventor 2 Details

    The inventor is the person/ persons who took part in the conception of the idea in the patent claims of the patent application. It may be more than one person and may be the same as the applicant.

    *Inventor name

    *Inventor type

    *Inventor's physical address

    *Inventor's country

    Forms to fill & things to do

    Upon the provisional South African patent application being filed with the South African Patent Office, a filing date will be allocated to the application as well as a patent application number. This provides documentary proof of the existence of provisional patent protection for the invention and will be valid for a period of twelve (12) months. Thereafter, should no further patent applications be filed for the invention, these provisional patent rights will lapse irrevocably. The provisional patent application will not be examined by the South African Patent Office, no further prosecution thereof will take place and it will remain “pending” for the full 12 month period mentioned.

    Please provide us with as much information as possible regarding the invention, This information will be used by Bergenthuin Law to draft a patent specification for your invention, which will be sent back to you for review and comment. Once you are satisfied that the specification fully and accurately describes your invention, we will file a patent application accompanied thereby at the South African Patent Office. Please note that the more information you are able to provide us, the more thorough and comprehensive your patent protection will ultimately be.

    All information submitted via this platform will be kept strictly confidential. No unauthorized disclosure of any information submitted via this platform, will be made to any third party. In addition, client-attorney privilege applies to the information submitted on this platform.

    *Upload a description of invention

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    *Upload drawings of the invention (if available)

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    *Claiming priority from an earlier patent filing?

    Please note that South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention. As such, it is possible to claim priority from an earlier foreign patent application, which will essentially back-date your South African patent protection to the date of the earlier, foreign patent filing. The earlier filing must have taken place 12 months from the date of filing in South Africa.

    *Filing Date

    Filing Date of Earlier Priority Application

    *Filing country

    Country of Filing

    *Application No

    Trade Mark Application Number

    Forms to fill & things to do

    Please provide us with as much information as possible regarding the invention, This information will be used by Bergenthuin Law to draft a patent specification for your invention, which will be sent back to you for review and comment. Once you are satisfied that the specification fully and accurately describes your invention, we will file a patent application accompanied thereby at the South African Patent Office. Please note that the more information you are able to provide us, the more thorough and comprehensive your patent protection will ultimately be.

    All information submitted via this platform will be kept strictly confidential. No unauthorized disclosure of any information submitted via this platform, will be made to any third party. In addition, client-attorney privilege applies to the information submitted on this platform.

    *Upload a description of invention

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    *Upload drawings of the invention (if available)

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    *Claiming priority from an earlier patent filing?

    Please note that South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention. As such, it is possible to claim priority from an earlier foreign patent application, which will essentially back-date your South African patent protection to the date of the earlier, foreign patent filing. The earlier filing must have taken place 12 months from the date of filing in South Africa.

    *Filing Date

    Filing Date of Earlier Priority Application

    *Filing country

    Country of Filing

    *Application No

    Trade Mark Application Number

    *Expedite acceptance of patent application?

    Do you require expedited acceptance of your complete South African patent application? This will reduce the amount of time needed to obtain a granted patent from 9 – 24 months to a period of between 3 – 6 months. This will also add an amount of R2250 (excl. VAT) or US$115 to the cost of the application.

    Upload documents

    In order to apply for expedited acceptance, we please require the following:

    *Copy of search and/or examination report

    A copy of the search and/or examination report of an equivalent foreign patent application where the examining patent office has considered the subject matter of at least one claim of the equivalent foreign application to be novel and inventive.

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    *Affidavit

    An Affidavit from at least one applicant, providing the reasons that expedited acceptance is required for the specific application.

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    Forms to fill & things to do

    South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention and the PCT. The deadline for filing PCT national phase applications is 31 months from the earliest priority date. The South African Registrar of Patents has discretion to extend the national phase entry deadline by 3 months on request.

    Upon a South African National Phase patent application being filed with the South African Patent Office, a filing date will be allocated to the application as well as a patent application number.

    South Africa has a depository patent filing system. South African patent applications are not subjected to substantive examination.As such, thereafter, the patent application will only be examined by the South African Patent Office to determine whether all of the formal requirements have been met (i.e. that all of the required documents have been submitted) within a period of 6 – 18 months from the filing date.

    Upon confirmation of same, the Patent Office will issue a notice of acceptance. The patent application will then need to be submitted to the South African Patent Journal for publication for a period 2 months. Once this publication period has passed, the application will be sealed and will be deemed granted. The Patent Office will thereafter issue a Letters Patent at that point in time. The patent will be valid for a period of up to 20 years form the filing date, subject to the payment of annual renewal fees from the third anniversary of the filing date onwards.

    Should you wish to obtain granted patent rights in South Africa sooner, it is possible to file a request for expedited acceptance of the application. This option is only available in certain instances and it will expedite the acceptance of the patent application to a period of between 1 -3 months. As such, it may be possible to obtain a granted patent for the invention within a period of between 3 -6 months, in terms of this option.

    *PCT Application or Publication number available?

    Do you have the PCT Application or PCT publication number available?

    *PCT application or publication number

    Please provide the PCT Application or PCT publication number:

    PCT Application info

    Kindly provide the below information in respect of the PCT Application:

    *Title of PCT Application

    *Filing Date

    Filing Date of PCT Application

    *Country of Origin

    Main Applicant of PCT Application

    Enter a name

    *Claiming priority from an earlier patent filing?

    Please note that South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention. As such, it is possible to claim priority from an earlier foreign patent application, which will essentially back-date your South African patent protection to the date of the earlier, foreign patent filing. The earlier filing must have taken place 12 months from the date of filing in South Africa.

    *Filing Date

    Filing Date of Earlier Priority Application

    *Filing country

    Country of Filing

    *Application No

    Trade Mark Application Number

    *Expedite acceptance of patent application?

    Do you require expedite acceptance of your complete South African patent application? This will reduce the amount of time needed to obtain a granted patent from 9 – 24 months to a period of between 3 – 6 months. This will also add an amount of US$115 to the cost of the application.

    Upload documents

    In order to apply for expedited acceptance, we please require the following:

    *Copy of search and/or examination report

    A copy of the search and/or examination report of an equivalent foreign patent application where the examining patent office has considered the subject matter of at least one claim of the equivalent foreign application to be novel and inventive.

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    *Affidavit

    An Affidavit from at least one applicant, providing the reasons that expedited acceptance is required for the specific application.

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    *Amendments to claims

    Kindly note that it not possible to file amendments to the claims at the time of entry into the National Phase in South Africa. In accordance with South African law, the claims in the international phase are require to exactly resemble the claims in the National Phase entry in South Africa. We therefore recommend that you file an application for amendment, to incorporate the proposed claim amendments after National Phase Entry in South Africa. The cost involved herein will be US$395.

    Do you wish to file any amendments to the claims that are currently in the International Phase?

    * Submit amendments now?

    Would you like to submit the proposed claim amendments now, for lodgement as part of an application for amendment after National Phase entry?

    *Upload amended claims

    Please upload the amended claims here, for submission to the Patent Office after filing.

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    Power of Attorney

    The final step for this application will be obtaining signed copies of the Declaration and Power of Attorney (Form P3) which is to accompany the application. Please be advised that this document may be submitted to the Patent Office at a later stage and may be submitted up to six (6) months from the date of filing the application. However, a late submission of this document will delay the prosecution of your application and will carry an additional cost.

    *Download, Sign, Upload

    Please click here to download the Declaration and Power of Attorney form (Form P3) required for the application. Kindly complete and sign the form (electronically or in writing) and upload the signed document below.

    • (max file size 64 MB)

    Once payment is made, we will proceed to draft the patent application.

    Please note that the submitted patent application has not yet been filed and will be sent to Bergenthuin Law Inc for preparation and filing with the South African Patent Office.

    Confidentiality: We confirm that all information received from yourselves will be held in confidence and that we will not use or disclose any information received to third parties (apart from the South African Patent Office for submission who will also keep the documents and information submitted secret).

    Power of Attorney

    The final step for this application will be obtaining signed copies of the formal documents, which are to accompany the application. Please be advised that these documents may be submitted to the Patent Office at a later stage, and may be submitted up to 6 months from the date of filing the application. However, a late submission of the documents will delay the prosecution of your application and will carry an additional cost.

    Please click here to download the Declaration and Power of Attorney form (Form P3) and here for the Statement on Use of Indigenous Biological Resources (Form P26) required for the application. Kindly complete and sign the form (electronically or in writing) and upload the signed document below.

    *Upload Form P3

    Please upload Form P3 - Declaration and Power of Attorney here
    • (max file size 64 MB)

    *Upload Form P26

    Please upload Form P26 - Statement on Use of Indigenous Biological Resources here
    • (max file size 64 MB)

    Once payment is made, we will proceed to draft the patent specification. Please note that the submitted patent application has not yet been filed and will be sent to Bergenthuin Law Inc for preparation and filing with the South African Patent Office.

    Confidentiality: We confirm that all information received from yourselves will be held in confidence and that we will not use or disclose any information received to third parties (apart from the South African Patent Office for submission who will also keep the documents and information submitted secret).

    Please note that the submitted patent application has not yet been filed and will be sent to Bergenthuin Law Inc for preparation and filing with the South African Patent Office.

    Confidentiality: We confirm that all information received from yourselves will be held in confidence and that we will not use or disclose any information received to third parties (apart from the South African Patent Office for submission who will also keep the documents and information submitted secret).