South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention and of the PCT. The deadline for PCT national phase entry is thirty one months from the priority date. A PCT national phase application necessarily corresponds in every respect to the international application, including amendments that have been published and/or are annexed to the IPRP, and changes recorded at the International Bureau. Patents are only renewed after grant, annually from the third anniversary of the filing date (international filing date in the case of PCT national phase applications). The substantive law on patentability of inventions is reasonably similar to the European Patent Convention as far as novelty, inventive step and exclusions from patentability are concerned. However, South African patent applications are examined only for compliance with formalities and no substantive examination is conducted. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the patent is granted in a form which it believes to be valid and we routinely advise clients on meeting this requirement in the most cost effective manner.

1. In accordance with the Paris Convention, an application filed in South Africa will have the same date of the first application in a convention country, if the application is made within six months after the date of such first application.
    
2. We recommend that a search of the trade mark register is conducted prior to filing a trade mark application in South Africa. A registrability search will locate only those trade marks that are already the subject of a pending trade mark application or registration on the trade mark register. Marks that are in use in South Africa but are not the subject of a trade mark application or registration will not be located on the register.
    
3. We are able to perform a cursory check on the Internet as well as preliminary searches of the different registers in the UK, EU, USA, AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND to establish whether the name is available, generally, in prominent countries of interest.

Absolute novelty is required for designs to be registerable in South Africa (apart from a six month grace period from a “release date”) and South Africa is a member of the Paris Convention. Design registrations are only renewed after the date of registration, annually from the third anniversary of the filing date, priority or release date, whichever is the earliest. South African design applications are examined only for compliance with formalities and no substantive examination is conducted. Designs are registered in classes (corresponding to the Locarno Classification) and only one class may be designated in each application.