Patenting an idea

Developing your ideas from scratch is important for your business to grow into its own unique market. Creating an idea for a product that has never been used before creates many opportunities for businesses, however problems might arise if the owner does not guard these ideas against illegal use.

 

Patenting an idea or invention is a practice that helps inventors and idealists stake their claims in the business world without having their rights and ideas infringed upon. The laws that govern these patents are different in each country.

 

The Roodepoort Chamber of Commerce creates a forum for local businesses, allowing them to create networking opportunities, business relationships and communication channels with other like-minded individuals and entrepreneurs in the area. Visit the ROCCI website to find out more about how to become a part of the Roodepoort network, or for information on current members and their product and contact information.

 

The following is a description of the method used to create patents for ideas and products in South Africa (adapted from Hahn and Hahn Intellectual Property Practitioners):

 

According to South African practice, either a provisional or a complete specification may be lodged with the application for a patent.

 

If you have not worked out your idea in detail yet, and intend to conduct further experiments and make further improvements, you are advised to prepare and lodge a provisional specification at the South African Patent Office in order to provide you with temporary protection. The provisional specification is an important document, which will later form the basis for the complete specification and/or any foreign patent applications. It should be drawn up professionally and with great care and should contain as much detail as possible. A poorly drawn provisional specification may be completely worthless from a legal point of view. Furthermore, the disclosure of any aspect of an invention not properly covered in a prior-filed provisional application will later preclude the valid obtainment of protection for such aspect.

 

The filing of a patent application accompanied by a provisional specification must be followed by a fresh patent application with a complete specification in order to obtain a patent.

 

In a case where the full practical details of your invention have already been developed, a complete specification may be lodged "in the first instance" i.e. without filing a provisional application initially. This procedure will render the overall cost somewhat lower than in the case where a provisional specification is lodged initially.

 

However, if for the time being you only require temporary protection for the purpose of testing the commercial possibilities of an invention, you may prefer to lodge a provisional specification initially even if the information available might be adequate for a complete specification. In this manner you can reduce your initial cost and prolong the maximum total term of your patent by up to 15 months.

 

If, after a provisional specification has been filed you make further important discoveries or improvements in connection with the invention before the period for lodging the complete specification has expired, you are advised to have one or more additional provisional specifications lodged in order to protect the improvement or new discovery. Subsequently it is possible to cognate (combine) the different provisional specifications in a single complete specification. If such further discoveries or improvements are not included in one or more additional provisional applications, these must be kept secret in order to be validly included in a subsequent complete application.

 

Once a complete application has been granted, subsequent improvements or modifications to the invention can be protected by the filing of an application for a patent of addition (provided such improvements or modifications have been kept secret). Otherwise, an independent patent application can be filed to protect such subsequent improvements or modifications. Whether or not a patent of addition is called for rather than an independent patent has to be determined carefully in each specific case.

 

It is also important to note that the South African Patent Office does not investigate the validity of patent claims. However, the validity of a patent can be attacked at any time by others.