News

PATENTS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS

A copy of the Patents Amendment Regulations which was published on 23 April
2003 can be viewed by clicking here .

PATENTS AMENDMENT ACT 2002

A copy of the Patents Amendment Act of 2002 which was published on 15 January 2003 can be viewed by clicking here (877 KB).


PATENT EXAMINATION REGULATIONS 

1.         The amended new Patent Examination Regulations were published on 13 December 2002.  The accompanying notice indicated that there was a period of 21 days for submitting final comments on the revised regulations.  As far as I am aware, no comments were received.

 2.         The revised regulations were due to have been published in the Government Gazette on 13 January 2003.  As far as I can ascertain, this publication has not taken place.  It is uncertain when the new regulations will be published in the Patent Journal in terms of Section 21(3)(b) of the Patents Act.

 3.         In view of this uncertainty, all candidates wishing to enrol for the patent examinations in 2003 should enrol under the existing or old regulations.  The Chairman of the Patent Examination Board has confirmed that this approach should be followed.  Applications for enrolment should preferably be lodged directly with the Secretary of the Patent Examination Board, Ms. Linda van Diemen (10th Floor, Fedlife Building, Corner Prinsloo and Church Streets, Pretoria - Tel 012 310 9567).

 

PAYMENT OF PATENT RENEWAL FEES

It is with great pleasure that I can report the successful outcome of the  hearing in the application by the University of Pretoria, Adams & Adams and the SAIIPL before the full bench of the Transvaal Provincial Division for a declaratory order to clarify the meaning
of Section 46(2) of the PatentsAct  which was heard on 4 December 2002.

 Attached hereto is a copy of the order.

In his President's report Andre van der Merwe, on behalf of the Institute, thanked David Sheppard and his team for their hard work and efforts. I would now like to reiterate those thanks and convey our congratulations to David Sheppard and his team and, in particular, to note the Institute's thanks to Mabel Jansen and her junior counsel  Hannelie Vermaak for their
efforts.

 Charles Webster
 President - SAIIPL