Design Registration South Africa

Design registration in South Africa

Here you can mandate us to file a request to register your design in South Africa right up to a total term of 15 years of protection.

A registered design provides a monopoly position: Your design registration gives you the exclusive right to use the Industrial Design in South Africa. You can take action against any identical or almost identical design. No other persons may use your registered design without your consent. In addition, they are not allowed to make or sell products to which your design is applied. If a person uses your registered design without your permission, you can seek injunctive relief or request destruction of the products concerned. Furthermore, you are basically entitled to claim damages.

Industrial design registration in South Africa starts with a 3-year term, beginning with the date of the lodgement. Before the expiry of the first 3 years from that date, a maintenance fee must be paid yearly to maintain protection. Otherwise the exclusive protection will end. An aesthetic design is valid for one period of 15 years and a functional design is valid for one period of 10 years subject to payment of annual renewal fees starting from the end of the 3rd year from the date of filing.

An industrial design in Southafrica has to be new and original. It must be producable by an industrial process. It ican be an aesthetic design if the beauty of the design is built by its shape, configuration or ornamentation. It can be an functional design where the shape or configuration is necessitated by the function. You may applyfor an aesthetic or a functional design or both. The aesthetic design will be recorded in part A of the Design Register, and the functional design will be recorded in part F of the Design Register. If you wish to have both aesthetic and functional design , you have to file separate application orders and you will have to pay the registration fee for each application.

If registered, the renewal of a registered design shall be done by a request, provided that the renewal fee will be paid. The request for renewal shall be submitted within the protection period and the yearly renewal fee shall be paid within a period of 12 months before the regular protection period ends. You may pay the yearly renewal fee in advanced for the full period of protection.

Our offer relates to a single design application and includes the fees for an opposition free registration.

For the registration process we will need

(up to 7) drawings or pictures showing your design only in front of a neutral (white) background, contact details of you as client, contact details of the to be regsitered design owner and his nationality, the name and adreess of / the inventor(s) of the design, a short description of the design as long as this is not apparent from the pictures (not mandatory).

The application process includes our following services:

Examining the documents submitted, Preparation of application with selection of the Locarno classes, need for further documentation, and legal information about the submitted registration documents, Confirmation of the information relating to the execution of the filing of the application Filing of the application and payment of official fees for application, publication and registration and Notification about an Office action, but not representation or preparation of letters in an opposition Reminder aboout design extention in foreign countries area with a prior application claim Request for a certificate of the registerred design Receiving and sending the certificate of registration (usually in digital form). Forwarding of other correspondence by and with the Office Notification of the possibility of extension of design protection

Regularly an action opened by the Office it is not expected, in particular if the information we do provide before the filing of the application are considered. Answers to office actions especially in regard to the drawings or images presented by you may cause separat costs. Should an office action be opened, we will inform you and await your instructions.