Confidential
PRESS RELEASE FOR CIPRO
ISSUED BY KEZI COMMUNICATIONS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10 January 2011
TITLE: CIPRO Patent Journal goes digital
COPY:
The Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office’s (CIPRO) monthly patent journal has gone digital. The registration office has moved from the traditional paper based journal to an electronically generated version, as they strive to improve service delivery in preparation for joining the commission in April this year.
“Moving to an electronic format is a big step in the right direction,” explains CIPRO acting CEO Lungile Dukwana. “All our clients can now access the journal free of charge. All they need to do is send us an email with their contact details, and we will send them a link to the monthly publication.”
CIPRO clients can access the monthly e-journal by visiting www.zaip.org/e-journal. Clients wishing to be notified when the journal is published should send an e-mail with their contact details to: . The Patent Journal contains information on the different stages of the registration of patents, trademarks, designs, and copyright in cinematograph films in South Africa.
A large part of the journal is occupied by notices of acceptance of new registrations – required by current intellectual property (IP) legislation. Applicants need to advertise these notices within a required time as follows:
Notice of trademark - Third parties are invited to oppose the registration within 3 months, after which the registration will proceed
Notice of patent - There is no provision for opposition of a patent. Patents that are advertised are deemed to be granted on date of the publication.
Notice of design registration - There is no provision for opposition of a registered design. The date of publication is when the design becomes open for public inspection.
Copyright in cinematograph films - Third parties are invited to oppose the registration within 1 month, after which the registration will proceed
The e-journal also contains information on trademarks, patents or designs that have been amended or removed from the register due to non-payment of renewal fees and applications for restoration of removed registrations. Any judgments handed down by the Tribunal of the Registrar of Trade Marks, as well as any practice notices issued are also included.
Historically the monthly journal has been produced by GPW (Government Printing Works) but since November 2010 is now being produced electronically by CIPRO. All notices of acceptance must be sent directly to CIPRO at . The publication date of the journal remains the last Wednesday of each month.
Those wishing to register patents with CIPRO are advised to procure the professional services of a patent attorney. The Patent Office cannot accept any responsibility for the loss of rights arising from the submission of incorrectly drafted specifications.
With their vision to provide global leadership in the efficient registration of businesses and intellectual property rights, CIPRO resulted from a merger of two former directorates of the dti, SACRO – South African Companies Registration Office and SAPTO – South African Patents & Trade Marks Office, from 1 March 2002 into a single efficient and customer driven Business Agency. To be assisted by CIPRO’s well-trained team, call their Customer Contact Centre at 0861 843384 for national callers and +27 11254 9405 for international callers. Alternatively, visit their website at www.cipro.gov.za.
FACT SHEET
1. All notices of acceptance to be published in the journal must be sent directly to CIPRO to: .
2. Submission of withdrawals of advertisements in the Patent Journal must be e-mailed to:
3. Submission of queries relating to advertising in the Patent Journal must be emailed to:
4. CIPRO clients can access the monthly e-journal free of charge by visiting this link: www.zaip.org/e-journal. CIPRO clients wishing to be notified when the journal is published can send an e-mail and their contact details to: .
5. The publication date of the journal remains the last Wednesday of each month.
6. The Patent Journal contains information on the different stages of the registration of patents, trademarks, designs, and copyright cinematograph films in South Africa.
7. A patent can last up to 20 years provided that it is renewed annually from year 3 onwards.
8. A patent gives the owner an exclusive right to an invention which may be a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something or offers a new technical solution to a problem.
9. Patent-protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed or sold without the owner’s consent.
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