SIMPLIFYING REGISTRATION JURISDICTION REPORT: SOUTH AFRICA
Mellissa Esterhuizen DM Kisch Inc.
Recent developments in South Africa and Namibia that promise to streamline systems and simplify procedures for registering trademarks have been welcomed by practitioners.
South Africa e-Journal
Te trademark registrar recently met with various stakeholders and representatives from intellectual property firms in South Africa to discuss the publication of the Patent Journal in electronic format.
Te registrar proposed that the Patent Journal, which is currently published in book format on a monthly basis, be published on the registrar’s official website:
www.cipro.co.za. Practitioners have welcomed the proposal as this ‘e-journal’ will make it easier to search the Patent Journal for opposition purposes. Te publication will be made available to the general public by way of a link posted on the registrar’s official website. In the past, individuals have not necessarily known about the journal or how to come by it, even though copies can be ordered from the government printer. Tis step is therefore welcome, especially for those individuals or businesses that file their own trademark applications without engaging a trademark practitioner. It will also be helpful to entities that have an interest in the trademark rights of their competitors and others. It is not foreseen that there will be any cost to access this link.
South African stakeholders have already begun developing their internal systems to adapt to the registrar’s requirements, in order to simplify the electronic advertisement process.
Some procedural aspects have been raised during the talks, specifically pertaining to Section 17 of the Trade Marks Act 194 of 1993. Tis section relates to advertising accepted applications; the act makes this the applicant’s responsibility. Compliance with this section should therefore, strictly speaking, create a somewhat superfluous administrative step whereby the registrar will forward the Notice of Acceptance to the applicant, who will then return it to the registrar for advertisement. Although this step may seem redundant, it will be necessary in order to comply with the act. It will also provide an opportunity for the applicant to review the notice for any clerical errors to ensure that all aspects of the application for registration of the mark, as advertised, are correct.
At this stage, it is unclear when the Patent Journal will be published online, but it is expected by the end of this year.
Registration certificates Te South African Registry has made a concerted effort to reduce the time
www.worldipreview.com
“ THE REGISTRAR PROPOSED THAT THE PATENT JOURNAL, WHICH IS CURRENTLY PUBLISHED IN BOOK FORMAT ON A MONTHLY BASIS, BE PUBLISHED ON THE REGISTRAR’S OFFICIAL WEBSITE: WWW.CIPRO.CO.ZA.”
taken to issue registration certificates. In the past, due to a backlog at the registry, applicants received registration certificates two to three years aſter the lapse of the opposition term. Tis effort has seen the waiting period reduced to 12 months. Te registrar aims to further reduce it to six months, calculated from the date of advertisement. Tis seems achievable by the end of the year. In the interim, the registrar has indicated that the issuance of certificates may be expedited for litigation purposes.
Namibia
Te Namibian Registry has embarked on an ambitious exercise to scan all trademark records onto the registry’s internal computer system. It is unclear at this stage when this process will be completed and when the records will be made available to the public, but this step will most certainly pave the way to public access to electronic records. Tis will surely simplify availability searches, which are currently conducted by perusing countless volumes of journals in which trademark registrations have been recorded by hand.
Tese administrative developments will simplify and expedite the registration procedures in South Africa and Namibia, and will hopefully encourage foreign proprietors to extend statutory protection as well as commerce to these regions.
Mellissa Esterhuizen is an attorney at DM Kisch Inc. She can be contacted at:
mellissae@dmkisch.com
World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2010 95
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112