The technology innovation agency bill

The Technology Innovation Agency Bill provides for the establishment of the technology Innovation Agency (TIA) which is aimed at promoting and intensifying innovation and inventions thereby improving economic growth and ultimately improving the quality of life of all South Africans.

The aim of the Agency is to provide financial and any other assistance to any person, consortium or enterprise to develop any technological innovation or invention.

The Supreme Court of Appeal lays down the law on patent claim construction in SA - or does it?

A previous judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) relating to the same patent and registered design, but having different parties and a different infringing article, was referred to in the present matter as the Flag & Flagpole case. It had a bearing on the judgment in the present case, in which the appellants appealed against the orders of the Court of the Commissioner of Patents and the High Court, which had sat as one Court of first instance. It had held that the respondent’s South African patent had been infringed by a flag construction, illustrated as follows:

D W Zietsman v Electronic Media Network Limited Others

The Supreme Court of Appeal today upheld an appeal against a judgment in the Court of the Commissioner of Patents in terms of which that court ordered a plaintiff who is resident in South Africa to provide security for the costs of three of the defendants.

The London Agreement Ratified!

In Europe, the grant of a patent is not the end of the road for inventors. The patent specification must be translated into the official language of each country in which protection for the invention is sought. Failure to translate the patent specification within a certain period will result in the European patent being deemed to be “void ab initio in that State”. This procedure results in high translation costs and may reduce incentives to apply for a European patent. 

Patent Prosecution Highway leads to quicker grant of US, Japanese patents

The United Stated Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) recently announced implementation of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), effective from 4 January 2008. According to a spokesperson at the JPO this decision follows after a pilot feasibility study of the PPH showed that the PPH streamlines patent prosecution and results in quicker grant of patents.