Chemical Technology December 2015

PETROCHEMICALS COVER STORY

other aesthetic creation; a scheme, rule or method for per- forming a mental act, playing a game or doing business; a program for a computer; or the presentation of information. The applicant will have a chance to respond to the Ex- aminer’s report. Arguments in support of the patentability of an invention are also generally submitted in response to an examination report. A second report will then be issued informing the applicant whether his or her response has overcome the Examiner’s objections. What happens after this, if the Examiner decides not to allow the application to proceed to grant, differs from country to country. Potential drawbacks The forthcoming changes in the local Act mean that the official fees payable to the South African Patent Office when filing a patent application will have to be dramatically increased. In addition, a patent attorney will need to be consulted to prepare a response to an examination report, adding further costs to those related to the filing of the application. Substantive examination will prolong by a significant pe- riod, the time it takes for a South African patent application to proceed to grant, substantive examination naturally taking longer than merely a formal examination. Additionally, South African courts currently have no judges specifically trained to hear patentmatters. Perhaps training anexpert panel of judges to adjudicate upon patent matters would have been a more sensible way of testing the validity of South African patents.

the world before the first patent application disclosing the invention was filed. In practice, this means that any single document which discloses the subject matter of one claim of the patent be- ing examined is a bar to the patentability of the whole of the claimed invention. The subject matter of a patent is deemed to involve an inventive step if it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art, regarding any matter which forms, immediately before the priority date of the invention, part of the ‘state of the art’. In practice, this allows an Examiner to cite several documents together against a patent application if he or she thinks that, (vis-à-vis the disclosure contained in all of these documents), a person with extensive knowledge of the said invention, would find the invention obvious. It is obvious then that an Examiner would have to be such a person! Typically, Examiners will cite existing patents or patent applications as well as articles from scientific journals against a patent application. Based on the conducted search and a critical examina- tion of the documents found, the Examiner will issue an examination report which details how the documents affect the patentability of the invention or patent application under examination. In addition, there are certain inventions which are not patentable in terms of the South African Act, regardless of whether or not they are new and inventive. The applicant for a patent of any of the following types, must be informed accordingly: a discovery; a scientific theory; a mathematical method; a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or any

If you need advice on patents, then think of us first, Hahn & Hahn, Hahn@hahn.co.za.

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Chemical Technology • December 2015