South Africa suspends patent and design fees increase
A proposed increase of patents and designs fees in South Africa has been suspended, the country’s IP office has informed lawyers.
In an announcement yesterday, Monday 30 September, De Beer Attorneys said the South African Companies and IP Commission ( CIPC) had suspended the increase, which was due to take effect today, October 1.
The suspension comes after the CIPC announced in May that large corporate entities would pay increased fees for patent and design services in comparison to small, medium and micro-entities (SMEs).
Previously, fees payable had been the same regardless of company size.
The change in fees would have seen the cost of a patent application jump from 590ZAR ($41.46) to 1,100ZAR ($77.48) for large companies.
In order to distinguish who would pay the increased fees, CIPC defined corporate entities as those that do not qualify as SMEs under the National Small Business Amendment Act.
As explained by De Beer, to qualify as an SME, companies must have fewer than 100 employees (up to 200 in certain industries) and a turnover of less than an amount between 4 million ZAR and 50 million ZAR ($281,734 to $3,521,675) depending on the industry.
It is unclear at this time if the suspension is temporary or permanent.
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