The South African Patents Act sets out a number of requirements for a patent to be valid. For example, the invention claimed in a patent must be new and not obvious. If a patent does not meet these requirements, a person can apply to court for the patent to be...
While South Africa has been understandably caught up in election fever, a quietly momentous event has taken place in Geneva. On 24 March 2024, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) member states adopted a new Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic...
Leon Trotsky is supposed to have said “you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”. This may or may not be true in war, but it is certainly true in law. When a person goes into business, they immediately find themselves entangled in law. This is...
In September 2018, the Constitutional Court of South Africa unanimously ruled that the personal and private use of Cannabis, by adults, would be decriminalised. This meant that the ban on private possession and consumption as well as cultivation of Cannabis plants for...
We’re fond of the “tool kit” approach to Intellectual Property. This is where we encourage our clients to view IP not through the lens of a set of rights to be obtained for their own sake, but instead as a series of legal tools which can be applied to a number of...
Adams & Adams is very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Joanne van Harmelen as a new partner. Joanne joins Adams & Adams in March 2024, bringing her expertise as patent attorney in life sciences, chemical inventions and plant breeders’ rights to...
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom handed down its judgment on whether a machine (Dabus) powered by artificial intelligence (AI) may be an inventor in terms of the UK Patents Act. The Court was asked to consider two patent applications filed by Dr Stephen Thaler...
Egypt is one of several countries that still require applicants to obtain legalisation of certain documents when filing patent, design or trademark applications in that country. Failure to file the legalised documents within the deadlines provided often lead to...
Johannesburg – Dec 11, 2023 – Qualcomm Incorporated announced today, the launch of L2Pro Africa IP e-learning Platform, a free online training program designed to empower startups, SMEs, and researchers in Africa to protect, secure, and maximize their innovations....
![Common Sense Often Makes Good Law” [US Supreme Court Justice William Orville Douglas]: Mu Mecanicos Unidos S.A.S v The Registrar of Patents](https://www.adams.africa/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Common-Sense-2023_zArticle-Banner.jpg)
The Court of the Commissioner of Patents recently handed down a decision which brings long awaited clarity and relief to the patent profession and applicants in South Africa. The issue before the court was whether an applicant for a patent may request an extension of...
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