South Africa – Copies of Supporting Documents Now Accepted by the Registrar of Patents

Traditionally, formal documents (i.e. Forms P.3/D.3, P.26 and assignments) for filing in support of patent and design applications had to be executed by way of an original/wet signature. However, the Registrar has  recently issued a practice note setting out a number of changes in procedure including  the Registrar ‘s discretion to accept  assignment documents or invention disclosure agreements , executed electronically  (like DocuSign) . There is no discretion provided in so far as the execution of the other formal documents are concerned and we shall thus have to await further clarification in this regard.