State of Patenting in South Africa

The Innovation Fund has published an interesting Special Report analyzing the South African Patent Landscape. The survey found that although spending on R&D has increased significantly to R10,1 billion per annum, the rate of patenting in South Africa remains low and has been essentially stagnant since 1998. UCT ranks second to former Potchefstroom University in ranking of applicants/assignees representing patent applications citing South African universities at the USPTO, EPO and WO, with a total of 14 over the period 1991-2005. In terms of South African patent office (CIPRO) patent register entries, UCT ranks third amongst universities, with a total of 53 patents applications (both provisional and full) over 1981 to 2004.

Analysis of Sasol and De Beer's patenting strategies revealed the success of a portfolio approach and the recommendation is to improve the success rate of commercialisation of technologies from publicly funded institutions by building on the research strengths of each institution.

The report states:

"In the absence of a focused patenting strategy, the danger is that one finds oneself being locked out of certain areas by those who have managed to obtain patent monopolies, with the result that the only point of entry is through licensing the background or base intellectual property. Thus we argue for a culture of intellectual property awareness, protection and management, aligned with government's national priorities, which will result in patenting on the basis of commercial merit and for strategic reasons"

Download a copy of the full State of Patenting in South Africa Special Report 2007, published by the Innovation Fund here.