Trademark Attorney – position
We are looking for a qualified trademark attorney.
Benefits:
- Work from home, only visiting our office in Oaklands (Johannesburg) once per week.
- No budget. We will market trademarks and feed work to you.
- No office hours. The work just needs to get done.
If you are interested in joining IdeaNav, please contact us.
Candidate patent attorney – articles, requirements and salary
Requirements:
Undergraduate science (preferably, engineering) degree only.
Age:
Recently completed undergraduate degree.
Additional studies while articled:
You will need to complete a law degree (4 years through UNISA), the patent exams (at least 2 years) and the attorneys’ board exams (1 year). All these run in parallel. It sounds like a mouthful, but is actually very manageable.
Period of articles:
3-4 years, but bank on 4.
Starting salary:
Approximately R10,000 per month – way less than your friends that join engineering firms, I know. But hopefully the medium to long term rewards are worth this sacrifice.
Work activities:
Initially, candidate patent attorneys assist in conducting patent searches and reviewing / amending patents. After a couple of years, you will start preparing draft patents.
Prospects:
After completing your articles, LLB, board and patent exams, you will be a qualified patent attorney. After qualifying, most patent attorneys remain with patent firms. Some accept positions as in-house patent counsel at Universities / large corporates, and others join funding agencies (e.g. TIA).
If you have a mechanical, metallurgical, civil or electrical engineering degree and are interested in becoming a patent attorney, please contact us.
Prototype your invention
IdeaNav now offers product prototyping services.
If you have an idea, come visit us to:
- protect your idea;
- create 3D drawings, photorealistic posters and movies of your invention; and
- rapid prototype your product.
We will convert your idea into an alluring product designed to attract investors.
Free template confidentiality agreements
Our free template confidentiality agreements have been upgraded.
To conclude a non-disclosure agreement, you now need only to:
- select one of our 10 template NDAs;
- complete the NDA online;
- print; and
- sign it!
Renew your patent online
IdeaNav has released a new online patent renewal tool that will save you up to 70% on patent renewals / annuities / maintenance fees!
National phase patent entry
National phase patent applications – where to file? This is a dilemma faced by applicants during the PCT national phase entry, 30 months after the priority date of the PCT patent application.
Firstly, you must decide whether to focus on countries of manufacture or countries of sale. Typically, it is best to focus national phase patent applications on countries of sale – you can corner 80% of the potential market by filing a handful of patents and spending about US$25,000. Early on, we must accept that certain territories will remain unprotected, but their low volumes will keep your major potential competitors at bay.
How to register a patent in South Africa
To register a patent in South Africa is surprisingly simple, quick and affordable.
But, before contacting a patent attorney, we suggest that you conduct a patent search to identify the features of your invention that have not previously been disclosed anywhere in the world. Our charge for conducting a professional patent search is R3,850.
Exchange Controls again blocks assignment of IP
Exchange Controls were amended on 8 June 2012 to prevent the assignment of intellectual property by a South African “resident” to a foreigner without the consent of the South African Reserve Bank. The cession of patents as security in favour of foreigners is similarly restricted.
This amendment drags us back to the position that existed before the Oilwell case. However, assignments effected before 8 June 2012 remain unaffected by this amendment and any transaction concluded in contravention of this amended Regulation 10(1)(c) is more probably not null and void “ab initio” (i.e. “from the beginning”).
Click here for a copy of the amendment.
Patent review
Our patent reviews are proving extremely popular with inventors who wish to draft their own provisional patent application using our toolkit. So, time for some more info re this offering:
Licensing term sheet
If you are negotiating a license for your intellectual property, have a look at our licensing term sheet.
Read more…