THE PATENTS EXAMINATION REGULATIONS, 2003
as published in
GenN 25 in GG 24290 of 17 January 2003
The Patent Examination Board, established in terms of section 21 of the Patents Act,
1978 (Act 57 of 1978), has, in terms of section 21 (3) (a) of the Patents Act, made the
following regulations and prescribed the following syllabuses in regard to the
prescribed examination referred to in section 20 of the Patents Act, 1978:
DEFINITIONS
1.
In these regulations, unless the context indicates otherwise'Board' means the Patent Examination Board established under section 21 of
the Act;
'candidate' means a person who presents himself/herself to the Patent
Examination Board with the intention of enrolling for or who has already
enrolled, for the Patent Examinations;
'Chairperson' means the Chairperson of the Board appointed in terms of
section 21 (2) (a) of the Act;
'examination' means the prescribed examination referred to in section 20 of
the Act;
'journal' means the patent journal referred to in section 14 of the Act;
'office' means the patent office established under section 5 (1) of the Act;
'the Act' means the Patents Act, 1978 (Act 57 of 1978); and
'the previous regulations' means the Patent Examination Regulations, as
amended, published in the October 1993 edition of the Patent Journal.
EXAMINATIONS
2.
(a)
The examination shall be held during or around midyear, on such
dates as the Chairperson may determine, and the Board may, in its
discretion and having regard to, inter alia, the number of candidates,
conduct the examinations in any one of four centres, namely, Cape
Town, Bloemfontein, Durban, Pretoria or such other centre as it may
determine; and
(b)
The examination dates shall be made known to the candidates
enrolled for the examination at least eight weeks prior to such dates,
either by written notification or by publication in the journal or both.
CONDITIONS FOR ENROLMENT
3.
Only candidates who qualify in terms of at least one of the following criteria
shall be entitled to enrol for the examinations: