(i)
(ii)
the patent systems and the patent laws of foreign, regional and
international jurisdictions including the United States of
America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), Germany, France,
Australia, Japan, Canada, the European Patent Convention,
European
Patent
Office
(EPO)/Community
Patents,
Organisation Africane de la Propriete Intellectuelle (OAPI),
African Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO), and the
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), in respect of alternative
forms of protection available (patents and utility models),
patentable subject matter, novelty requirements, applicants,
filing requirements, claim format and requirements,
prosecution requirements and procedures, grant, post-granted
procedures such as re-examination, duration and maintenance
fees; and
the Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty, European
Patent Convention, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT), 1994, on trade related aspects of intellectual property
rights (TRIPs), including trade in counterfeit goods.
GROUP 2 SUBJECTS
(e)
In the first paper candidates will be provided with a description of no
more than two inventions and will be required to identify the inventive
feature(s) of each invention and draft a first claim for each invention.
In the second paper candidates will be required to draft a South
African patent specification in respect of an invention described to
them;
(f)
Candidates will be set practical legal problems on the interpretation of
patent specifications, the infringement of patents, the amendment of
patents, the validity of patents, the ownership of inventions; and will be
required to draft appropriate pleadings and give opinions; and
(g)
Candidates will be examined on their competency to deal with
questions of practice under the laws relating to patents in South
Africa, for example, the granting of a patent, the revocation of patents,
restoration, assignment and licensing (including compulsory licences),
infringement of patents, the practice of the Court of the Commissioner
of Patents, relevant High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal rules,
and application of decided patent cases.
INTERNSHIPS
14.
It is strongly recommended that each candidate serve an internship of
between three to six months at a patent law firm or a period of three to six
months at the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office
(CIPRO).
CONDUCT OF EXAMINATION
15.
(a)
The examiner(s) shall be responsible for setting the required
examination paper(s) in the subject concerned, which shall be
submitted to the moderator to be moderated. The examiner(s) shall
also be responsible for marking the examination scripts, and for
allocating marks and symbols as provided in regulation 16 (a);