A suggested increase in official fees for South African patent and designs has been suspended.
The reason lies behind this development is that there has been a new definition of "corporate entity" and "small, medium or micro enterprise (SMME)" which were to design the substructure of a new, two-tiered official fee structure and there is comprehensive feedback from the related industry pertaining to the matter. The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) has considered these submissions and is re-engaging with the Treasury to receive confirmation based on new definitions.
It is still not known how much time the suspension of the new fee regulation will take.
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