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Patents Act, 1978 (Act No. 57 of 1978)

Chapter IV : Patent Agents and Patent Attorneys

24. Persons entitled to practise as patent and patent attorneys

 

 

(1) Subject to the provisions of section 22, no person shall—
(a) practise as a patent agent or a patent attorney unless he is registered as such under section 20; or
(b) in any manner hold himself out as a patent agent or patent attorney or use any words or any name, title or description indicating, or calculated to lead persons to infer, that he is a patent agent or patent attorney or is recognized as such by law, unless—
(i) he is registered as a patent agent or patent attorney under section 20; or
(ii) he practises as an attorney in partnership with a person who is registered as a patent attorney under section 20.

 

(2) Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed as preventing any practising attorney from instructing and corresponding with an agent, for and on behalf of any other person, in regard to any matter or proceedings under this Act, provided such attorney acts merely as an intermediary between such person and such agent and otherwise does nothing which only an agent may do under this Act.

 

(3) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, a patent agent mentioned in section 20 and in the employment of a person who is not an agent, may represent that person or any person designated by that person in any matter or proceedings under this Act.

 

(4) Any person whose name has been removed from the register of patent agents or patent attorneys or who has been suspended from practising as a patent agent or patent attorney, shall not while his name is so removed or while he is so suspended, practise as a patent agent or patent attorney by himself or in partnership or association with any other person, and shall not, except with the written consent of the registrar after notice to the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law as prescribed, be employed in any capacity connected with the profession of a patent agent or patent attorney.

 

(5) Except with the written consent of the registrar, after notice to the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law as prescribed, no agent shall knowingly employ in any capacity whatsoever any person whose name has been removed from the register of patent agents or patent attorneys or who has been suspended from practising as a patent agent or patent attorney, while such person’s name is so removed or such person is so suspended.

 

(6) Any person who contravenes any provision of this section shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction liable to a fine not exceeding R1 000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months.

 

(7) The registrar or the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law shall have right to apply to the commissioner for an interdict and other appropriate relief against any person contravening any provision of this section.

[Sub-section (7) substituted by section 30(a) of Act No. 38 of 1997.]

 

(8) Any person who practises as a patent attorney shall be deemed, for the purposes of any law relating to attorneys, to be practising as an attorney.

 

(9) Any communication made by or to a patent agent in his or her capacity as such shall be privileged from disclosure in legal proceedings in the same manner as is any communication made by or to an attorney in his or her capacity as such.

[Sub-section (9) added by section  30(b) of Act No. 38 of 1997.]