Intellectual Property Protection Policy & Legislation: DSTI/NIPMO & DTIC/CIPC briefing

The Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) and Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) briefed the Portfolio Committee on the implementation of intellectual property protection policy and new draft legislation due in Parliament this year. The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) spoke to the practical programmes for policy implementation. There were an increasing number of local patent applications and it was preparing for substantive search and examination (SSE) for patent applications due to the approaching IP law reform. Members asked DSTI how a patent would be protected against big companies and multinational conglomerates that have a lot of money; how many patents have been examined; the number of patent applications filed by South Africans; trends in local filing; how the National Intellectual Property Management Office (NIPMO) was protecting indigenous knowledge from exploitation by academics without proper beneficiary consent; the demographic breakdown of IP creators who benefit from the IP Rights Act; challenges in enforcing IP rights and how effective protecting IP rights was. DTIC and CIPC were asked by Members if innovation in South Africa was driving economic sovereignty, industrialisation, and empowerment of local entrepreneurs; what measures were in place to preserve the transfer of strategically important patents to foreign entities. DTIC was told that it has dragged its feet on the finalisation of a proper IP registration regime because, so far, there has been no patent examination. There were many other questions including the timelines for the Patents Bill and Designs Amendment Bill and the implementation of Phase 1 and 2 of the IP policy.